Malphemist

Is this the part where I tell you that I grew up listening to my parent's vintage funk records and learned to play six instruments by the time I was 12? Yeah-nah mate. I grew up in the cultureless surburban sprawl of the most isolated city in the world. I was only ever exposed to pop music, which left me with the distinct impression that music was woefully overrated.

Being a massive nerd, I became a software engineer and somehow managed to escape to Melbourne where the underground music scene has a real soul. It was only after being dragged to my first proper rave that my appreciation for music blossomed. I started to dedicate my spare time to understanding what this bleepy bloopy techno music was all about.

15 years later and somehow I've managed to play to festival crowds, little bars, empty rooms and galleries full of chin-stroking art nerds (ahh, my people). I even took a break from engineering to study fine art and music. I have a couple of shiny graduation certificates to prove it, which came in handy during the great toilet paper shortage of 2020.

Fun Fact: I once wrote a 7000 word thesis on the meaning of pink noise. I'm told it's a real page turner.

Sometimes I produce tracks, sometimes I DJ and sometimes I'll improvise live feedback drones with a home-made instrument comprised of hacked up Max patches, analog synths, mixers and distortion units. Once I even made my mates sit through an hour of pink noise, spatialised according to a swarming algorithm. Why? Because fractals are fucking awesome, that's why.

Oh right, this is where I tell you about my theory of music. Perfection is soulless. Less is more. Louder does not equal better. Subtlety in all things. Lyrics are an unnecessary and annoying distraction. Loops are liquid architecture. Break the rules and break them well because formulaic cliches are boring. Dance with your demons. Don't be a prick (still working on that one).

These days I'm a resident with the Rhythmic Shift crew at Radio Bar in Fitzroy. Come say hi at one of our monthly sessions. I promise not to go into an autistic rant about fractal noise (unless you ask nicely).