Space Dimension Controller
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Space Dimension Controller

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In Hamill’s dystopian future, Earth has been invaded by a race of aliens called the Pulsovians. After the invaders destroyed our Sun, extinguishing life in our solar system, the few humans able to escape made their way to the habitable world of Mikrosector-50 – located in a galaxy far, far away (Star Wars references seem unavoidable, considering Hamill shares a surname with the actor who played Luke Skywalker). Hamill’s alter ego, Mr. 8040, works as a Space Dimension Controller helping to defend this new outpost of humanity, but at night he sneaks out to produce music on ancient synthesisers.

“It just started off as something small, but grew pretty fast. I don’t really know how to explain it,” Hamill says of the sci-fi narrative he has created as a backdrop for his music. “It was all just in my head and then it was out there. I just find it a lot more fun to draw inspiration from a complete story I’ve made up instead of just sitting at a computer and seeing what comes out.”

The 22-year-old first started dabbling in production at 16. He emerged as Space Dimension Controller in 2009 with his debut 12”, The Love Quadrant, and attended the 2010 Red Bull Music Academy. Hamill has since released a string of EPs and singles – the most recent being his double 12”, The Pathway to Tiaquon 6, late last year – with each release delving further into the world and mythology of Mikrosector-50.

So does setting the scene in Mikrosector-50, hundreds of years in the future, free Hamill of the constraints of contemporary music? “I don’t know, maybe?” he responds when posed the question. “It means I’m able to make a tune inspired by getting off with a robotic prostitute on a distant planet or being chased by some alien through a giant sphere instead of writing a song about how nice it is when the leaves fall in autumn or sampling something about getting down, bitches dancin’ [or] bass.”

That being said, his style is a blend of the past, present and future, incorporating deep house, techno and cheesy elements of synthesiser-driven 80s funk into a sound he labels “galactic funk”. Hamill’s unique sound is, in part, due to his taste in vintage studio gear. The names in his sci-fi mythology were even influenced by one of the first pieces of equipment he acquired – the Technics SH-8040 Space Dimension Controller.

Hamill is currently putting the finishing touches on his debut album, Welcome to Mikrosector-50. He had planned to have the album released by the end of this year, although he wasn’t able to meet this deadline. “It was seemingly in the bag just before summer, mastered and everything, but I’ve decided to add a little bit more,” Hamill says.

As the title suggests, the album promises to be the most expansive journey through the world of Mikrosector-50 to date. “It’s a lot different from anything I’ve released before and much more conceptual. Like my previous release on R&S [Records], it’s all meant to be listened to in one go. There is much more Mr. 8040 on it than any of my previous releases,” he says. “It will be coming out in spring 2013 providing the whole 2012 thing doesn’t happen.”

If, indeed, the world doesn’t end in 2012, Hamill will be helping Melbourne punters welcome in 2013 at the Let Them Eat Cake Festival on New Year’s Day, along with the likes of Flying Lotus, Kerri Chandler and The Gaslamp Killer. It will be his second visit to Australia, after touring earlier this year. For those who didn’t catch his set at Buffalo Club in February, he says Aussie punters look forward to “an intergalactic time traveller disguised as a young Northern Irish man pretending to be from a 1980s electro rap outfit talking about his seedy experiences from the future.”

That being said, Hamill has plenty of seedy experiences from 2012, which could even give Mr. 8040’s tales of intergalactic debauchery a run for their money. “The most recent highlight was playing with Bicep and Nina Kraviz at Zleep in Nottingham. It got much more out of hand than any of us could have expected. I ended up MCing, throwing cans of beer into the crowd, bottles of water, getting my top off and we got about 30 or so people dancing on the stage,” he says. “I played Berghain [in Berlin] on my birthday which was a lot of fun too; ended up passing out on top of the table backstage in a strange way and tore two discs in my neck.”

BY JOSHUA HAYES

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