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Appleyard is the stage-name of a young musician from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. His parents know him in somewhat simpler terms as Sergei. FFM first encountered his craft a few months ago when he appeared on the "Fly Russia" wonky compilation.
At that time we echoed the opinion of the album's publishers - that after an initial ignorance of the style, young Slavic musicians have now given birth to “a sudden explosion of wonky tracks.”
...a sudden explosion of wonky tracks
The "Fly Russia" compilers, in a suitably upbeat mood, have also maintained that the new exponents of wonky are showing themselves to be “genuinely talented artists who've sat quietly in the underground, waiting for their time to come. They've waited for a chance to show themselves in all their glory!”
Brief appearances on compilations are slowly becoming bona fide solo releases, within and without the stylistic constraints of wonky. The support of webzines certainly helps. Appleyard has enjoyed the direct endorsement of Siberia's Gimme5, of whom we wrote yesterday. A sponsorship from Nike may also materialize, judging by current sartorial options.
Translated into English, some other, recent words of encouragement have read as follows:
"Appleyard is one of our very own rudeboys! He's a great lover of vinyl and all forms of bass-driven music. Whatever he's working with, he adds his own production values - which are high in quality and varied in nature."
The fanfares continue, especially when Sergei operates in larger formats, such as guest mixes: "In some of his mixes you'll find a personal look back at dubstep's development over the last few years." Names of Western exponents are then thrown back and forth, such as DMZ, Benga, Joker, Gemmy, and Zomby. All are sampled in some form.
With truth in the music, who can refuse it?
Lest we sense the growing threat of epigonism, web-scribes are quick to remind us that the primary force here is enthusiasm, not plagiarism. And, as a result, there's much cause for celebration: "With truth in the music, who can refuse it?"
A blur of activity ensues.
Verity and energetic amateurism - in the best sense of the word - work to mutual benefit. How far will they go, especially if the outside world is not willing to play along?
An optimistic, increasingly social view of the world is best expressed in one of the tracks that Appleyard currently has on display at Soundcloud. Entitled "Trevor," it begins with a Russian/translated quote from the screenplay of a 2000 US drama, "Pay It Forward." The film, starring Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey, imagines a situation in which the kind deeds of one young individual cause a ripple effect, inspiring countless others to act with increased charity and faith in their social existence.
Enormous trust grows from tiny origins. Some of Appleyard's doodles also imagine big forms... in small forms. (Again Nike will be pleased.)
That melodramatic screenplay is used sparingly and with respect. Appleyard's quote concerns one particular moment when a young boy's teacher starts - uninvited - to voice his jaded, cynical view of the world. He tells pupils to go home, watch the evening news, and thus gain a fuller, i.e., more miserable view of actuality.
Our young hero, Trevor, replies that he doesn't think in those terms, since he's only eleven years old. Optimism and pre-adult trust still rule the roost.
Appleyard's own worldview and his enthusiastic foray into the creative achievements of others both find a diminutive spokesman in distant places.
All is well, simple, and straightforward. For the meanwhile, at least.
Equally new - though slightly warier - beats are forthcoming this week from Orlando15, otherwise known as Iaroslav Prokhorov. Based in the town of Dzerzhinsky on Moscow's southern periphery, his penchant for jazz plays a special (and related) role. When we last examined his small, yet promising discography, we suggested that rambling motifs - taken from US horn players - are used to embody a certain metaphorical movement. Away from ostensible reality into some kind of unsullied, unimpeded dreamscape.
Improvisations and metamorphoses therefore become synonymous. Because actuality doesn't look that great. Especially in the company of cantankerous elders. Byzantine, cut-and-spliced tracks likewise suggest we're dealing with a happy flight from dull, common sense. From specificity into nothing specific.
Appleyard aspires to childish disengagement; Orlando15 validates the skillful twists and "youthful" turns of a jazzy repertoire. Although these points of reference come from different generations, they're both inspired by a common desire to improve upon (or flee!) reality's occasional misery.
As they say in the US, if life gives you lemons, made lemonade; kiwi juice, however, is an altogether rosier prospect.
As one of Orlando15's sampled lyrics tells us: "A smile is something special, a ribbon is something rare." The worse the outside world behaves, the more effort and enthusiasm it takes to grin and dress up. (Those lines, by the way, come from 1950s child duo, "Patience And Prudence [McIntyre].")
Explaining the interplay of his imagery and artwork, Prokhorov says they're both supposed to invoke vague, cinematic thoughts of some "kid from the provinces who simply rides around town all day on his bike. In the evening he comes home and listens to old jazz records."
In the evening he comes home and listens to old jazz records...
Not far from the glitz, gloss, and supposed promise of Moscow, Prokhorov insistently adopts the boyish scale of "Pay It Forward" and the improvisational modus operandi of jazz maestros. Both are stubbornly illogical - and, thanks to post-WWI, family-friendly schmaltz, equally innocent.
His sampled recordings also include a few spoken observations from those American jazz stars - delivered directly to a live audience - on the significance of impromptu performance. It all helps to sidestep various forms of humorless inevitability.
And create a sunnier view across the rooftops of Dzerzhinsky.
In a difficult environment, two skills therefore remain front and center: trust and heartfelt ingenuousness. Neither is easily fostered. One of Prokhorov's recent works says as much with a brief, programmatic statement: "Close your eyes and slip into our musical dream. You'll find a mere whisper of your musings - to make you smile and remember things that are long-forgotten, yet [still] exciting."
The trusting, optimistic promise of youth is both half-forgotten and yet half-realized, too. The odds against it slowly worsen.
...you'll smile and remember things that are long-forgotten, yet [still] exciting
This same, insistent faith makes Prokhorov's recent use of a poem by Mayakovsky rather striking, especially when we consider that Mayakovsky's life ended in suicide. Because all promise had vanished. Unable to see a future for private, lyrical values after the Revolution, he killed himself.
The poem chosen by Orlando15 reflects those growing tensions.
Depicting the debauched, if not hellish nature of urban existence, the text still declares - in Messianic terms - a poet's stubborn belief that he'll one day be carried aloft by prostitutes. The bruised representatives of love in a heartless age will band together; quiet voices will become a chorus. One of Orlando15's naif sketches shows the sort of bold statement that's possible with simple, unassuming strokes. In sufficient numbers.
In the meanwhile, those simple values are in need of grand support. Modesty needs major champions.
Like Trevor.
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