Uncovering the freshest beats and pushing young producers out from the bedroom and into the spotlight, the Beat Invitational sessions organised by Singapore's foremost audio-visual collective and label Syndicate have always been a great symposium of electronic music enthusiasts coming together to discover new talents in the electronic scene. And quite the intimate session it is. Think of it as a listening party where producers come up with two new songs to premiere for Beat Invitational and let people listen to it. Expect to hear a range of sounds at every session, from dark glitchy beats to post-dubstep soundscapes from the various producers hand-picked by the Syndicate team themselves. 

Syndicate has now put together a compilation of choice tracks from the Beat Invitational series for your National Day sonic enjoyment. There's no better way to celebrate this significant day of our nation than with the true appreciation of music from not only our homegrown artists, but from around the region. It's a fitting tribute to all those who have contributed to this wonderfully inspiring series, and it's only the beginning. 

Zero The Memory Thief

An introduction Hello. I'm Zero The Memory Thief.

On being selected for the first Beat Invitational EP It's truly an honor to be part of their first project of this EP! To be frank, I was deep in my sleep when Kiat called to ask if i was interested to be part of this but i was too excited,i said yes before he could finish. 

On the featured track "No Trace of Ozymandias" My tracks are mostly impromptu. I remembered doing a couple of tracks for the beat invitational but did not play this during the event. Yes,every track has a story to tell but I'll always leave it to the listeners to tell their story. So to each his own. 

On the Syndicate Beat Invitational experience People do come early for Syndicate nights just for this segment before the party starts and they will pay attention to you even if they never heard of you. And it was nice to see people from different walks of life 'bopping' their heads to different sounds being played by different producers.

A message to aspiring producers/beat makers out there It's okay if nobody listen to your shit. Just keep doing it. And of course join the Beat Invitational. You'll get to meet random nice,friendly bedroom producers just like you. I did. 

M X N D//K R F T

An introduction M X N D//K R F T is a multi-genre experimental music project made up of various influences from different forms of art to everyday life, dismembered and reconstructed into soundscapes and beats. 

On being selected for the first Beat Invitational EP I think the beat invitational EP is pretty cool and I hope to see more of this in the near future.

On the featured track "Bila Dua Spades Dah Jatuh" The title of the track is a taiti (card game) reference in Malay. I decided to make this beat to get the vibes of the music I have been listening to. It is one of the drafts/throwaways for my upcoming EP that I’ll be releasing with Phyla Digital. 

On the Syndicate Beat Invitational experience I got to meet and chat with other producers and their different production styles definitely inspired me. I would love to meet more producers from SG. 

A message to aspiring producers/beat makers out there You don’t need fancy equipment to produce. All you need is a working computer and headphones or a pair of speaker monitors. Just make sure you produce music you would want to listen to.

Mushroom Buttons

An introduction I'm Mushroom Buttons. I'm a producer based in KL, Malaysia. I make electronic beats that are influenced by the sound of 808s, lo-fi hiss and crackle, tape delays, cloudy chords and other weird noise, all held together by the cut-up aesthetic of hip hop production. 

On being selected for the first Beat Invitational EP Very honoured to be a part of Syndicate SG's effort to push the boundaries of electronic music. Plus it's always a good feeling whenever the SG crew shows love. Sending ♥ from MY :)

On the featured track "Analog Dog" I've been sitting on this one for a long time, somehow not releasing it anywhere. I guess it's fate. The beat is just waiting to jump on this EP. 

The track features a barking dog that I could hear from my room. It also has tambourine samples recorded from my girlfriend's workplace. These were recorded with my phone and I like the room atmosphere/noise they add to the beat. The ending is a nod to chopped & screwed producers like Spaceghostpurrp and DJ Smokey.

On the Syndicate Beat Invitational experience One of the most memorable experiences I've had as a producer! I'll never forget it. I played 'Ice Climburr' the first footwork track I made. Didn't know what to expect because footwork wasn't big then, but the reaction was enormous. Max Lane told me that I was probably the first producer to drop a footwork track there, haha. That made my day.    

A message to aspiring producers/beat makers out there Find your own identity. Nowadays it's easy to get any sound you want and make what everyone else is making, but where's the fun in that? If you put in work and do what's truly you, the listeners will remember you for what you are.

GINDARA

An introduction My name is GINDARA, currently a citizen of Neo-Tokyo.

On being selected for the first Beat Invitational EP It’s truly an honour. 

On the featured track "ONI" ONI was made earlier this year. A lot of my music is inspired by the sounds of Japan and at the time I was getting into Toro Y Moi. I suppose this track is a culmination of those influences, with a nod towards other musicians like Pogo.

On the Syndicate Beat Invitational experience The beat invitational was great. It’s really inspiring to see that a growing number of people appreciate this sort of music.

A message to aspiring producers/beat makers out there Your vision is only as strong as the bonds it’s built on. Find others who you can share your experiences with and grow.

Diphasic

An introduction My name is Chee Wee and I go by the moniker Diphasic.

On being selected for the first Beat Invitational EP I feel extremely honoured especially because it is the first Invitational EP and the Syndicate crew is awesome!

On the featured track "Dirt" The track that was selected was one of the tracks that I created after I moved to Belfast to study. The experience of relocating to a new environment, where I don’t know anyone, was quite overwhelming. I was feeling socially displaced and isolated. Perhaps some of these feelings of despair were translated into that track.

On the Syndicate Beat Invitational experience It was quite nerve-wracking as it was the first time I played my tracks in public. But seeing the crowd grooving to your beats and having people from the audience and fellow producers coming up to compliment me after the showcase was intensely satisfying and flattering.

A message to aspiring producers/beat makers out there Learn how EQ and gain staging works. One of the tricks that I learnt from Jason (of Octover) is that rolling off some of the high-end frequency can increase the perception of distance. Similarly, you can make a distant sound appear closer by increasing the gain or EQ-ing the high-end. Also when you are just starting out, sometimes you just have to accept the fact that your finished track is not sounding exactly the way you want it to be. For me, I feel that it is easier to move on and work towards that sound in a new project. Otherwise you could end up being frustrated by the endless repetitious tweaking of that one track.

im_ran

An introduction Imran a.k.a im_ran

On being selected for the first Syndicate Beat Invitational EP It feels great to be able to showcase my beats on a very dope platform like this.

On the featured track "lull" I don’t think there’s a real story behind this one, I was ill at the time i made this  took some flu medication and decided to create something haha.

On the Syndicate Beat Invitational experience To me it went well I did see some positive vibes from people there, all the producers there that day were so good!

A message to aspiring producers/beat makers out there Don’t be lazy like me and don’t give up.

FuturaHelvetica

An Introduction Hello, I’m Ilyas Sholihyn and I go by FuturaHelvetica as a tribute to my unhealthy devotion to those two fonts. Also, I wrote this article. 

On being selected for the first Syndicate Beat Invitational EP It is truly an honour and a very humbling thing to be part of this project. Never thought in a million parsecs that my clumsy tunes would ever be noticed in the first place (thanks Max Lane), much less featured in the very first Syndicate EP that pays tribute to all the fantastic talents who’ve graced this series. 

On the featured track “Territorealities” Like I’ve mentioned during the song premiere, I only started on this track on Garageband less than 24 hours before it was due to be played in the Beat Invitational. I guess pressure is the best motivator - Territorealities turned out to be one of my most favourite songs from my discography and the one that I’m most proud of. 

On the Syndicate Beat Invitational experience It was kinda weird at first to be actually standing behind the console deck, not to mention all the cringeworthy awkwardness trying to look like I was into my own tracks (I wasn’t). Slight discomfort aside, it was really really great to see folks like Kiat, Fauxe, Vandetta and the rest of the people that packed up Home Club that night really digging the songs that I made. That felt really special. 

A message to aspiring producers/beat makers out there Be the all-consuming worm when it comes to learning and educating yourself in the techniques, hardware, software and everything else you can know about producing a song. Make friends with other like-minded individuals, share your processes and shadow theirs. You are your most hardest critic, so don’t be afraid to put your work out there and let others listen to them because you never know how good they are until they rave about it.