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Audrius Vaitiekunas, aka IJO (Klaipeda [Lithuania] and Brighton)
A few days ago, we focused on the work of Lithuanian composer Sraunus, who has been known to us for some time, primarily through his collaborations with local netlabel Night Music. His newest sound recordings have come by way of the UK, specifically via Brighton's Blikmuzik, which is overseen by compatriot Audrius Vaitiekunas (above), aka IJO. Vaitiekunas records both under that moniker and as 300 Degrees. The latter project is dedicated to "melodic, deep electro or techno tracks, made exclusively with vintage analog gear." Vaitiekunas's solo work and publishing efforts together are well worth attention - hence this text.
Blikmuzik defines itself, somewhat modestly, as a microlabel, and was only founded last year. The project happily declares its intention to work with "young, talented producers from all over the place," but a geographic focus is already evident: Blikmuzik dedicates both its time and energy to supporting Lithuanian instrumentalists through its headquarters on the south coast of England.
IJO (Vaitiekunas) sketches his creative biography according to a timeline that begins with some early experiments in a dark ambient or D&B vein. By his own admission, he then moved into softer, more accessible styles, specifically the sort of ambient or idm textures one might associate even in the present with Night Music and kindred Lithuanian netlabel Sutemos.
Quieter sounds, perhaps, led to smaller instruments; the image below was probably not taken backstage at Wembley.
IJO (2011)
Nowadays a middle ground has been mapped out between those initial, diametrically opposed extremes of substantial volume and rapid tempo: Vaitiekunas categorizes his recent material as "syncopated, polyrhythmic beats and carefully crafted atmospheres." Nothing excessive - yet it's designed to be universally appealing.
Vaitiekunas says his stage-name comes from one of Jupiter's satellites, thus giving us a sense of how wide this "universal," sonic "atmosphere" will hopefully spread. Put differently, the romance of his work is clearly influenced by some dramatically distant locations, but that allure of vacancy can also be explained in a more objective - and local - context. Cosmic yearning starts at home or, more importantly, with its absence.
An enduring air of homelessness, between Lithuania and England, tends to divorce IJO's aesthetic from any long-lasting ties to a specific locale. Vaitiekunas, by way of illustration, has no love for London, as he recently told an Italian webzine: his life in Brighton - a much smaller city - is also something he attributes only to a "stage in my life... Everything is transient." He may soon return to his birthplace of Klaipeda on the Baltic seashore, but feels that his hometown offers little hope for employment. That contradictory push-and-pull, effected simultaneously by nostalgia and ennui, "can be both inspiring and depressing."
I tend to view urban centers as pests: all they do is destroy nature's [true] dimensions
For these same reasons, he dedicates much of his output to the wistfully imagined, liminal, and essentially nondescript realms that once fueled his ambient compositions. "I try to express my attitude towards modernity - and the fact I don't like big cities. Human intervention is so often artificial and destructive. I tend to view urban centers as pests: all they do is destroy nature's [true] dimensions." And so we have music designed to celebrate a potential scope of vision that's narrowed - or sullied - by the poverty of modern habit.
One of Vaitiekunas' labelmates at Blikmuzik is Edvinas Noythe. Performing under his surname alone, he - just as his colleagues - is not terribly keen on long-winded explanations of instrumental music. Nonetheless, he has occasionally employed a few pithy quotes in the past - in order to give us a general sense of his worldview. To Aristotle, for example, he attributes the sage and laudable notion that "all paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind." Modern, fiscal enterprise immediately comes under fire; present-day norms, driven by profit margins, are swiftly dismissed.
All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind
To this wisdom he adds the view of English literary critic Cyril Connolly that it's "better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." Once again, contemporary notions of profitable, popular - and therefore worthwhile - culture are deemed worthless.
And as for the rural, nocturnal, or pre-modern goal of "meditation" often advocated by our ambient performers at Night Music, it should - apparently - be discussed in the light of a thought from Bertrand Russell: "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." Across these aphorisms, the "anti-modern" outlook of Vaitiekunas is mirrored. Preferable to the noisy, usually monetary goals of urban life are the quiet domains that once existed prior to concrete and cash - be they endless Baltic forests or the moons of Jupiter! Somewhere above the straitjacket of steel and concrete is a purer, wider realm.
Justinas Mikulskis, aka S13
Of all the artists who operate in and around Blikmuzik, the greatest amount of press coverage has arguably been enjoyed by S13, known in fuller, professional terms as Secret Thirteen - and to his family as Justinas Mikulskis. Needless to say, that numerical moniker is the first topic of discussion in interviews. Mikulskis himself attributes it to the following patterns of antique significance:
"The spiritual meaning of '3' is tied to magic, intuition, fecundity, and [a general sense of] advantage [in life]. On the other hand, '13' symbolizes death: either the death of physical matter or of oneself. [That demise, though, leads to] the birth to the spirit – thus beginning the passage to a higher level of existence."
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music
As with the other Blikmuzik performers, we see once more a validation of places traditionally associated with ambient, minimal, or chillout genres - yet here they are exercised on the dancefloor. In this same contrary vein, Mikulskis likes to employ a quote from Aldous Huxley that links sound to silence or, put differently, an audible expression to the romance of noiselessness: “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
Building soundscapes that are inspired by hushed or absent manifestations of nature, the catalog of S13 is designed overall to "transform music into a digital organism." It celebrates a network that once was - or that should be.
The Blikmuzik catalog, en route to a grateful customer
Justinas Mikulskis imagines himself in a place high above the physical constraints (and conflict) of a modern metropolis: "Fluid basslines, melancholy melodies, and a generally gloomy aura [in my compositions] all evoke the feeling of standing atop a colossal skyscraper... The rain is falling and you recall the eternal memories of life" - those inherent in pre-conscious, per-verbal drives. Nature wins the day as our imagined figure is raised far above common sense, grasping marketplaces, and all the wordy debate that fuels them both.
Raised - long ago - on the rock music collected by his uncle, Mikulskis has not only made the dramatic jump from that clamorous genre to the more fragile, introspective sounds of modern electronica. Instead of using any guitars or analog equipment, he also works almost exclusively with Logic Pro. Mobile editing tools only serve to emphasize the role of a vagrant, even homeless aesthetic that runs through so many of Blikmuzik's offerings. After all, micro-labels enjoy a certain liberty from the dead weight of property: the image above shows Blikmuzik's entire back catalog, together with wrapping paper. Ready to move.
Success resides in desire, aspiration, and free time. That's how to be yourself
Hoping to fashion a soundtrack to various lofty trajectories that are denied by moribund matter or urban greed, S13 adds a final word of wisdom: "Remember that success lies neither in money nor in the opinion of others. Success resides in desire, aspiration, and free time. That's how to be yourself..."
Put differently, a life lived profitably is also one lived aimlessly. The wayward movement of private whim is the greatest indicator of success, and for that same reason, the allure of open land- and seascapes is likely to endure in the discography or address of Blikmuzik. Both Klaipeda and Brighton offer a wide, level horizon - across which any kind of flight is feasible.
Klaipeda, Lithuania
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