A Ripple Conversation With 4ra 4ra

Photo Credit Adéla Zlámalová

What have been your musical epiphany moments?

That I've already known what the f djs actually do.

Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?

I experiment a lot with sounds and visuals. I always like to be the boss of chaos, but at the beginning, I prefer things to be organized. I kickstart my creative process with a concept. Picture me, clicking away on FL Studio at home, in a super cozy setup. My production style is very modern. While I've tried various hardware instruments, I usually lean towards wavetable synthesizer VSTs like Serum and other software sound-designing tools.

I also enjoy crafting mental visuals while producing music, creating different scenarios in my head. Sometimes, it's a bit challenging for me to focus on a specific thing because my mind is tuned into multiple creative frequencies simultaneously.

Who has influenced you the most?

REZZ, Poppy, IC3PEAK, Lucille Croft, HANABIE. I love strong women with dark music.

Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?

I simply listen to others music, but I also like to be inspired by culture and art. As a gamer and virtual space colonizer, various video games, anime, and books inspire me.My music is a fusion of influences from video games, gore anime, and chronic online entities. I love to blend genres and vibes, whether it's from mid-tempo to nightcore, or from feelings of happiness to bursts of aggressiveness.

We're all a product of our environment. Tell us about the band's hometown and how that reflects in the music?

I've been chronically online since my teenage years, so it doesn't matter where I am physically located. Video games and virtual culture realms influence my music much more than the places I live in, as I mostly go out only to the supermarket to buy food.

Where'd the band name come from?

My name is Ara Ara, but with numbers 4ra 4ra, like a gaming nickname where you need to use numbers instead of letters for accessibility. 'Ara Ara' is something like 'Oh my,' said by a cougar woman in anime or an expression of surprise. I chose it because it's a sort of meme.

You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?

Wheel Runner - Tokyo Drift 2049 and from real one, Enter the Void -Gaspar Noé.

You now write for a music publication (The Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?

Need For Drift because this song has been by far my biggest experiment ever. The entire timeline is gradually accelerating in tempo until it crashes and undergoes enormous changes. From synthwave to cyberphonk to techno to nightcore! It's funny that it all started from my cover of the song 'Tokyo Drift,' where I drastically chopped vocals into nonsense. Additionally, I pitched and bent the melody with a phonk-sounding bell. I also, I wanted to capture the kind of retro-modern synthwave vibe found in Kavinsky's 'Nightcall' in breakdowns. In the end I wanted my listeners to experience a dystopian cyberpunk atmosphere - ultimately, it's a solid chaos, something like a drifting JPOP song on drugs in a car crash.

Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?

Actually I had the spinal surgery, it was kinda Spinal Tap moment, literally. Very fancy local anaesthesia. One of the best drug I've ever had.

Tell us about playing live and the live experience for you and for your fans?

My live shows are cybercore audio-visual experiences. As a digital artist, I emphasize strong visuals with digital avatars created by me.

What makes a great song?

To write a shitty song first. This way, you can trick and surprise people when you improve and reach godlike levels.

Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?

u glitched is my first self-made song ever. It's insecure yet passionate. Despite not being the best, it will always represent the beginning of this journey. It is somewhere between JPOP and cyberpunk. The main theme is respawning, also known as the gaming term for the revival time delay in digital gaming death. It's a paraphrase of life in the simulation. Parallel realities, Schrödinger's cat. What happens when a consciousness-equipped biosystem awakens from the simulation, but artificial intelligence repeatedly tries to reload it from the glitch?

What piece of your music are particularly proud of?

One of my songs, 'Antagonist-chan,' with GrimesAI, made it to the top 10GrimesAI Spotify songs. I'm proud of it.

Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?

HANABIE - It's a very cool metalcore in the Harajuku style.

Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?

Digital.

Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice

I'm not a big fan of either of these two. I hate the taste of beer, and whiskey gives me a headache.

We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?

I'm from a village which has a thousand people. There is one grocery store, one soccer playground, and one church with a cemetery, which could be a cool place to listen to Spotify or SoundCloud, I guess.

What's next for you and the band?

I'm gonna release 4vatar 4.4.2024, which is one of my first songs, but I've only performed it live. I set up the Unreleased Game for my fans, and they chose this track from my unreleased library. So here we are - it's cyberpunk mid-tempo bass with loli vocals about being an avatar and I'm working on my debut EP right now.

Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?

You look lonely Wave Riders, join me for a cyber sonic journey as we synchronize our audio implants for 4ra 4ra.