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The discerning label Electronica, operating between Moscow and Siberia, will soon be releasing a regimented, self-assured techno EP by Vadim Lankov, entitled "Katapulta." It will be accompanied by several remixes; they involve both fellow Muscovites (such as Frunk29 or Khz) and southern colleagues (Modul, based in Krasnodar). Arriving from even further afield, a German interpretation by Frankfurt's Ludwig Coenen will make "Katapulta" a truly international release.
Techno and tech-house exponent Lankov is a native of the Russian capital, who traces his serious involvement with electronic music to some pre-adult experiments at the age of sixteen. Whilst still a teenager, he was able to build rudimentary music software, specifically for trip-hop compositions. By 2006, some of these callow efforts were already seeing the light of day, thanks to the support of netlabels. Vinyl publications began the following year in Holland - which in turn led to some interest from the UK. Public attention was increasing.
Not surprisingly, any such Western connections would have a positive effect upon bookings at home. And indeed Lankov found himself performing in Moscow's better-known clubs: Solyanka, Gorod, Gazgallery, 16 Tons and so forth. Below (left) we see him live with DJ Sergey Sanches.
Trip-hop would eventually be replaced by the stricter, swifter pace of techno. One reason for that transition, modishness aside, is offered to us (in semi-serious fashion) through Lankov's page at Vkontakte. Here we find a small article from last summer, stating in Russian that "Australian researchers have made a discovery. Frequent listening to techno music - and the attendance of techno events - increases your mental capacity. If, however, this is done too often with other genres, the result may be mere stupefaction."
The benefits of that particular style were said to be increased verbal skills, improved memory, and faster mental processing.
Listening to techno will aid your cognition...
An ideal frequency of social participation was even proposed: techno events should be attended between four and six times a month (for men). Women were advised that seven to nine outings would bring the biggest benefits... Sage words from the project's primary investigator closed out the text: "Listening to techno will aid your cognition. We have no concrete data to explain why fans of D&B, trance, and house show lower levels of improvement."
Inquiring fans want to know.
This conviction was restated in especially striking terms when Lankov presented the public with the words to a short song. Using a suspect rhyme between "techno" and the Russian word for "sh*t," the song explained that a young woman's passion for any other kind of music would scupper all romance. Though funny in tone and throwaway in style, these kinds of cocky quips speak to a (necessary!) social assurance we find discussed elsewhere. The ability to stand one's ground does have benefits.
Some of Lankov's proclamations of late include the following, rather emphatic dictum on one aspect of human relationships: "Whenever people leave you, just let them walk away. Fate removes all forms of excess from our life. This doesn't mean that anybody who has left you is bad. It's simply that their role in your own destiny has been played out."
Refuse all secondary roles in a kingdom of vacuous people
Or, elsewhere, with equal assurance: "Refuse all secondary roles in a kingdom of vacuous people." Independence and assertiveness soon become the sine qua non of a successful performing artist; especially one who both composes and plays solo. Photographing oneself from a lowly angle might help to nurture greater confidence, too.
Aided, no doubt, by the mental benefits of endless techno(!), Lankov declares on another occasion to be an individual of "floating moral convictions." In a city where the meek and indecisive disappear with great speed - especially within the cutthroat context of the "entertainment" industry - poise and pushiness are vital. Survival skills take precedence over ethics, one would imagine. Nonetheless, because of the endless struggle for a decent wage or DJ's residency in a good venue, confidence can waver from time to time. At which point, this bravery starts to resemble mere swagger...
If we're looking for a more specific discussion of that thin psychological line, over and above bawdy, confrontational lyrics, it might be useful to consider the Kievan tech/ deep/ micro-house label Subself. In showcasing their own music - such as the artists SE62 (below) and Yaha Zveroboy - they pull a paragraph directly from a US clinical psychology journal.
Published in 2007, the article discusses the so-called "subself theory of personality." Framed by our Ukrainian label in a particular manner, the text can be used to advocate the explicit social benefits of a dancefloor for those who feel browbeaten by actuality.
What's at stake is a clear sense of self.
In essence, the academic text argues that the Western notion of selfhood as a "bounded, unique, and dynamic center of awareness, emotion, judgement, or action" is alien to many cultures worldwide. More common is the idea that we all manifest various "subselves" of our personality in different "contexts or social settings." Group dynamics or workplace responsibilities might bring these subselves into play. In the Big City, a form of mild schizophrenia often develops, born of anxiety and insecurities. Any assertive ability to save face can lose out to a series of masks.
The label quotes some especially pithy sections:
Your personality is an evolving mosaic of... fears, perceptions, and other habits
"Your personality is an evolving mosaic of beliefs, values, talents, limitations, memories, reflexes, priorities, fears, perceptions, and other habits. Together they make you unique among all living and dead humans. Each subself is semi-independent, has its own goals, gifts, limits and experiences the world uniquely. Each subself can ally with, ignore, distrust, respect, scorn or conflict with every other subself. Your inner family of subselves can range between harmonious and purposeful to chaotic and unfocused..."
Professional tensions will clearly lead to greater chaos, not harmony. Individuality becomes fractured, nervous multiplicity. The Subself logo speaks to a certain predatory lifestyle, fueled sometimes by little more than carrion. Stable forms are torn apart by conflict... on a crumpled background.
The staff at Subself then claim that music can "satisfy and rearrange" all of these fragments. The dancefloor tools for doing so this month - within the Slavic context - come, as mentioned, from colleagues Yaha Zveroboy (a resident of Zaporozh'e) and the Kievan musician SE62.
The former on one of his social networking accounts posts a Russian translation of Depeche Mode's 1989 track "Personal Jesus." That song, famously, was based upon the relationship between Elvis Presley and his long-suffering wife. It also touches upon the issues we see within these psychology journals, used by Subself; Martin Gore has spoken of the song as a portrait of one individual, "sacrificed" to a social context.
These dark subtexts, social reference points, and quotations from clinical psychology speak, in the broadest possible way, to a couple of key concerns. In other words, two core issues emerge from the efforts of Lankov and Subself. These artists foreground both the mental or monetary pressures of urban performance and the rigid, mechanical music needed to engender a coherent sense of self. Almost as a form of obsessive repetition beyond any pleasure principle, so to speak.
Staving off "chaos" requires a very strict rhythm, as Yaha Zveroboy shows.
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