Amnesia Scanner

Amnesia Scanner are a Berlin-based Finnish duo who create cryptic, deconstructed club music using a variety of sampled sources. Through a series of online mixtapes, innovative websites, and multimedia performances, they became one of the vanguard acts of the experimental club scene. The duo made their full-length debut with the 2018 “avant-EDM” album Another Life.
Ville Haimala and Martti Kalliala originally became known for their playful abstract techno records under the name Renaissance Man. They debuted with EPs on Institubes and Dubsided in 2009, eventually signing to Tiga’s Turbo label for the release of their 2011 full-length, The Renaissance Man Project. They founded a label called Black Ocean in 2013, as their music became darker and stranger. They became affiliated with the Berlin-based experimental club collective Janus, and released music by M.E.S.H. (James Whipple) through Black Ocean. Tracks by the mysterious Amnesia Scanner began appearing online around 2014, filled with discordant synth tones, fragmented voices, and the sounds of smashing glass. The duo released a 23-minute mix titled AS Live [][][][][] and produced a track for MC Mykki Blanco. In 2015, Amnesia Scanner released Angels Rig Hook, a 14-minute radio play-like mix featuring spoken word narration from Jaakko Pallasvuo. The duo co-produced “An Exit” on Holly Herndon’s 2015 full-length, Platform, which became one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year.
In early 2016, a website was launched containing Lexachast, an audio-visual collaboration between Amnesia Scanner and Bill Kouligas (founder of the experimental label PAN). The duo’s first physical release, the AS EP, was issued by Young Turks shortly after. The full-length Another Life was released by PAN in 2018, and featured two guest appearances from labelmate Pan Daijing. The following year, Lexachast, which had been developed into a live show and performed at several leading avant-garde festivals, was properly released as an album. Single “AS Acá,” featuring Peruvian singer Lalita, appeared near the end of 2019. Amnesia Scanner’s second full-length, the cathartic, socially conscious Tearless, was released in 2020. ~ Paul Simpson