The creative nucleus of Byaduoorgroup currently comprises of two members, weishein and ramodiaz, both full time designers and adult kids who used to jam indie rock hits in the 90’s all through college.

Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s undoubtedly left many musical memories and inspiration, having witnessed and absorbed the post-punk and new wave of the 80’s, and the grunge and alternative of the 90’s before the resurgence of electronica took over the mid 90’s and progressed by the mass till today.

Minimal electronic with glitchy synths warped around the gushing force of new wave makes up their sound today, as evident in the album, Ninetyfivezeroeight, which just dropped in February this year. Every track is different though if you listened closely. Love Sick, for instance, has a classical vibe that introduces a dark, romantic mood amidst minimal synthesized beats. On the reverse side of things, Climate Changes clearly brought back their indie rock influence, but on the drumkit.

When you think of experimental electronic, you don’t really think of Malaysia. You think of Germany, maybe. You recall the 70’s Kraftwerk whose impact on modern music never really went away, not just in electronic music.

But as much as we love Kraftwerk, experimental electronic never got much attention otherwise. If you are not bent on the avant-garde, it is easy to ignore or misconstrue experimental electronica as simplistic noise with misguided melodies or rhythm.

Byaduoorgroup is proudly homegrown Malaysians who happen to make artistic electronica with catchy melodies strapped on dissonant beats and manipulated on their Mac and 8-track mixer. Despite the convenience of technology, it took much time and effort (three years in the making!) to release their 16-track album, unlike many modern music of today.

Their work had already caught our attention last year. And with a full album release now, we chatted with them to find out more. Of course, our intention is to expose their music to all, and hopefully, some of you out there will appreciate their futuristic vision.


April 2008
J. Ringo
http://halfwaystreet.blogspot.com/