Dixon and Âme on fusing technology with the dancefloor through Transmoderna

What is the next innovation to take place within the clubbing industry? In a culture fueled by dimly lit rooms with booming sound, can more be done to suck punters into the dancefloor? With technological advances constantly taking place, many dance music innovators are pushing the limits of their creativity to deliver awe-inspiring experiences. For Innervisions label bosses Dixon and Âme, the next phase in the evolution of clubbing is here with Transmoderna.

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Focusing on presenting a space that transforms clubbing into an immersive system, the new event series aims to deliver an environment not commonly found on the global circuit. As Dixon states, the atmosphere takes revelers to a new space "by interlinking sound, space, lights and visuals in a way that reality starts to become indistinct."

To coincide with the Transmoderna event series, Âme produced a hypnotic and ethereal electronic ballad of the same name that helps reflect the ethos of the new venture. The accompanying music video features four dancers in a studio session as their movements merge with imagery of artificial intelligence. The dance is seen translated into mathematical equations, showcasing the connection between humans and technology. Âme discussed the motif as prompting the viewer to undergo "a weird, but enchanting virtual hypnosis."

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With Transmoderna's first season coming to a close at Pacha in Ibiza this year, we linked up with Dixon and Âme to get a better understanding of the vision behind this new music and clubbing experience.

Why is immersive clubbing a strong focus for you and why is this something the dance music community needs now more than ever?

Dixon: Clubbing has always been a form of escapism into another space, dimension or reality. Manifested in techno by a strong focus on future and space, and in house with thousands of songs about heaven. We are living in times where technology can support this, but is rather used to create a concert style experience, with a focus on strong visuals around the performing artists. With Transmoderna we want to use technology to put the focus away from the DJ and help to elevate the clubbing experience by interlinking sound, space, lights and visuals in a way that reality starts to become indistinct.

Why did you choose to deliver the Transmoderna event series in Ibiza and not anywhere else in the world?

Dixon: Transmoderna will establish itself in reality and hyperreality. Ibiza is the first step on this long road, because the clubbing reality on this island is unreal itself. It is there for 20 weeks and then it disappears for another 32. That makes you think in seasons rather than open up a residence somewhere and it just runs week in and week out, and becomes a routine in itself.

What are some challenges you face in delivering your vision?

Dixon: We decided to create our vision at Pacha in Ibiza just by the end of February this year, which gave us little to no time to build a strong creative team that could deliver something that we have never tested anywhere else. So it took us until the middle of the season until we felt that that we actually delivered our concept the way we planned it from the beginning. Now, by the end of the season we are happy with what we acheived, but we are looking forward to things that will come beyond Pacha and Ibiza.

Innervisions has been known to deliver events in unique locations, can we expect Transmoderna to take place anywhere else?

Dixon: When it comes to events for Innervisions, Lost In A Moment and Transmoderna are like minded event series that have a common ground. But with Innervisions we focus mainly on the music, with Lost In A Moment it is all about unique outdoor locations and with Transmoderna our main focus is technology. So, yes Transmoderna will take place somewhere else in 2020, but it will be just two to three carefully selected locations around the world. And besides the events we have some pretty rad projects in hyper reality planned. So watch out for it.

The 'Transmoderna' EP features a collection of our Innervisions favorites. Is there a common thread that ties all these artists together?

Dixon: No, there is not. In fact they are very different personalities and artists. But I never judge music by the artists behind it and rather try to have an unfiltered view on the music itself.

Does this track signal a new focus for you as producers? What can we expect from the next evolution of your sound?

Âme: During the work on our album we developed a lot of skits for dance floor tracks we wanted to work on later. 'Transmoderna' is the first one we finished and definitely marks something new. We wanted to create something that sounds totally here and now and at least we achieved that for us.

What about this new track represents the ethos of the club night?

Âme: Creating dancefloor material is a tough job as we felt we are standing in front of a blank canvas and we didn’t know what to do in the beginning. We had that skit but we weren’t really sure what do with it as it was a hybrid of too many things which didn’t convince us. Dixon and Bruno (Trikk) were the first who heard it in an early stage and they immediately forced us to finish it. The philosophy of Transmodernism perfectly fits to this track and we chose the name. Also the club night is kind of a new field Dixon is entering.

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How does the music video reflect what you aim to do at Transmoderna?

Âme: The music perfectly reflects what modern electronic music should be. It knows its history but it exists in the here and now and doesn’t pretend to be a futuristic escapism. Then the video is a clash of human origin with an AI technology and it's more than a visual background for the music. I also admire the dancers and their performance.

The video fuses AI with human action, do you have any thoughts on how AI is going to impact our world in the future?

Âme: It already has a huge impact I guess and it will make things easier for humankind, but like with all technology it should have a humanistic source or philosophy otherwise they use the technology in the wrong way. We have to give the algorithms a consciousness otherwise it's just a fast learning computer.

Is there anything coming up in 2020 that we can get excited about now?

Âme: We want to finish more of our dancefloor material and we will start collecting ideas for another album. These are the plans from the Âme side for 2020.

With a new focus for delivering immersive clubbing experiences, Dixon and Âme are relentlessly pushing the boundaries. As this season of Transmoderna comes to a close, all eyes are on the next iteration to showcase even more awe-inspiring spaces that blend the boundaries of reality.

Harrison Williams is Mixmag's US Editor, follow him on Twitter

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Video Credits:
Music: @ame_innervisions
Label: @innervisions_official
Art director: Ana Ofak
Executive producer: @_dixon_
Video director and choreographer: @frankamarleneka
Post production director and producer: @o_.o._o
3D rendering: @jonas_stadter @selamxstudio