№ 152 - alys(alys)alys

Her creative sphere moves between experimental electronics, bass-heavy club music, breaks, Brazilian sounds and flashes of Y2K pop - playful, unpredictable and always with an eye on the dancefloor. Having started drumming at the age of twelve and DJing at 16, she has developed a musical language that feels shaped as much by internet culture and pop as by global underground club scenes.

Since 2018, alys(alys)alys has made her way through some of the most exciting spaces in experimental and club music. She has played at Berlin Atonal, Rewire Festival, the Venice Biennale and Tresor, as well as Brazil’s influential Mamba Negra parties. She is also a resident of the Berlin collective DRY, and in 2025 was selected for SHAPE+, the European platform for innovative music and interdisciplinary art.

In 2019, alys(alys)alys launched “short attention span”, a label that brings together edgy club-hybrid edits, her own music, as well as productions and collaborations by and with like-minded souls. Together with producer Monstera Black, she released the EP “Awkward Attraction” and “Trojan Horse”. And more recently, she dropped “soda geyser” for the feverish Parisian imprint Boukan Records.

Currently, alys(alys)alys is developing “Parameters of Drift”, her first solo live set, while continuing to build “short attention span” and working toward a future debut album, pushing a practice defined by curiosity, unpredictability and a refusal to settle into a single sound. For EDWIN MUSIC CHANNEL, she prepared a mesmerising mix that follows her curious, open-hearted philosophy, with tracks by artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, Martyn x Om Unit, 2562, Skrillex, Nitepunk and Actress, alongside her own productions. As ever, we spoke to our host. Read below what alys(alys)alys told us about her practice, early days and artistic vision for the future.

Q. You were born in Brazil and are now based in Berlin. How did your musical journey begin, and what were your earliest musical influences?

A.  Most of my early childhood memories involve me playing my first kid’s drum kit along with some DVDs of live concerts that my dad used to collect. I remember being in our old living room, mimicking the drummers on whatever was on TV. Because of my parents, my influences were so diverse that it’s really a mixture of genres, and it’s hard to pinpoint what influenced me the most. On my mother’s side, it was more rock, like Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Alanis Morissette, while my dad had a more “pop” side, including Shania Twain, Santana, Cher, and Madonna. There was also some Brazilian music, such as Kid Abelha, Capital Inicial, Seu Jorge, and Tribalistas.

Q. Before electronic music became your focus, you explored everything from indie rock to early dubstep. How important has that broad musical curiosity been in shaping your sound today?

A. That curiosity is inherited from my family, who have such broad musical tastes, and for me, it is one of the main characteristics that makes working with music interesting. There is so much good music in the world, and what excites me is that I will never be able to listen to all of it. I also think we are constantly shaped by everything we experience, and having a musical curiosity just exposes me to different perspectives, scenes, and cultures, influencing directly or indirectly what I do.

Q. You started DJing as a teenager. Do you remember the first moment you realised that playing music for other people was something you wanted to pursue seriously?

A. I would say the first time I played at Mamba Negra in 2018; I played after Benjamin Sallum and before Valesuchi. It was an unforgettable night. It was the first time I got so immersed during a set that when it finished, I couldn't really remember much of what happened; I felt meditative. It was really weird but beautiful.

Q. Your sets move between experimental club music, bass music, SoundCloud culture and unexpected pop references. How do you approach building a DJ set that still feels cohesive?

A. I usually question myself about whether the sets still feel cohesive lol, but I can guarantee that I don’t consciously decide to move between those references. I’ve been buying and collecting music for more than 10 years, and I usually approach my sets based on the location, the set time, and the general line-up. From there, I organise the music into moods that I feel could work well together. I tend to imagine little auras in the music I select. Some tracks can have multiple auras that can be used to create different moods, depending on what’s played before and after. It’s a bit hard to explain what goes on in my head, but in summary, it’s all mood-dependent, not genre-dependent. That’s why the question of what genre of music I DJ feels quite impossible to answer.

Q. You've described yourself as someone who constantly goes down ‘’online rabbit holes’’. How does digital music discovery influence your selections?

A. If I didn't go down those “rabbit holes,” I wouldn't be DJing. They are linked to one another and keep the excitement about it alive. For me, part of DJing is also wanting to share music that I’ve stumbled across, in whatever way I first encountered it; through a record store, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, a mailing list, watching a movie, or even Shazamming something during a car ride.

Q. Many DJs focus on maintaining one energy level, but your sets often embrace dramatic BPM changes and unexpected turns. What excites you about taking listeners on that kind of journey?

A. I don’t think in BPM terms, but more in terms of a general mood or story that can be told through the combination of songs. I like to approach my sets as an improvisation based on the crowd’s reaction, the space, and even how things sound in the sound system. I usually select around 150 - 200 songs to bring to the set and let the energy around me do its magic. It comes from a real-time exchange, and sometimes throwing curveballs and taking unexpected turns is just a way of surprising myself and everyone else; seeing what happens in the room, if something sticks, or if it’s better to shift direction. Discomfort often leads to beautiful things.

Q. Alongside DJing, you've built a strong reputation as a producer. How different is your mindset when you're creating music compared to when you're performing?

A. When I’m producing music, I tend to just let things flow without being constrained by direction or by what should go where. Most of the time, I can’t remember how an idea came to be. I really believe in channelling something that’s beyond my understanding. I experiment a lot with sampling and synthesis, just letting sounds take their own way, and afterwards attempting to create some coherence through the arrangement.

Q. Your “booty & legs” series for your label Short Attention Span has developed into its own world of edits and club-ready hybrids. What inspired that project, and what have you learned from making it?

A. That project was inspired by one of my best friends, Rafa Messias, who has an insane knowledge of pop music. He would show me some music, and we would brainstorm ideas for how we could approach editing those songs. It started with a techno bootleg of “Let Your Head Go” from Victoria Beckham’s never-released album. As I was using Traktor back then, I could blend up to four tracks on the computer, so I would record that combination as a live take and be able to play it afterwards during gigs. What I learned from it was to explore the idea of looping and listening to specific aspects of songs that I enjoyed, and how to repurpose those loops; for example, a kick and sub combination from a dubstep song, or a bassline or vocal part. It was also an exercise in combining really diverse genres and seeing if they work together or not, for example, JPEGMAFIA with Overmono or Flora Matos with ZULI.

Q. You are working with different musical alter egos. What do those alternate identities allow you to explore creatively?

A. It allows me to be creative without being tied to any idea of what “my” sound should be. It gives me musical freedom, and also, after the songs are finished, I can imagine small visual worlds together with the music. Some identities are tied to the way I produced the music. For example, take5 is focused on recorded live takes from hardware equipment, TBFW is only bootlegs of songs, and glued&screwed is edits and collages of parts of songs together with my own instrumentals. Others are more tied to the mood around the alter ego itself. For example, FRAGILYS touches on my emo persona.

Q. Are there sounds, genres or artistic collaborations you haven't explored yet that are high on your wish list?

A. I want to explore more collaborations with singers and songwriters, as well as properly learn music theory. I’d also like to get back to playing drums and guitar; I miss jamming with acoustic instruments.

Q. Looking ahead over the next five years, where do you see your artistic journey taking you as a DJ, producer, and creative person?

A. As I’m developing my first solo live set, Parameters of Drift, for this year’s Venice Biennale Music, I see myself venturing more into live performances while still DJing. I also want to explore art and sound residencies to develop different projects. Hopefully, I’ll have an album as alys(alys)alys out, while also expanding the short attention span catalogue and having more musical collaborations with artists I connect with.

Q. If you couldn't make music anymore tomorrow, what artistic medium do you think you'd obsess over instead?

A. For sure I would get into painting and sculpture; maybe I still will later in life.  

Q. What was the last piece of art, whether a film, exhibition, meme, or performance, that completely rewired your brain?

A. In March this year, I went to Cambodia and had the opportunity to visit Angkor Wat, and that was life-changing. I would consider it a piece of art, as it was something beyond anything I had ever experienced.

Tracklist:
1. Oneohtrix Point Never - Waterfalls
2. Jetty - Green Nose
3. Martyn x Om Unit - The Trenches
4. Lily Haz - 2 Stomp
5. Dayzero - Gravity Phrase
6. Stacktrace - Dance Hall Again (Kaval & Stacktrace Remix)
7. Sega Bodega - Spook
8. Agazero x bieL onLine - fake ppl
9. Maestro dos Ritmos - bieL onLine
10. NTRN x RXFX - Fatos Reais (No Drums Intro
11. Kaval - Funk Tambor (Pluralist Remix)
12. Delay Grounds - Metal _Swinging
13. Dubrunner - Bad Mind
14. dev.n - DAMN SHORTY (Throw That Ass Back)
15. VHOOR, MC GW, idontcare - Popô
16. 2562 - Techno Dread
17. NOTRN - VouTeTak
18. alys(alys)alys - effervescence
19. Skrillex, Nitepunk - Soma (NOTRN x RHR flip)
20. DJ bwin - rogger
21. satoruohno - 6-14-2025
22. Ibrahim Alfa Jnr - Black
23. Jako Maron - Bék Dann Dir
24. CHAMA DE PIRANHA x MALTRATANDO (MC LINA, MC LYSA, DJ SANDINHO DE CAXIAS)
25. fLako - Kuku
26. DJ GAWAD & Pierre Pepe - Pop Shit
27. Actress - R.I.P.