Get ready for the Dysto effect.
From the Sydney underground to the airwaves of EMA Radio, producer Dysto is crafting his own sonic universe.
Born in Iran and raised in Australia, the artist born Amir Kahali channels a vast array of influences, from the groundbreaking electronica of Deadmau5 to the bass-heavy realms of FNAF fan lore, into a unique brand of EDM he calls “The Dysto Effect.”
Following the success of his Where I Am album series, Dysto now drops his latest single, ‘Security Breach,’ a track inspired by the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, perfectly timed with the hype for the upcoming sequel.
In this candid interview, the independent artist opens up about his journey from a CDDJ RX2 in his bedroom to building his future label, Together Records, all while balancing a day job to fund his nocturnal passion for production.
Happy: What’d you get up to today?
Dysto: I wake up at 5:30am go to work till 3pm come back home, take my shower, have my dinner, work on music, play some games till like 8:30pm and go to bed and then do it all again the next day.
I know it’s not really inspiring. However, it’s just how this week has been and I am not complaining either. I get to work so I can invest some of that money in my music production. It could be some new plugins stuff like that.
Happy: Tell us a little about where you’re from, and what you love about it!
Dysto: Originally I was born in Iran, we moved here when I was about 9 years old I think? It was in 2013. Fast forward to today I am almost 22 years old trying to figure life as I go more forward. I do have goals and achievements in place and do smash them out each year so that’s pretty coool!
The thing is that’s what I love about Australia is you can be whoever you desire to be, I choose to be involved with our culture because this country does give its people the life they cannot get elsewhere.
For that I am thankful. I am also thankful for my parents for sacrificing everything for me and my sister’s future. We all love Australia and proudly represent it.
Happy: Your stage name is Dysto, short for Dystopia. What does that concept mean to you and how does it shape your musical identity?
Dysto: This is an interesting one actually, let’s start from the beginning. This is my story:
In 2014 I saw this music video on YouTube by Martin Garrix. He produced a track called “Animals” and it got super popular. It was crazy for those times and till this day very revolutionary in my opinion when it comes to EDM.
So after I saw that video I got that hype that Martin was setting up for the audience except that I was still a kid sooo because of that track I got into Break dancing.
Pop some more edm tracks from all 2014 big EDM Artists like DVBBS “Tsunami” and Nicky Romero with “Toulhouse” just to name a few.
So here I was just being a weirdo dancing like an idiot because I had no actual coaching or anything like that, then I also got into hip hop and oddly enough I was also listening to a lot of Bob Marley stuff more on that later.
I stopped with the dance stuff and just started to dig more into EDM and its other types of music genres. Also honorable mention: I listened to Durade “Sandstorm” in Iran while roller skating which is now funny to think about.
During this time I started picking up some instruments here and there. I really loved the bass guitar, the four strings and crank up the amp and ohhh mann bass is the floor destroyer. I also experimented with drums too!
Fast forward to 2015 and 2016 – I started listening to Skrillex as every kid and teenager did at that time. Dubstep got very popular those years, and then there was Major Lazers, Diplo going hard too and Jack U was so neat!!
Because of all these I started digging into being a DJ so late 2017 I started to dig djing, because I always had a taste when it comes to music and I knew my music on a level where people in my family didn’t or even friends. I knew artists and genres, the usual Djing and Producer stuff.
So my dad got me a CDDJ RX2. It was new at the time, fresh to the market and he’s a music guy too so he fully supported my music decisions and same with mum! And there my DJing began!!!
I was on those decks for hours and hours after school. Till like 10pm at night just playing and playing any new and old music I can think of or find.
Then in 2019 I saw this guy on YouTube with a mouse helmet a few times and I’m like “oohh that’s new”. Obviously he wasn’t new but he was new on my radar. So I saw him live.
It was his cube v2 at the time and he played “Imaginary Friends” as his intro for his set in WaMu theatre. At that point I have been witnessing all these djs and producers but never on this guys level when it comes to visuals and music. So I discovered Deadmau5.
I became a fan for a long time and that time we were moving out of our apartment because there was a huge waves of storms and it got into the apartment, everything got messed up and our property manager did not care to repair or do anything at all so during those times listening to Deadmau5 really helped I repeated “Imaginary friends” and “I remember” back to back.
So we moved into our new home and again my dad helped me to get a laptop so I can start making music! I started experimenting and watching videos online.
It was that time when it was time for me to start my logo and artist name but I had no idea what to choose because I was never given any weird nicknames or anything odd to call myself.
So I was sitting in English class and I wasn’t paying attention to anything at all, just drawing logos of anything to see if I could come up with something. I then heard our teacher say “Dystopia” AND BOOM!!! I was like Thats it!!!
I then rolled into Tafe at Ultimo for Certificate III in music. It was awesome! Met a lot of fun and interesting people. After that I also rolled to Diploma in music at ultimo again and that’s the education part of it.
Fast forward to the almost the end of my diploma days where I discovered Ky Mi, so I reached out and she is as always so awesome so she actually played my track on air! It was called “Twenty22”. She played it on EMA which is her radio station and it’s so awesome!
Eventually Ky Mi and I met in Sydney and then we discussed some opportunities for music. So I gave Ky Mi a track called “Leviathan” she then got Damo Cox on it and then the whole thing turned into a huge project it got signed to Sorta Kinda Music by Damo Cox and then I flew to Gold Coast to do a back to back djing for the his album launch which is where “Leviathan” got played for the first time officially in 2023.
It was around those times where the name “Dysto” started popping off even in my own little friends’ discord servers. It’s just shorter and more sweet and definitely Aussie-like.
Us Aussies have this thing where we make things shorter like BBQ is Barbie.. Afternoon is Arvo.. Gas or service station is Servo and Dystopia is Dysto. Funny right? It was also around this time where the term “Dysto effect” came around what is it? I have no idea, maybe it’s my melody? Or my bass?..
I originally created Dystopia to be more of a dark depression mystery type of music but I came out of that mindset and I am glad I did. I still do create intense types of tracks but my mindset is healthy.
I make any genre I can to keep my style unique. The Bob Marley stuff. My example of it is a track called “ Sick Day” where I made it similar to his style. I also would love to create a Jazz album.
So here we are many years later it is 2025 this is a super long story and it feels good to finally let it out! There are pages and pages of an unwritten book in my life and I will share more but for now this is me.
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Happy: What was it about the world of Five Nights at Freddy’s that inspired you to create a track around it?
Dysto: Between 2015-16 FNAF was the go!!!! I used to watch all my favourite YouTubers play it. That’s when I also started being a fan of Markiplier and I was watching that video where he goes “IS THAT THE BITE OF ‘87?”
It’s an amazing franchise and I can’t believe how far it has come. I made Security Breach based on the game itself but I really wanted the perspective of Spring Trap in there.
Happy: With the FNAF movie sequel hype building, did that influence your decision to release ‘Security Breach’ now?
Dysto: Yes definitely! I doubt my track will get attention from the algorithm though but I do music for Art and Passion now and no more for work. It’s more fun that way for me.
Happy: You’ve had success on EMA Radio with your mate Ky Mi. How has that radio exposure impacted your journey as an independent artist?
Dysto: Yes most definitely, reaching out to local radio definitely helps any artist to get their stuff but you also gotta perform it to build that momentum.
Ky Mi has seen my growth and she was there from the beginning. She gave me a breakthrough to perform my music and even reach other types of radio stations and now SECRETLY she’s helping me out on Where I Am Vol.II which is my new upcoming album.
Happy: Can you tell us more about your other project, ‘Together Records’? What’s the vision for that label?
Dysto: Together Records was made for anyone to be in a label essentially what I had in mind is the same as any other independent label.
I do have an absolute amazing vision for this project which is why I have paused it for now and only I can now release under it, the reason to why I paused it is because I don’t have much resources to support another Artist yet.
I also wanted to focus on my career. Butttttt its not over for Together Records I am still updating the label behind the scenes improvement from my mistakes and I cannot wait to re open it one day!
Happy: Looking ahead, with “Security Breach” out and the “Where I Am” series continuing, what’s the biggest creative goal you’re chasing in 2026?
Dysto: 100% to release Where I Am Vol.II. It’s the reason why I have such a big gap in my career since Where I Am Vol.I the funny thing is all these tracks that are in the series have been in production for YEARS!!
I just updated them or even actually binned some of them because they weren’t the true quality of the music I make today. That’s why the long delay for that lol. Good news is that it’s done and I am happy with it.
We are just doing some small work for it for PR and making some unique projects around it which I am hyped for! But the Dysto fans do deserve to listen to it early 2026.
I also do want to start performing again so maybe people can see Dysto at local clubs!
Happy: If you had to describe the “Dysto Effect” in one sentence to someone about to press play on ‘Security Breach,’ what would it be?
Dysto: “Let the Dysto effect take over”
Happy: Lastly, what makes you happy?
Dysto: To simply put it I am happy, I know I am not famous or anything like that but I am happy. I have made my peace with life a long time ago and since then waking up everyday and seeing the people I love is a blessing.
What will happen to me in the future is a question I don’t ask myself because I am too focused on what’s happening right now. There’s always room to grow and learn that we should not be hard on ourselves. There’s two quotes that I made that I live by which are
“Lets have a good fkn time” – Dysto
“We lose the 99% chances we don’t take” – which is a different quote that originates from “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky.
I didn’t want to take credit for the 2nd quote but yeah I kinda changed that to my way in a way which in my case was super true. Often in life we are afraid to take chances but sometimes those chances are between your success or failure.
Anyways thank you so much for having me here and I am actually typing this up at work! Don’t tell my boss. I cannot wait to be back so we can talk about Where I Am Vol.II!
