Over the past few years Tony Donson, aka SONIKKU, has been making quite a name for himself. An electronic producer with an obsession with SEGA, the young artist is renowned for creating some of the most mind-bending underground pop to date — with his latest album Joyful Death garnering a huge amount of attention, so much so track “Sweat” received remix work from the late SOPHIE. Fast-forward two years and SONIKKU has a brand new EP dropping aptly named MOLG, short for Machines of Loving Grace, written in the early months of the pandemic.
Inspired by Metal Gear Solid 2’s early predictions of AI overthrowing humanity, the record finds the London-based producer at the mercy of machine learning technologies — now too sophisticated to control. Also inspired by the off-grid warehouse and forest raves that placated London’s ravers during lockdown, SONIKKU’s vision of the future is ungovernable, echoed throughout the EP – pulling reference from the erratic collage style of Curtis’ works that track the degradation of global politics in a future without rules. With release day just around the corner, SONIKKU breaks down each track from MOLG.
Megalomaniac
My favourite sound in Dance music is that slide-y/glide bass sound – I first heard it on Yeah Yeah by Bodyrox and Wearing My Rolex by Wiley and was obsessed with trying to find out what that specific sound was, this track was inspired by that sound.
Oligarch
People that listen to my music probably know me for my 80’s inspired pop from my first album, I listen to all kinds of different music and here I’m playing with my more techno influences.
Lifestyle
I really like Dance music that has a fun hook like White Horse by Laid Back or Bugatti by Tiga. So I wanted to combine that with my love of 2007 electro, which has this specific textural sound. (The album ‘Fieber by Oliver Huntemann is a big influence here).
Geopolitics
I really just wanted to make a melodic techno track and so I made Geopolitics. I also wanted there to be a connection with the music I DJ and the music I release, I’m not gonna be playing tracks from my first album at a rave at 3am so I wanted the music I play to start reflecting the music I release.
