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Taurage, Lithuania
The three young men under discussion here live in Estonia and Lithuania. One of them has a Ukrainian surname; another draws directly upon a Polish composer for his mission statement. In short, these instrumentals move back and forth across borders in ways that are not limited by political geography. Nor, come to that, are they shackled by language, since these same artists are also radically taciturn. Sounds take precedence over speech.
The first member of this tight-lipped threesome goes by the name of Audioerotique, though in family scrapbooks he is listed as Gedas Mekšriūnas. He lives in Vilnius, being originally from the small medieval town of Taurage. Much of his output is tagged as "nu-disco" and elements of a 70s' tradition are certainly on display, together with the "erotic" leanings of early VHS culture from the same years. In a word, nostalgia will play an important role in understanding the output of this Baltic laptop wizard.
What, then, of that VHS heritage? As feature films became a private, not public concern in the 1970s, viewers took slightly more risqué movies to their heart. Watching a film at home, instead of in busy cinemas, meant that audience desire was expressed in somewhat more "immediate" forms. X-rated flicks could be enjoyed at home, far from public shame. Mekšriūnas plays upon that sense of lurid excitement with the muffled sounds of tape culture - and some rather gaudy imagery of the same period. He looks back at a time before his own birth, when lofty levels of hedonism found widespread expression through lo-fi media.
Audioerotique (Gedas Mekšriūnas, Vilnius)
Perhaps because of his interest in these "spectacular" tendencies of erstwhile VHS culture, Mekšriūnas himself remains quiet. He is more focused upon sound and imagery than anything textual. First and foremost among those old-school sounds are elements of nu-disco. And, as many practitioners of nu-disco, Mekšriūnas is equally keen to stress the application of modern editing software to antique cliches. Any maximalism of the 1970s, employed with marked irony, is also reduced in scale and subjected to high-tech wizardry. Only key ideas or core motifs of a '70s sound are used, rather than all the showy extremes of the past. Sentiment and simplification assist each other.
At this point, Mekšriūnas turns to some words of Chopin: "Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art."
A laptop, headphones, and a cigarette
Reduction and removal bring considerable rewards. On one social network, Mekšriūnas says that he works with nothing more than "a laptop, headphones, and a cigarette." Saying close to nothing also appears to help movement in the same direction. It's an approach that finds approval on Soundcloud, with people coining new and enthusiastic genre tags such as "space-disco-love..."
Once the commercial worth of disco - or any other modish style - has faded, the need for its marketplace maximalism and loud self-promotion fades very quickly. Over time, therefore, only some fondly-remembered and uncomplicated aspects endure. In the wise words of Sheena Easton, many years ago: "Disco is just pop music you can dance to." Anything else is redundant.
Garo (Giedrius Tamulaitis, Vilnius)
Mekšriūnas' fellow countryman on this occasion is Giedrius Tamulaitis, also from Vilnius. He performs under the stage-name of Garo and toys with a similar kind of nostalgia. Instead of '70s disco, though, Tamulaitis calls upon the following decade, specifically the movies and computer games of the mid- to late 1980s. One recent comment on Soundcloud made this especially clear: "F**k! Looks like you are big TMNT fan [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]! ... I love to catch this [wave of] nostalgia."
The thrill of "erotica" is replaced by colorful, animated fantasy from primetime television. Both experiences are set in the past, perhaps before adult ennui sets in. Both are full of dizzy expectation.
Nothing more than his Nokia and a bottle of whisky
Nowadays Tamulaitis works at a Vilnius recording studio, offering a range of technical services. And as for the charm of minimalism or old-school simplicity, it seems an elusive ideal in the modern workplace. Maintaining a focus upon the uncomplicated values of youthful idealism can be a tall order. Here's a small text used to explain his current expertise and enterprise: "Garo is a multipurpose musical genius! He has been second-in-command of our studio for many years. Along with his formidable production knowledge, Garo displays great turntablist skills and the ability to interconnect a million wires (in the correct sequence!), He also plays in several bands. On top of that, he runs a record label, and can find you absolutely any session musician... using nothing more than his Nokia and a bottle of whisky."
Notions of heroism have changed somewhat over the years.
A recent scene of jeopardy, resolved by Garo's green heroes
Gang-busting turtles are swapped for a good drink. A bold movement into society, eagerly anticipated in years gone by, is now scaled back. And that brings us to Stanislav Gaistruk, who is currently resident in Tallinn, Estonia. From here he runs a solo "techno-ish" project known as Perfect Glitch. Once more, a deliberate lack of self-promotion is linked to a kindred musical style. In fact, the only statement that Mr. Gaistruk makes about his music reads as follows, if we edit the English a tad:
"I'm doing this for the feeling any producer gets when s/he is 'in the zone.' You know what I'm talking about! I'm doing this to get lost in the sound - whilst knowing exactly what to do: where to place the instruments, how to modulate a synth, etc. What, though, do I get out of this? This music, of course, is all that matters. It's [just] the ego ride you get once you've hit that [matchless] groove - or built a synth sound that feels perfect - [at least] at that particular moment. Or even the next day!"
Lost in the sound - whilst knowing exactly what to do
Perfection is a fleeting state, one best experienced "in the zone." If we care to get literal with that same concept, then we start leaning towards the psychological notion of "flow," brought to Western psychology from mid-century Hungary. Here, in other words, is the mental condition in which an individual is entirely focused upon a given process. Classic attributes of "flow" often include a loss of self-consciousness, a diminished sense of time's passage, and complete absorption in one's activity. The technical term for that final aspect is "action-awareness merging." In other words, a reduction to the simplest, most important matters of all. Chopin would approve.
Perfect Glitch (Stanislav Gaistruk, Tallinn)
The goals of youth for Audioerotique, Garo, and Perfect Glitch - sometimes embodied by sword-wielding, fearless turtles - change into the brief escapism of erotica, whisky, or the kind of passionate craftsmanship that provides satisfaction overnight. This same passage from intrepid adventure to hedonism or escapist effort begins, perhaps, rather early on. Idealism starts to fade at an early age.
One, two, Freddy's coming for you. / Three, four, better lock your door...
The most obvious piece of sampled (and socially anxious!) dialog from our three performers comes from Garo. He takes several lines from 1984's "Nightmare on Elm Street." More specifically, the lines come from a brief and famous dialog between heroine Tina Gray and her mother, conducted at home. Worried about some nocturnal noises, the mother asks her daughter: "You OK, Tina?" "Just a dream, Ma," comes the reply. "Hm," says Mrs. Gray: "Some dream, judging from that!" She points at a series of knife-cuts in Tina's nightgown. Big problems are coming from beyond the front garden.
There are some social threats and problems against which even "TMNT" are helpless: they grow over time. Escape from them, even briefly, is best sought in simple adult pleasures, be they liquid or listenable. Especially after sundown.
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