Special collaboration between drummer Magnus Karlsson and synthesist Emil Nord.

Writing: Emil Nord & Magnus Karlsson

Synthesizers, programming: Emil Nord

Drums, performance: Magnus Karlsson

Production & mixing: Emil Nord
soundcloud.com/shiftdelete

Mastering: Leon Smith
scmastering.com

Artwork: Chelsea Lavelle
instagram.com/cllavelle

Download

Synergy (feat. M. Karlsson)

Datashader emerges from the shadows with a striking breaks- and bass-heavy debut release that challenges the fabric of our digital existence. Replete with a Dopplereffekt remix, it nods to the legacy of revered anonymous acts such as Scopex, Drexciya and Underground Resistance, pushing the boundaries of both electronic music exploration and its conceptual underpinnings. As a critique of the erosion of genuine human connection in the digital age, Datashader delivers a barrage of billowing subs, infectious electro, recontextualized jungle, and techno, serving as a poignant counterbalance to current dance floor-centric norms. It's a contemporary anti-soundtrack that offers a haunting mirror to the societal costs of technological convenience. 

In a world engulfed by the digital realm, where social media platforms thrive and dominate every aspect of our lives, the enigmatic project known as Datashader was founded to reflect on the pervasive erosion of authentic human connection through various virtual realities.

Artistically, Datashader seeks to critique the impact of technology on human identity and relationships, breaking with an archetype of digital conformity and expressing a profound disillusionment with the superficiality of online interactions through music. Genuine human connection and art cannot be quantified by likes, comments, or followers but rather thrives in the visceral realm of shared sonic experience and human emotion. This idea is at the core idea of Datashader, whose artistic expression ranges from avant-garde composition and electronic experimentations to art, installation, film and more.

Expressed within the varied contexts of diverse artistic mediums, Datashader explores the concept of "technological gentrification", which describes the gradual displacement of human interaction by technology. Just as gentrification alters the urban landscape, driving out communities and cultures, digital gentrification transforms the social landscape, replacing genuine connection with curated online personas. 

Musically, Datashader's practice confronts this dystopian reality, highlighting the alarming consequence of people becoming mere nodes in a network, reduced to a collection of data points. This is manifested sonically by a blistering assault of breaks, recontextualized IDM, abstract electronics and otherworldly synthscapes, conceived as the aesthetic counterbalance to much of contemporary electronic music's dancefloor focus. 

Datashader dives deep into genres and influences which stand for a form of sonic resistance: A contemporary anti- soundtrack &ndash; a sonic mirror of the price we pay for convenience and instant gratification. A self-image in constant flux. No false technological idols.

BANDCAMP

Datashader - Fong (feat. Kastil)

Datashader - Tight Gate

Wanted to wrap my head around Charlatan3 (http://blaukraut.info/) and took the KVR One Synth Challenge as occasion to do so. Sticking to the Demoscene tradition, this jam's recorded using 10 plugin instances, without further additives.

Synergy (feat. M. Karlsson)

Shiftdelete

Related tracks