Techno duo Charles Accarisi (Chlär) and Alarico Zucchi (Alarico) form Funk Assault, one of the most innovative and exciting projects at the pounding edge of dance music. They hold a unique space with respect to our goal as a creative platform, exploring the mind and body’s primal connection to music.
In June 2022, the duo introduced their project at the 'Selected x Bipolar Disorder' event held at Berlin's indoor-outdoor “pleasure garden” ÆDEN venue. Funk Assault has built a strong discography and a potent brand in just two years with their solo projects also contributing to their success.
After their short Australian tour that included events in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, as well as the techno-heavy Pitch Music and Arts Festival 2025 in the Grampians, we hold a unique space for their exploration of the mind and body’s primal connection to music – an embodiment of Intrinsik’s own goal as a creative platform. Here’s what we think the support we saw from an Australian audience means for the local dance music scene.
Unique Soundscapes
A fusion of dark, warped synths, wildly sporadic syncopation, and deep, groovy low ends defines the duo’s sound. Their two albums, Minimum One Post a Week (2023) and Paces of Places (2024), are vastly different in composition and sampling yet remain easily identifiable as distinct, individualistic works.
The strong identity they build for each track through a mix of twitchy, dark grooves and syncopated percussion, powered by granular synthesis makes listeners feel as though they are entering an involuntary hypnosis. It’s an interesting method of making their music instantly recognizable. Prominent samples in the mix are a hallmark of nearly all of their work, including their solo releases over the past two to three years.
Primal Instinct: The Label and Its Philosophy
Both members of Funk Assault have massive creative outputs. Chlär is a mastering engineer and A&R head, as well as an artist, while Alarico maintains an insane, constant musical output across multiple aliases, releasing 20 tracks in 2023 under his own name according to Spotify, as well as several features across labels and aliases such as Mutual Rytm and within his alias Kenji Hina and Oricala. Channelling this creative energy into a new record label like Primal Instinct only makes sense.
Founded by Funk Assault and co-managed by Bipolar Disorder Records label head Jules Auderset (The Chronics), Primal Instinct aims to push instinctual physical movement in techno. The depth of research and design that the label showcases is astounding, distilling the essence of dance music down to a science. While both artists have always emphasized heavy low-end frequencies, Primal Instinct elevates this to a new level, offering some of the most sonically deep synth design we have ever heard in dance music.
Human Behaviour and AI Workflows
The human connection to music is not a new concept. British cultural Anthropologist Victor Turner explores a similar idea in his discussion of 'liminality’ on the dancefloor. Turner suggests that a concept such as a dancefloor represents a space where the ordinary world fades away, and something deeper takes control. In this space, a medium such as music fosters a transformation where people lose their individual identities and become part of something larger—the crowd, the rhythm, the moment.
This idea of music fostering a collective intrinsic drive to connect and move together is incredibly powerful and something dance music is always exploring. This is where Primal Instinct takes this space to push the boundaries of communal experience, combining the heady narcotics of original emerging AI arts, venues and effects.
The Primal Instinct label integrates AI-driven visuals, developed by FEMUR, a digital artist based in France in rather polarising art designs. These visuals utilize Stable Diffusion, meshing the minimalistic logo designed by Scottish designer Cardle with themed, surreal imagery that’s heavy on trancey effects while staying grounded in the grungy real life of TV talking heads, weird hypermarkets and Nevermind babies in pools. See Pleasure Domes visualiser by FEMUR.
The unlimited creativity of AI is something Chlär and Alarico have previously expressed interest in not only when it comes to track sequencing and sampling, but also the inspiration that comes from randomisation (Interviews: Chlär - Alarico). He argues that this approach allows him to combine conceptual and organisational mastery with random and “instinctive” creativity in producing musical arrangements. Techno sound design that uses AI is thus working at both the “primitive” level of drum beats and loops that feel all body (heart pounding, the involuntary urge to move) and the at cutting edge of contemporary tech with (all digital and non-human) LLM machine learning.
Intrinsik thinks both artists’ conceptual as well as musical output represent an exciting new way of approaching AI in art and is keen to work with other artists who are exploring the points at which human and non-human productivity meet at the edge of creative ethics art discussions.
Conclusion
Funk Assault’s fusion with Primal Instinct represents more than just a musical duo—it’s a statement on the mind-body connection in techno. Chlär's deep studies in sound engineering and music highlight his understanding of human behaviour and its relationship to sound, while Alarico brings fresh perspectives, innovative sound design, and unparalleled production skills to the table.
The support for the duo in Melbourne was phenomenal, with one of the biggest sets at Pitch 2025 and an incredible side show at The Third Day. The support from the audience makes us optimistic about the future of Australia's dance music scene and its ability to evolve and mature. With their unmistakable sound, Funk Assault continues to shape the techno landscape in a way that we deeply admire.