Nexsound – experimental, ambient, noise, improv record label

Review

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Zavoloka-Agf – Nature never produces the same beat twice

What makes me think of rough 90’s eastcoast-hip hop when listening to the zavoloka+AGF-record i just received? i don’t think that rap-music is a great influence for the artists at this album, and strictly focusing on the music there are no hidden links between, let’s say,*the wu-tang clan* and this female super-group of electronica. you know what? i think it’s the uncompromising way, antye and katia mix up their harsh sound, this snoting out the beats, the concept of jamming to a steady pulse of various bpm and recoding what happens.

don’t get me wrong- there’s a huge difference between the RZAs peaking finger-snaps and those rumbling beats you can hear on nature never produces the same beat twice. antye is into (more or less) electronic music since the early nineties and katia also released enough tracks to know about ‘good production’. it’s a strict decision to let the tracks appear like they came to be, like carefully cultivating the weed on yr frontdoor pavement instead of cloning a rose, if you want to stick to the biological concept of the album. their tracks grow like grass, trees, like magic peas to heaven, from kiew to berlin and vice versa.

i admit: you have to listen with some good will to cover the specific beauty of this record. but there are so many things happening in the 50 one-minutes songs! if you’re familiar with the solo-works of AGF and zavoloka, you will recognize many of katias semi-tonal synth-sounds, the flute-samples, her harsh singing. antyes voice is also present in the mix, altered with some effects. still the use of human voices gives some hold in the storm of musical particles the listener gots to put in order. due to that, the sparingly use of harmonies emphasizes the melodies if there are some. nature never produces the same beat twice is a quite rhythmical album, but the subtle harmonic surplus makes it outstanding and special. far too fragmentary to be called the future sound of electronica, but one of the most exiting records of abstract electronic music i was allowed to listen to for the last few months. 8

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Zavoloka – Plavyna

i have to admit that at first, kateryna zavoloka’s very nice artist-pix caught my attention. i think it’s a cool thing that electronica-people frequently come out of their anonymous laptop-existence, especially if their music is as individual and stunning as zavoloka’s. on her website, you can read about the strong influence of folkmusic on her sound. everytime i play her records, i get the impression of listening to something like cut out of wood, and besides the fact she uses flutes and russian singing, this feeling of being handmade seems to proove her statements. every scattered sound-event bears a tonal weight and is wrapped in analog reverb. zavoloka manages to construct melodies and rhythms out of a storm of single particles: her songs usually start confusing, developing slowly to reach their climax when everything comes together in beauty. i can’t think of a good comparsion, maybe the bizarre plant-music of leafcutter john works out. on a more principial level, zavoloka seems to be the bèla bartòk of contemporary electronica. note: you should order her latest album playna (CD) at the nexsound-shop. it’s even better and beautyfully packed! you can also get an expanded version of the suspenzia-album (CD) if you’re really found of it (nice package, like always).

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Nole Plastique – Sourire en Souriant

Nole Plastique is Roman Kutnov from the city of Kazan, Western Russia.