Soccer96 has always been a vessel for Danalogue and Betamax to find clear water from their multitude of other collaborations, their most notable being two-thirds of The Comet Is Coming alongside Shabaka Hutchings. Danalogue’s other recent production credits include Snapped Ankles and Calabashed, whilst Betamax has been making music with Champagne Dub and Coma World.
Dopamine, though, sees the pair back together once again, incubating their findings of the past two years and moving Soccer96 into new territories. The new record is darker in some senses than what they’ve put out before; it’s inspired by the idea of transhumanism and humanity’s ever-increasing entanglement with technology and artificial intelligence. It balances fears and moral concerns with the possibilities of evolution’s next phase.
The LP title Dopamine refers to the type of neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, that enables technology to hack into our minds and control us, creating addiction, dependency, Betamax explains.
New single ‘Sitting on a Satellite’ builds on these ideas, contrasting poetry and psychedelics with the coldness of technology. Once again the duo augment their line up with noted bass player Tom Herbert (Polar Bear/The Invisible)’ alongside fellow astral traveller Salami Rose Joe Louis on vocals, San Francisco based singer, synth player and producer signed to Brainfeeder. The duo met her backstage at a Sun Ra Arkestra concert, where she opened the show and Comet is Coming closed it. A monumental meeting of like-minded artists that had to result in collaboration.
Betamax goes into the roots of the track and accompanying video and in more detail:
You don’t have to be a billionaire to go to space! – Come aboard our satellite and enjoy the galactic perspective, the smooth panorama of eternity spread across the visual cortex. We will traverse seas of sonic probability waves as we discover new natural worlds twirling through chaos.
‘Lyrically it started life as a poem, touching upon some very human aspects of present and future technological/social integration – wonder, awe and mystery tempered by isolation and alienation. It’s from the perspective of a not-so-far in the future generation living up on satellites, watching the planet go by from a distance, but feeling like it’s just out of your grasp. This might be a familiar feeling.’
Soccer96 ‘Dopamine’ released 24th September 2021 on Moshi Moshi