Who the f*ck is Hahko??
He’s all over my newsfeed and I don’t know why…
I first met Isaac Mcfarlane in 2017 while organising an all ages show for his band Two Cartoons. Back then he was all about jangly guitar riffs and catchy lyrics about traffic and hospitality, a far stretch from the alter ego he’s found himself in today.
Not everything has changed though, even back then Isaac was a strong advocate for Youth in Music and the general health of our Music community. He is one of the few people I met in my time managing Lowtide that strongly pushed for alcohol free all ages events, which I’m coming to realise now may have just been to get him home and in bed early.
Nevertheless, it was refreshing to meet someone over the age of 18 really backing inclusive spaces for teenagers to engage in our community.
His personality is infectious and his opinions are unfiltered. Needless to say, we’ve been working together ever since.
A self proclaimed “opinion incubator”
Hahko is a project split into two halves.
If you ask me, the focus is largely on his online persona rather than his artistic expressions. He uses his platforms online to further discuss issues he has with the industry, as well as float ideas of how to shape it for the future. If you ask him, he will tell you he’s doing it to inspire people to replace him, preferring to kick back and watch it all unfold around him.
Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be the case though. It only takes a short scroll through his Twitter feed to realise his combination of real-world experience as a working Musician, dogmatic debate style and relentless approach to producing content is hard to come by.
Like me, he’s a firm believer that content is king in 2020 and beyond. The Music industry no longer operates how it used to, and it seems a major label pay check and a good PR team are no longer the only ticket to success.
Artists have way more power than they used to, as archaic institutions fight for your attention in an ever-adapting online landscape. As a result we’re seeing more musicians turned internet personalities, with shows like ‘F*ck that’s Delicious’ and ‘Most Expensivest’ reaching millions of followers.
Hahko’s taken good note of this and is using his own voice to amplify the work he does. Something that at first seems a little strange for an Electronic music producer. However, once you get to know him as a person it’s not hard to see how he got here.
Mind the gap
Many a conversation has led us to the same conclusion. We both realise there is a severe lack of well-produced local music content. That isn’t to say it isn’t out there, but for every good interview there’s nine others regurgitating the same surface level questions. Try asking Hahko where his name comes from and you will be opening a can of everything he thinks is wrong with modern Music content.
His approach is to speak Musician to Musician.
The result of this is truly engaging conversations, centred around a shared experience of life in the Music industry and the difficulties we all face as Creative People. He’s about a decade deep into this Music thing, and has explored various ways of getting there. While he doesn’t claim to have all the answers yet, at least he’s asking the right questions.
Through Twitter and Instagram live he’s constantly challenging the current funding structures of Arts in NZ, the timing of Gigs, and his latest venture of berating RNZ to finally sort out their long promised Youth channel. It’s all very entertaining, and his audacious personality certainly helps him to get away with a lot of it.
It’s quite an undertaking for one person, but although the approach differs slightly, we’re both heading for the same end goal.
I brought him into the Studio at the very beginning. He’s always been a part of it really, but the day we set up our Podcast Studio seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it official. He recorded his first episode in the Studio with Tei. and Yery from Imugi last week, with plans to release a new episode every Sunday.
Like I said before, his approach to content production is relentless.
The other half
Hahko’s journey through music is also quite fascinating to me.
Formerly a Guitar wielding frontman in a two-piece rock band, he made the decision about a year ago to sell all of his guitars and focus on electronic music. He told me the story once, detailing a night at Cassette nine that left him in an almost dissociative state. It was on stage that he realised it wasn’t the direction he wanted to head, which eventually led to him leaving the band and trading his Guitars for a Digitakt sampler.
If someone wants to change tack after a Label paid move to London, it really makes you question the legitimacy of that pathway for a Musician. He himself will tell you that journey isn’t for everyone.
What started as just a sampler has morphed into Ableton live, and i’m sure his production rig wont end there. Personally i’m waiting for the day he starts to reincorporate Guitars into his live sets. I feel it may take a bit of persuading though.
I’ve always had a hard time classifying music by genre. I’m sure Hahko doesn’t want to be put in a box anyway. To me, it’s a mix of ambient, downtempo and house, with a little bit of broken beat beginning to creep in.
It’s great music to write to evidently, and a great soundtrack for doing your washing. Don’t let that fool you though, there’s a few heavy hitters to get you moving too.
It’s also evident that I have a long way to go before reaching Martyn Pepperell’s finesse when describing Musicians. However, I was able to finesse a great live video for him to make up for it.
Watch Hahko’s live version of ‘Rebirth (28)’
The mans here to stay
Like him or love him, he’s managed to cement himself as a voice for the unspoken topics within our industry. He’s disruptive, and almost always irritating to argue with. I’m grateful for his existence, and i’m very grateful to be on his side most of the time.
You may still not know who the f*ck he is, and that’s okay. What matters is he knows who the f*ck he is, and that’s good enough for me.
Catch him back here every Sunday Afternoon, meeting Humans. //
