A coffee with ... ako

Hi Ako, welcome here to Bibliomusique! Could you introduce your musical project to our readers?

Hi folks, ako is an experimental dance music and digital art project. I like to try and combine IDM with other music influences and ideas, currently I'm enjoying making vaporwave inspired music. In the past I've explored techno and witch house. The visual element has always been a strong part of the ako project and I like making videos for my music using experimental techniques like VHS, glitch, computer graphics etc. and when I perform live I use projectors create a visual background for the music.

We have been listening to your music for a few months and we have decided to include one of your songs in our monthly playlist. Perhaps, in our small way, we desire to bring Vaporwave and circuit bent genre also here in Italy. You come from Newcastle, please tell us a little about what is happening in the underground environment; do you breathe synthpop in your city?

Thanks! Newcastle is a great city for music! The underground environment is vibrant. It covers lots of musical styles and there are a lot of amazing music venues in the city (and amazing concerts too!). Synthpop / electronic music isn't the biggest thing in Newcastle but there are some really amazing artists. To try and help electronic music develop in Newcastle I co-founded 'Northern Electric Festival' which is an annual electronic music festival. Electronic music has definitely got a lot more popular in Newcastle in the last 5 years and I'd like to see it become the dominant musical force in Newcastle within the next few years.

Ako project is very transversal and it includes different artistic styles. When I listened to "West Babylon" a few months ago I literally immersed myself in your creative process full of video and audio experimentation. From "video processing" to databending, passing through the world of SEGA videogames and the imaginary of the '90s with the Microsoft Paint software that characterized the childhood of so many people, as well as your latest work "Simcity.wave", thanks to which you have raised some mornings, at least according to me, full of boredom and melancholy. How and where borns a new Ako's work?

I'm pleased you enjoyed my music! ako explores a lot of different styles and influences and is constantly evolving. I like to just absorb a lot of music and visual content until something inspires me, and then I build from there. I like to develop the music and video simultaneously and create an overall aesthetic. I could be inspired by an phrase I read somewhere (for example 'West Babylon' is a place in American but it conjured up notions of lost paradise and capitalistic excesses). Or it could be a particular musical style or production technique or a particular way of creating imagery (like the CGI stuff I'm experimenting with right now). Currently I'm working on a new album. The draft title is 'Home 3D' and its explores utopian ideas about the nature of urban life. It's inspired by the simple and optimistic worlds you can build in old architectural 3D CAD software. It's like hyper accelerated dream filled with blue skys and bright colours and strange buildings. And I think that idea of building worlds follows on from the SimCity EP, but exploring it at a more microscopic level of individual buildings compared to whole cities, as was the case with the SimCity EP.

Among the various information I read on your biography i saw that you created an independent label, Kaneda Records. Can you tell us a little about this new experience? What led you to found this label and what are the next projects behind this name?

I co-founded Kaneda Records back in 2014 with some friends who also made electronic music. We were all into techno, IDM and experimental / underground dance music and we wanted to create a platform for the music that we were making and organise some live electronic music events in Newcastle. Unlike a lot of labels, we had really varied tastes in music (not just one or two genres as is the case with lot is small dance / electronic labels) and that led to the label being very eclectic. 7 years and over 250 tracks from every electronic music genre later we're still going strong! We've got some great releases lined up for the summer including a new band called 'TAB' and a new EP from my band 'Badger' (and of course some new ako music too). Make sure you follow the label on social media to stay up to date with all the releases we have coming up.

What does Ako listen to in the shower or in the car? Are there any artists you want to recommend?

Currently I'm listening to 'Eyeliner' and 'Princess Chelsea' a lot. The 'Dead Kennedy's' and 'Primus' have been on repeat a lot lately too

What's your biggest dream as a musician?

I'd love to play a big music festival one day, like Leeds or Glastonbury. I think vaporwave (and ako) needs to get a lot more popular first though!

Thank you for being here with us, we would like to greet you with one last question: when will you come to visit us here in Italy?

As soon as possible! I've been to Rome and Venice on holiday and really liked the vibe - I'd love to play some live music in Italy one day so if anyone would Like ako play at their event/venue/festival let me know!!!