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Behind the dramatic and promising phrase "Abracadabra Recordings" stands a small independent project in the city of Voronezh, shown above. The region as a whole developed in the early eighteenth century under Peter the Great, who used it as a river port. This significance of Voronezh as a point of departure or border town, even, is great for Abracadabra, since the label involves artists from some very far-flung points of Russia and neighboring Ukraine, too.
Even though the project was founded as recently as November 2009, it has already produced an impressive number of recordings, which can be downloaded individually from the label's pages or as a single torrent.
Looking back on those early days, Abracadabra's founders recall that they "wanted to bring together lots of varied artists 'under one roof, who would represent an equally wide range of styles, cultures, and moods. It would all become a real 'abracadabra' - supported by an ongoing line of recordings. Those releases would always be free for public downloading."
The genres visible thus far range from ambient to trip-hop, via hardcore and breakbeat. Attempting to get a hold on this plenitude, it makes sense to start with a familiar face amid the thirty-one artists currently on show. That initial individual might be Nikita Tenetko (above), who performs under the peculiar name of WPCWE ("With Prison Cell Was Embraced").
We first examined his work in November last year - in particular his inclination towards (very) high levels of productivity. We mentioned that "Tenetko defines his general credo with four key emphases: 'Style. Beauty. Underground. Vegetarian.' A peculiar melange of subversion and restraint comes to the fore, a simultaneous passion for both destruction and preservation, as if degrees of self-reliance have not yet been established with any real confidence."
Style. Beauty. Underground. Vegetarian...
This issue of split or contradictory roles will continue to be important.
A delicate balance between public output and private insecurity endures across the roster of Abracadabra; WPCWE is but one example. Now as then, Tenetko states about himself (in the cold third person): "Due to the fact that society constantly misinterprets his ideas and intentions, he has been forced to remain alone. Locked up in his room. Rarely going to the window, he continues to write strange music in fits and starts. He is always dreaming of moving away..."
Consequently he did so, moving from Pskov to St Petersburg, where he now lives.
That professional exodus, however, came with the challenge of a new, even larger social sphere - and Tenetko is struggling. He recently published a painfully honest text in rushed and unpolished terms: "I'll say right away that I don't care how many mistakes there are here. The main thing is the sense of what I'm saying. The letters are just an informational code that you receive."
This validation of effort over elegance is nicely captured in an image from his Live Journal account, in which we see poetry scribbled across the least suitable of surfaces.
Output is everything.
Constantly looking for forms of collaboration, Tenetko came recently to a realization that's evidently a consequence of the troubled relationship between his high production rates and low self-esteem. "We shouldn't place anybody higher than ourselves, such as a teacher, a healer, psychologist, mother, father, or friend - who might help to sort things out. We should only 'know how to make mistakes.' It's a very simple and banal phrase; it just means that we should welcome our mistakes - and therefore accept ourselves in full."
We should only 'know how to make mistakes.'
Productivity or graphomania, even, might have its benefits, but failure should be expected, if not welcomed.
Looking to bridge a similar gap is the idm/glitch exponent Aleksei Tolstov from the central Ukrainian city of Krivoi Rog. He has a full musical education to draw upon; his specific interest in the broken time sequences of glitch may result from the fact he specialized in percussion at school. The image below from Abracadabra's catalog makes that training clear.
The juxtaposition between a classical background (in the past) and an experimental outlook for the future finds expression in what he calls "electronic contradictions... I'll try any style. The main thing is that the music should be honest and sincere."
Those experiments, however, clearly need a public response of some form. If we look at the "Feedback" section to one of his web venues, it consists of one single phrase, penned by a labelmate: "Hello? :))" In other words, the only contact thus far has come from an existing friend - who's not even sure if Tolstov is around. These ongoing experiments, as with WPCWE, are clearly conducted in the dark. Mistakes may well occur.
One of the most promising artists on Abracadabra goes by the brief and radically abbreviated name of "nrthie." As we can see below, the artwork she employs does little to clarify her identity. Her promotional texts guard that mystery vigorously.
"My name's Ksenia and I live in Nizhnii Novgorod. I started playing music in 2005, picking things up from my older brother... I try to transmit various designs through sound; they take shape in the imagination or subconsciousness of each person. They become associated with personal experiences, fantasies, thoughts, and so forth. I love going out beyond the city limits to some beautiful location, where I can sit with my laptop and MIDI keyboard. Wrapped up in the sun's rays and inspired, I'll start writing."
These small texts and sounds are indicative of what Abracadabra has on offer. The label's artists are, in essence, individual composers who are fully aware of the problems that accompany lonely, often penniless creativity. And yet, for all that, Tenetko is unwilling to place anybody - including critics! - "above" himself as a guide against disaster, while "Ksenia/nrthie" clearly treasures the chance to escape all social company and work alone.
Individuality and insecurities will foster one another.
Tenetko was born incredibly far from the urban music industry, on the Arctic island of Dixon, shown below and only a brief flight from the North Pole. He has been constantly trying to "move away" to larger cities and better options from a professional standpoint, but - as we can see - he and his colleagues at Abracadabra are unable to abandon the melancholy, promising romance of lonely labor. Whatever his physical address, Tenetko's artistic credo expresses an ongoing yearning away from places like Petersburg and back to Dixon, where - "wrapped in the sun's rays" or in snow - creative options grow.
Precisely because mistakes are more likely.
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