„I think art is just like a river.....you can swim with its flow and let it take you whenever it wants. It doesn’t have any limitation and if you want to limit it, art will eventually find its way just like water.“ This statement by the 23 year old producer Sasan Aminiafshar aka DSM, describes quite well in the typical Persian magniloquent way, the mentality of the Iranian electronic music culture. The art inside the music stands at first place and due to it's limitations not the club and party culture as it's known from western scenes. This could also be the reason why experimental electronic music is so popular in Iran. Also DSM has worked in this genre a lot and thinks almost all the music that he has produced is experimental since they don’t follow any rule or routine, they just follow his feelings. He is trying to leave a dark, blank spot in his music that gives listeners the time to hesitate and think about the track and even sometimes zone them out. Recently, there was an album released by Cold Spring Records featuring some experimental producers called “Visions of Darkness (in Iranian Contemporary Music)”, which includes DSM's title “NOWRUZ”, which received great feedback.

“Therefore, many people changed their way of thinking about Iran, people who previously thought that we live in a desert with no art and music in our lives! People must know that music is a major part of Iranian culture!” DSM continues, “In Iran, we also have live performances of electronic music, especially experimental. Recently, people have become more familiar with this kind of music and have started listening to these kind of tracks. If someone played experimental music 10 years ago he would get yelled at to stop, but now everything has changed.”

Sasan was 16 when he first installed some audio mixing software on his computer, which became the gate to his new world and, some years late, lead to his first output on record labels such as Ready Mix Records, Capital Heaven and now to his „Abstracted“ EP on FUTURIST, the label run by Blade & Beard, two iranian DJs and producers you probably might know from the film „Raving Iran“.

While his EP is more on the dark and melodic Techno trip, his mix he did for us is some masterpiece of Ambient which is - yes, that’s no contradiction - dystopian and almost warm at the same time. Or, in his own words: "The mix takes you in a journey through your unconscious mind, the land of thoughts and feelings that you're unaware of... The sounds sync your heart beat with these mysterious emotions... and your feelings then grow freely in this dark land, just like how a "Qashae" grows freely without leaves and embraces the nature.“

We hope you enjoy our transmission form Iran.

 

 

 

follow him on

facebook 

soundcloud 

 

also check Abstracted on

spotify

beatport

soundcloud

Futurist on facebook