Following his anticipated appearance on Monstercat’s 10-Year Anniversary album, fan-favourite composer and producer Varien has returned to the label today, alongside Finnish producer Psylla for their A/B release, ‘FULL ASSAULT/ALL THAT U WANT’. Featuring frenetic vocals from the likes of JACKIE EXTREME and girl_irl, the two-track package sees Varien and Psylla flex an aggressive approach to hyper-rave stylings in an homage to the darker side of ballroom. Fit for goth nights and cathartic club experiences, ‘FULL ASSAULT/ALL THAT U WANT’ is a refreshing look at the underbelly of queer music in its most raw form.
Stream – https://monster.cat/fullassault
Varien shares, “I just want there to be more angry and aggressive queer music out there. There’s no way we’re all rainbow-colored. I went through my first real queer experiences in goth clubs, on industrial nights, with the elder gays – so I always clicked with that alternative side.”
Psylla adds, ”I’ve been looking more into ballroom culture and voguing during the past couple of years so when Nikki played me the demos for both songs I went: ’Yeah, we’re finishing these.’ It was awesome to get Jackie and girl_irl on them. They both immediately knew what we were going for: the grittier, more aggressive side of ballroom and LGBTQIA+ music.”
JACKIE EXTREME also comments, “Queerness is violence. Being told the person you genuinely are is incorrect on a daily basis puts you in a constant state of defense, a frame of mind that allows for no solace when you’re in a world of glaring eyes and frequent vile hate speech thrown casually your way. I’m so used to making songs that provide a shield, whereas this song is the sword, a barrage of frantic aggressive neon synths that I knew needed to be an absolute call to arms. I’m tired of seeing our people bruised and this is the theme song to throwing those bruises back.”
girl_irl concludes, “I’ve been wanting to slowly evolve my sound into something danceable, industrial and cathartic for club spaces for the past few months now – when I was approached to work on this song it felt like a perfect ‘right time and place’ moment. Psylla and Varien created a vision that immediately resonated with me and a sound that connects our worlds so well!! They’re visionaries who know exactly what they want. I love this track so much and I’m so stoked to be a part.”
‘FULL ASSAULT/ALL THAT U WANT’ EP Tracklist
1. FULL ASSAULT w/ JACKIE EXTREME
2. ALL THAT U WANT w/ girl_irl
Varien Bio
Nikki Kaelar, better known by his stage name Varien, is an internationally recognized composer, producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his innovative, new-age sound and high-tech production technique. It juxtaposes a sense of femininity and cuteness with dark, gritty, goth styles.
Nikki describes his new music as hyperrave. It aims to exaggerate elements of Y2K-era aesthetics, rave culture, techno-optimism, transhumanism, and lots of grit and industrial attitude. Varien’s sound is an absolute expression of who Nikki is as a person and is therefore informed by everything from The Matrix and Serial Experiments Lain to Suicide Silence and breakcore/IDM to Dance Dance Revolution.
Varien has been attributed to being a true mastermind in the electronic realm, a vanguard in innovation, and a figurehead for underground electronic producers. In 2019, EDM.com cited his as the Trent Reznor of electronic music. His music has reached over 150 million collective plays across streaming platforms and has been released on Monstercat, OWSLA, and Wakaan. His songs receive support from Skrillex, REZZ, and LSDream to mention a few.
Nikki has previously been on the frontier of many genres; he has set the bar while he was there — #1 Hits for K-Pop groups, composer on Hollywood films including Furious 7, John Wick 3, and Hotel Mumbai and massive video games such as Doki Doki Literature Club.
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Psylla Bio
Psylla is the brainchild of Aleksi Kiiskinen, a Helsinki-based Finnish music producer at the forefront of creative electronic sounds coming from the Nordics. As such, Psylla strays from the conventional, instead seeking sounds and collaborations that have not yet been heard. In addition, he also knows his way around classic instruments such as the guitar and drums.
Praised for his mind-bending sounds and production skills by prolific electronic music artists like Disclosure, Baauer, RL Grime, and Mr. Bill, Psylla bows to no genre and instead glides through the electronic music spectrum with a gritty and daring sound signature. On the side, he spends his evenings mixing, mastering and producing for other artists; putting his eclectic engineering skills to good use.
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JACKIE EXTREME Bio
JACKIE EXTREME is an anonymously fronted experimental electronic pop project started in 2019, fronted by the squeaky eponymous singer JACKIE. Abrasive vocal processing and heavy bass fills out the discography of JACKIE, constantly breaking through the wall of sound in creative & aggressive ways. Defiantly queer and decidedly gender-bent, the shifting boundary pushing noise and intentionally glitch filled sound create an atmosphere of growing tension, thick atmosphere, and tracks filled with what can only be described as ‘challenges’.
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girl_irl Bio
‘Cathartic Make Belive’ artist, girl_irl, has become one of the internet’s favorite enigmas.
Coining the term ‘industrial pop’ with inspiration from their diverse roots Atlanta-raised and New York based artist, girl_irl is exploring all aspects of today’s sonic landscape and carrying a new sound with it. They’re diverse roots and upbringing truly brings forth new invention – they don’t just say their genre bending, they prove it. ‘Cathartic Make Belive’ artist, girl_irl, has become one of the internet’s favorite enigmas.
With their first single going viral, gaining admiration from the needle drop as best track of the week, and being featured by notion, altpress, Dummy Mag and much more, Em Perlman is continuing to take 2022 by storm.
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