iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

NYC, excited to announce For the ravers and synth gearheads alike: White Owl Records SIDECHAIN is back Friday 9/19 at @transpecos.bsky.social in Ridgewood. live hardware jams all night. Early bird tix available now. Flyer artwork as always by yours truly. ra.co/events/2250951

Sidechain - Live Machine Music Flyer for September 19th at Trans-Pecos in Ridgewood, NY. Buzzi, S4M23, Tabob, TJ McAu, Conor Krane. Live hardware synth techno all night.

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

so far so good we barista-ing

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

new work- Spectral Mutation: Various Artists - Permutations 1 Cover Artwork and Layout for Asheville NC-based Record Label ft: Matthew Cha, SSG, Marteka Fair, AMB-5, Cutsnare, Chris Lock, OHMU, Evaporationist, Anthony Pena, Will Karmis spectral-mutation.bandcamp.com/album/permut...

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

hired at local cafe... starting my blue hair and pronouns barista arc next week

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

White Owl Records: Instagram interview with Coast2c (CDMX) - Radical Devotion Design, Layout EP Out August 1st available for presave/pre-order now (loading in 4K recommended) whiteowlrecords.bandcamp.com whiteowlrecords.xyz

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

ICYMI: Talker @ The Lot Radio this past Sunday. New EP out tonight at midnight

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

There are apparently only 2 places in the entire city of Philadelphia that still repair or sell typewriters and one is in my neighborhood because of course it is. Ran in there yesterday and chatted w the owner. She teaches touch typing to kids on the weekends

Typewriter Takeout at WPM Typewriter Shop in Philadelphia

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Hi! Here's some incredibly boring information about New York from my 2004 Kodak Easyshare:

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

White Owl Records: Instagram interview for Talker (NYC) - It's Not The Archer, It's The Arrow Editorial Design, Layout EP Out July 3rd, 2025 available for presave now (alt text available) whiteowlrecords.xyz

The Archer and the Arrow: an Interview with Talker

Raised in Savannah, Georgia, Talker is no alien to the hot summer sun, barreling down on us and our matching black cold brews. He gleefully shares his encyclopedic opinions on music niches and mainstreams – only slowed by the occasional drag of his American Spirit. His first release on White Owl Records, It’s Not The Archer, It’s The Arrow, is out soon. Sweat-doused, we catch up to discuss his production techniques, the internet’s effect on DJing, and gearhead syndrome.

Jack: How’d you get into making music?

Talker: Let’s see. It was summertime, I was 14 and I went to my cousin's house. His friends were making really cheesy trance tracks on fruity loops, and I was like, ‘Wait, you can just make music on the computer?’ – that was mind blowing for me. Then a few months later at church my friend Aaron gave me a USB with a cracked Ableton Live 8 and was like, ‘This is what Skrillex uses to make music,’ (laughs) – I was listening to a lot of Skrillex and Deadmau5.

Jack: Me too.

Talker: A few years later I met Ian (@Cades) and he’s had the best music taste ever from an infant. At the time he introduced me to Ben UFO through his Boiler Room 47 set – it’s that early 2010’s post-dubstep and grime instrumentals. And he plays a Three 6 Mafia record and that James Blake remix of A Milli by Lil Wayne. It was just all this different type of music. I probably still listen to the mix like once a month.

Talker: I got to see him back in 2021 with Objekt at Club Night Club. They’d play all these different things and recontextualize them in different ways – and it’s the overlap of these different styles that creates this third thing that only exists in that room. Once you get into this place of playing a lot of different genres you really get these interesting third songs.

Jack: It can be so cool to see people live that you’ve grown up with online.

Talker: Totally – I mean, we didn’t have any clubs to go to back in Savannah. There were just jam bands and karaoke nights. We didn’t have any other context outside of whatever sets we were listening to online. I grew up thinking there were no rules as to what you could mix – no genre specifications. People today can be such genre specialists, but I think it’s interesting for the crowd to be taken through different sonic avenues.

Jack: That’s interesting because your last release on your own label, Grand Prix (@Grand Prix Recordings), feels very different from this one, which is way more techno.

Talker: I’m glad you brought this up. Both EPs are very different, but like I said, I think that’s kind of silly to be a genre specialist because there's so much good music out there. That’s why I enjoyed doing this record so much. I’ve always wanted to make proper techno, and I’ve always been really bad at it. But now I feel like I’m more cued into the sound, the technique, and what my tastes actually are – I know the context better.

Jack: And so what are those contexts that you’re coming from with this EP?

Talker:I ’ve always been fascinated by the Detroit-Berlin connection. Y’know Detroit was like its own little microcosm, the midwest in general was its own microcosm of music. Obviously you’ve got your big names from Detroit, but you’ve also got DVS1 doing things in like Montana – just random places. It’s like, ‘There was a techno scene here in the ‘90s? Oh wait – 5000 people would show up to these parties every weekend?’ Seeing the do-it-yourself drive – knowing how inclusive these communities were, there’s just something very special about that run-and-gun attitude. And then there’s Basic Channel, which is obviously a big influence for me – for everyone I think. It's interesting though how they spent a lot of time in the Bronx with the Wackies studio. They learned how to do dub mixing and recording from Bullwackie. They found a lot of Jamaican artists that were either still in Jamaica or had immigrated to New York. Artists who maybe never really saw their true light at the time and re-press their records 30 or 40 years after they had recorded it. So I’ve always found the whole Wackies stuff through Basic Channel to be really cool too – and I genuinely feel like they really wanted to build that community with what they had to offer, and bring that sound to a place totally across the world.

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

so ICE is arresting mayors now probably not good

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

recently i've been working here and there to do graphic works for Baltimore's BRUISER Magaznie. i'd really appreciate it if you checked out their amazing writing and maybe submit a piece or two at www.bruisermag.com (I'm gonna make a post soon abt taking freelance/commissioned work - stay tuned)

Illustration for Gram Hummel's "I Need To Go Outside Permanently".

Illustration for Ryan Bender-Murphy's "The Genius In Letting It Fall".

Illustration for Caleb Bethea's "Remembering Birth".

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

me finishing kitchen confidential and deciding my life has not completely fallen apart enough in the last 12 months for my preferences: huh i wonder what would happen if i decided to become a chef like my dad.

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

some photos from wednesday night's party. i took these with a Kodak EasyShare CX7430 from 2004. on one hand i am very glad that the camera i grew up with as a kid still works! on the other hand it makes me feel some type of way about this camera now being "vintage digital photography" lol

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

watched it (well DNF'd) before i went to band practice yesterday but THE ELECTRIC STATE: The Russo Brothers belong in the Hague and Ted Sarandos in front of an SEC commission for money laundering. Elba, Domingo, Huy Quan all deserve better, MBB and Chris Pratt deserve even less

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

happy friday team. did this flyer artwork for a release show at Rash Bar in BK soon - techno for the heads, both live syntth sets and DJ sets. and it's free 🕺🏿dont be a stranger now, if you're in new york it's time to put your dancing boots on.

flyer for White Owl Records' release party for Piner - Daybreak (EP out March 21st). Party is March 26th at Rash Bar in Brooklyn March 26th, 2025, 10PM to 4AM. Featured acts include Conor Krane and Talker live synth sets, and Concrete Husband and Piner DJ sets. the art is fire if i say so myself.

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

i had a salaried design job and 401k at an internationally renowned industrial research org working with scientists and engineers and now im on culinaryagents and i cant get people to respond to my applications to be a busser or server c'est business it is what it is

media.tenor.com

a man wearing a blue jays hat is standing next to another man wearing a black sweatshirt .

ALT: a man wearing a blue jays hat is standing next to another man wearing a black sweatshirt .

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

x is down and I’m down in Philly again so like here’s 4 more pictures of Josie my moms Cat. yay

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

i did my taxes in the middle the night on a sunday and either i am getting a good refund or what left of the irs is going to deport me to africa or france soon for what i've done to my 1099s. we'll see

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

informing the prospective comapny that i can bring hype moments and aura to their organization in my cover letter

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Being 28 is all about screaming and crying at adobe after effects because of disk cache issues making you have problems exporting a 30 second clip for ig

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

this time last year i had a salaried tech job with a 401k and a train commute to an office where I lounged around in an Eero Saarinen building with some of the smartest people in the world. today i filled out an application for SNAP. life comes at you fast! (thank god i am out of big tech tho)

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

as i reach my elderly age of 28 i have reconsidered and soften many of my former pretenses: one of of which being that i was really hating on ska for no reason. a lot of third wave ska is dreadful but the good stuff is still good. like this Pilfers record from '98 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIr...

Pilfers - Climbing (with Lyrics)

YouTube video by Slavko Novjanovski

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Reposted by chaka

Such Great Heights @suchgreatheights.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

TV On The Radio play "Wolf Like Me" on Letterman (2006)

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

15: Mabe Fratti - Queiros o no Singer/Songwriter/Cellist from CDMX, like jazz, chamber music, folk/pop all in one. I am not really sure who put me onto 'Sentir que no sabes' from last yr but it's worth checking out www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2L...

Mabe Fratti: "Quieros o no" (In-Studio)

YouTube video by New Sounds

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

14: Fleshwater - Enjoy demo (bjork cover) www.youtube.com/watch?v=18dO...

YouTube video by deathfmradio

fleshwater_enjoy (demo)

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

13: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K68... sorry. it's the superb owl. go birds. i will die for my country philadelphia

Fly Eagles Fly (Eagles Fight Song) Lyric Video

YouTube video by N2B Goal Horns

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

one day late, but 12: Lust For Youth & Croatian Amor - Dummy. RIP Posh Isolation records www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e7i...

Lust For Youth & Croatian Amor - Dummy ft. Purient (Official Video)

YouTube video by Sacred Bones Records

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

11: Nala Sinephro - Endlessness one of my favorite jazz albums from 2024 and in recent memory period. turn it on and float away www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyvq...

Nala Sinephro - Endlessness (Full Album)

YouTube video by Nala Sinephro

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

im a simple man i see metalcore with an angel on the cover or the band name is surrounded by xs and i listen

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

the job search has turned me into the Fell For It Again Award World Champion in some aspects even when i am trying to keep my expectations as low as possible. brutal

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

9 + 10 (belated): SOPHIE - HEAV3N SUSPENDED nothing much to say, she was the blueprint, pop music is still just now catching up to her. miss her! www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXPS...

SOPHIE LIVESTREAM HEAV3N SUSPENDED

YouTube video by SOPHIE

Dr Benjamin Thorne @benjaminthorne.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Reposted by chaka

'Still, today, people show up on the streets to protest and demand a better way of being. Why? Because of hope, hope that somehow, someway, the world around us can become that which we hold in our heart of hearts—full of joy, peace, and serenity.'

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

i am looking forward to the prospect of moving to bk but also having to move is not fun to think about

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

7+8: i didn't post the other day because i had to work on the weekend! as penance here is 40 mins of gqom/ghettotech/techno/etc. that i mixed when i couldnt sleep which will count as today's music share soundcloud.com/user-8857595...

soundcloud.com

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includes the tracks: Apprentis - Seguendo bktherula - coupe (sujaatse gqom edit) Darama & Kush Arora - Rattle DJ Nativesun - September Steps (Nativesun Remix) Dubrunner - Overruled Glisten - Legend J

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

5: glassJAw - The Number No Good Things Can Come Of (Remix) glassjaw is one of my favorite bands ever and daryl palumbo is the closest thing the hc scene will ever come to bobby caldwell. this is a little known rmx from his side project with a dude from Brand New www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C_j...

glassJAw - The Number No Good Things Can Come Of (Remix)

YouTube video by minusblindfold40

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

LessWrong and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race

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chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

4: Richard Orofino - Lions Mane 80s big instrumentation, Oneohtrix Pt Never/Phil Collins vibes. randomly stumbled across these new singles and i cannot get them out my head. I let the mirror talk he put my ass into the E.R. 🕺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChDL...

YouTube video by Richard Orofino - Topic

Lion's Mane

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

grad school was a fun thing to think about for like 5 seconds

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_-X... Day 3: the one where i humblebrag about growing up within walking distance of the Sun Ra Arkestra house but also shoutout to Marshall Allen for putting out his first album at the age of 100. jazz is probably the key to longetivity, don't tell bryan johnson

Marshall Allen feat. Neneh Cherry - New Dawn (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by Marshall Belford Allen

chaka @chaka.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

i slept in til noon today but we're back day 2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTWD... Pure Hell: OG black punk band (and one of the first early US punk bands ever) formed in Philly in '74, a few years after Death from Detroit. early inspiration on Bad Brains

PURE HELL: ALIAS the Wild One - L.A. TV

YouTube video by PURE HELL Official