FAWM: "Dopamine Fiend"

Dopamine Fiend

2025 by @hanley

NSFW

Liner Notes

Had a fun jam the other night with my friend Matty playing electric kit, and formed the basis for the different sections of this song. I wasn't sure if I could tie them all into one song, maybe still a bit disjointed at the changes. Perhaps a bit self indulgent, just kept fun messing around with a new moog synth, but that kinda felt befitting of the songs theme! I listened to an interesting podcast about all the functions of dopamine, which made me consider my everyday choices and motivations behind them.

Very close to falling down trying to mix this, too many tracks and not enough sleep!

#fawmtronica #Electronic #rap

Lyrics

find shit, buy it, just gonna eat a little bit of chocolate, I can't quit, gotta get lit, you could say I got a problem that I just can't fix,

damn sugar tastes so nice, getting high as a kite, Life is full of spice til day turns to night

neurons will ignite, then black turns to white, I just can't get it right, can't even put up a fight

I'm a dopamine fiend wanna have it every day the shits got me hooked I gotta get it anyway, shame of all it ain't here to stay, (I say) Shame on me I can't fill the space You know that colour might be fun, (soon I'll be) but now I'm turning grey

Now I'm falling down, down again Keep on reaching up again

Rest less, more stress, every button I press is unfettered excess

Brain says, yes yes, you can blame it on the world that brought you into this mess

I've seen schooled fish less hooked, like addicts we're completely cooked Just try ignore the screens when they're screaming for a look, if Pavlov's dog must salivate, have we any hope to satiate this hard hitter neurotransmitter, now it's too late to shut the front gate

Now I'm falling down, down again Keep on reaching up again

Comments

@davidtaro 2025

Ooh, I love the changes, they totally work. Has a Beck/Tame Impala vibe, maybe that’s the general sense of experimentation, it’s very cool anyway. The little xylophone (?) line is awesome, love how dry and forward it is. Loads of warm, fuzzy goodness coming out of the moog (are you a big analog synths kind of chap? I have zero knowledge in that area, so always impressed by people who can use synths properly). This felt like a real journey, awesome work from you both.

@tonyr 2025

Enjoyed this very much. Nice work.

@bigmood 2025

Uff that midi mallet line is tasty. Love the disco sounding saw with the dirty drums. Super hooky chorus too, I groooooove, and that soaring post chorus is icing on top!

@mdavisto 2025

I like your funky chords. Your mix is FAWM-ready, as you totally know.

The harm layers are nice too. I was about to ask about how it was that the drums had that lekker live feel.

If this was my track, and I had a mind to mix it while awake, I would use the midi of the e-kit to layer a fat kick on it, compress the fuck out of the drum section to make it sound sampled. But then, my shit is just ridiculously bass heavy, so what do I know?

Ooo this fat wobbly bit on the end is fun.

@pipewrench67 2025

You make sounds my earholes enjoy, always a pleasure to find your gems. Just got to you falling down, lovely. OOOOO synth interlude, nice build and fall. Great ride thanks

@frenchcricket 2025

I’ve tried repeatedly to detoxify my phone use I’m feeling this: might try and hunt down that podcast. Shame I’m FAWMing on my phone right now. Bit of a fail there. The main groove is very cool, and I thought that the harmonies in the “now I’m falling down” bit were superb.

@adforperu 2025

If you can't get indulgent in the last week of FAWM, when we can it? This is bags of fun, so many quirky elements swimming around, plenty of genres explored but it never spins out of control. The transition into the arp synth bit works really well, I reckon (and that bit is so good).