Hear Aqua Dominatrix’s New Single '1995' - Where Alien Invasions Meet Cyberpunk Techno

A longtime mainstay of popular metal bands like Scribe and Pangea, the initial surprise of producer Akshay Rajpurohit’s transformation into a hype-man of all things synthpop has worn off. Between the release of his 12-track album Sadomist and numerous live shows that reflect his mad-scientist approach best, audiences have had time to grow accustomed to his unique soundscapes. Now, the time is riper than ever for him to drop the kind of narrative-heavy, adventurous music he’s always gravitated towards and that’s exactly what his latest single ‘1995’ promises.

If ever there was a track that might drop at Mos Eisley’s Cantina on the planet of Tattooine , this would be it. The single is a full-blown explosion into the subgenre that is dark techno. While he usually enjoys blending melodic arrangements with a contrasting rhythm and bass structure, for this track, Akshay Rajpurohit has tried to add a more cyberpunk, neo-tokyo vibe, and the difference works its way through most evidently for those who have followed his trajectory closely. This, paired with long droning pad leads adds a significant about of scale to the visual making for an incredibly futuristic sound.

The story behind this single in particular revolves around two female agents from the FBI who time travel from the year 2995 to 1995 to uncover a clandestine alien invasion that might have shaped all technology on Earth. Akshay explains it best. “The idea for this track came from just observing the rapidly evolving technology around us and wondering where it all started or began in the first place. And personally, i’d attribute that to the year 1995. In under 365 days we got win95, netscape, java, macintosh, dot.com, html, amazon, the silicon valley boom and more. So I thought, what if such a technological advancement was not our doing but something more sinister? *Cue dark synth pad*” The story acted more as a cue for certain sounds, and for setting the track in motion overall. Akshay loves programming synthesizers and records his songs all in one take - a bulk of his time is spent in getting the right sound which is nearly impossible without the right theme in mind.

The nature of his music has been heavily influenced by movies from the 80’s and 90’s, as most of these movies had synth-driven sounds (think Blade Runner, Star Wars, Dune, Grease), and it was this that made the whole experience come alive for him. And so his search to find artists that used synths to create music began, from which his own journey has been carved. Aqua Dominatrix’s sound is mostly heralded for overdriving and distorting his synths, as well as modulars and drum machines. He is currently working on an album set to release later this year, and has been putting out a lot of work to give people a little taste of what’s to come. For now, though, take a trip through time with this stellar single.