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Tronx (Moscow): "Beactures" (2012)
Subwise Records is an independent netlabel, based in St Petersburg, to which we've turned on numerous occasions - for a wide number of reasons and releases. Now, as when the label began, it specializes in electronica from new or little-known artists, typically from northern Russia.
The project’s various venues online usually contain a small paragraph in the owners' native tongue, sketching these endeavors for the uninitiated. Turned into English, that mini-text becomes a little longer, no doubt due to a lack of perfect synonyms. Given a quick buff and polish, the English paragraph then reads as follows: “Subwise unites musicians who write experimental electronic music – together with some other genres, too. The organizers at Subwise used to publish recordings that had a rather ‘hard’ sound, but now they place an emphasis on softer works. That does not mean to say, however, that things are any less interesting!”
Subwise unites musicians who write experimental electronic music
The label currently has four new releases to announce at the outset of 2012: we showcase them here, bringing together several figures from cities big and small. Most of these artists remain maximally reticent, preferring the kind of introspective hedonism evident in some borrowed lines from US rap. In other words, one of these Subwise musicians - Moscow's Tronx (aka Dmitry Petruk) - takes some phrasing from Californian hip-hop producer Quasimoto: "Smoking on the trees at a hundred degrees. Never touch the breeze, this is sticky green leaves."
Those words from distant shores begin to cast a vague light on Slavic actuality, as we'll see.
A recent, unfocused Tronx avatar
Leaving some grammatical oddities in that US couplet aside, we can already sense how carefree indolence is likely to take the place of loud industry. Put differently, the lines quoted sing the praises of sleepiness. Where, therefore, might the line be between dreaming and doing, between introspection and the effort required to produce this music in the first place? That question seems especially pertinent if Quasimoto's versified call to dropout culture, taken from the same song, ever becomes a rallying cry: "Weeds, weeds, weeds, is what we all needs, needs..."
Light and airy music
In Moscow we find another of the new Subwise artists, Nikolai Moiseenko, otherwise known as Nik Snake F, a persona he adopted late in 2009. In brief, yet somewhat grand terms, he lays claim to "an original sound and style. This is unusually light and airy music." With that, his promotional efforts come swiftly to an end: the druggie disinclination we hear from Tronx thus becomes a similar (yet legal) claim to "airiness" and a related escape from leaden normality. Both of these artists, with their minimalist statements, hope for some alternative to "purposeful," pragmatic tedium. Daily obligations and the goals thereof fail to please.
A little more detail is forthcoming from Penza, almost 400 miles south of Moscow. Here lives Sergey Kozlov, performing under the stage-name of Danoizz. Despite any promise of joyful clamor in that moniker, we find similar claims to those of Tronx and Moiseenko. Escape is sought from dreariness. And the weather.
Nik Snake F (Nikolai Moiseenko, Moscow)
A couple of weeks ago, Kozlov wrote at Vkontakte: "Attention, friends! A lot of you know that I occasionally play live. I try and offer the public a special kind of electronic music. It can be categorized by varying degrees of lightness." An alternative to "heavy" typicality emerges from the outset.
The majority of Kozlov's posts concern not music, but his attempts to manage irritating burdens in the material world. "Does anybody have a 3G Megafon modem lying around? This is a unique chance for you to do a good, charitable deed: you could lend me the modem - not forever, but just so I can try it. Once more - thank you, thank you! I am profoundly grateful! I'll click my heels and shower you with gratitude!" Stuff is needed, pure and simple. Any kind of relief from the frustrating weight of endless, unreliable objects is treated with irony.
Heaven only knows what happened, actually...
And so the jumble sale continues, in hope of reducing clutter - and freeing room for creativity. The tools needed in order to compose, paradoxically, bring little except new obstacles. It's tough relying on the inanimate world: "I've got an Epson Stylus printer to give away - if you'll just come and pick it up. There's one defect, though: somewhere inside this marvelous example of modern engineering a few bits and pieces seem to have dried up. Heaven only knows what happened, actually. I went through the standard cleaning procedure outlined in the manual, but that didn't help. I'll throw in a color cartridge as a bonus! Pop 'round, pick it up, and get something for nothing!"
Reverie beckons when stuff breaks.
Danoizz (Sergey Kozlov, Penza): "When Umi Sleeps" (2012)
These irritatingly frequent encounters with material failure come to a head when Kozlov announces a computer game he has found: "Zomboclaypse." "Who here doesn't love to destroy a few zombies? If you can't feed 'em with bread, give 'em nine grams of virtual lead! Stick it to 'em and their rotting, green flesh!" The game itself is advertised to Western users in no less violent terms: "It is December 21st, 2012. Your chopper has gone down on a surveillance mission. You smell a stench in the air and see crowds in the distance closing in. You grip your machete, preparing for the worst..."
The happiest attitude towards tangible reality - and the problems thereof - emerges from the youngest Subwise artist. One of the four new releases comes from the figure of Andrey Beatmaker, a young producer in the southern river port of Rostov-na-Donu. He publishes music under the banner of Sweet Love Beatz. According to a recent interview, he is only fifteen years old: his real name, as a bonus, is also revealed to be Andrei Dziubenko. He says that until recently, skateboarding was his main hobby or activity - but that soon grew boring.
I'm one of those people who needs a 'muse' in order to be inspired
"I'm one of those people who needs a 'muse' in order to be inspired. It goes without saying that I love to watch intelligent movies - the kind that give you something to think about. Whenever that happens I'll find myself in the proper mood to make some new beats. Or I might get the chance to hear some cool music made by friends... Ultimately, though, nothing trumps having that 'muse' - and that's how I came up with my stage-name."
Love works wonders on cold days.
Andrei Dziubenko (aka Sweet Love Beatz, Rostov-na-Donu)
The relationship of effort to social connections and creative progress is then made clearer - in two stages. First we hear of trouble at home. "My parents don't find this kind of music interesting. My Dad keeps telling me I'm merely playing with toys... my Mum is simply indifferent and stays quiet. We've spoken about all this loads of times, but the result's always the same. They reckon the music is a complete waste of time..."
Instead of being stymied by any objections at home, Dziubenko finds that progress in digital spheres benefits from physical contact. Others inspire activity. Acquaintances and affinities - found in public - offer an alternative to excessive isolation and any related surrender to laziness. His music therefore blossoms in social settings: "I'd like to thank all my friends, fellow beatmakers, and rappers who are always offering me support. They help me develop. Thanks to everybody who has spent time with me or enjoyed a good conversation. Keep doing what you do: get people excited and don't give up on music..."
Thanks to everybody who has spent time with me
In short, these four releases come to us from one northern label - Subwise - that hopes in its longstanding mission statement to "unite musicians." For all the hedonistic isolation and introspection of some Subwise artists, though, it would seem that bona fide, lasting release from material burden or indolence comes via interaction. Some of these musicians hope to find inspiration in thoughtful retreat from the world and its leaden weight, but a closer look reveals the validation of social contact. Inspiration - and therefore effort - transpires through friendship, support, and charity. Commitment and productivity grow in social realms: socialization itself fosters new civic enterprise in positive, productive cycles.
There are some places where physical contact make particularly good sense.
A winter image recently uploaded by Andrei Dziubenko
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