astronaut ape

saint petersburg / moscow

While there is life, there is also its music––equally beautiful in its harmonies and dissonance

Пока есть жизнь, есть и музыка жизни. А она прекрасна и в гармонии, и в диссонансах

Vikenty Versaev, “To Life” (1908)

This unusual stage name belongs to Oleg Belousov, born in Moscow but is professionally associated with the influential chillout label Microcosmos that’s equally well-established in Saint Petersburg. Artists on Microcosmos, such as Belousov, are united not only by a single genre, but also an overt love for all things cosmic––in the literal sense. Outer space, both real and imagined, is the primary determinant: it leads to downtempo, meditative instrumentals that ponder a slower, more dignified existence far from home.

Hence the talk of “progressive bass-lines, dubstep beats, chillout melodies, sampled ethnic instruments, and synthesized cosmic sounds. All combined as immersive, sonic space travel.”

Belousov has no professional musical education. In fact much of his childhood was spent pretending to have piano lessons, when in reality he was learning karate. “I grew up reading science fiction. Asimov, Sheckley, Bradbury, you name it. I dreamed of flying to the stars in massive spaceships, leaping into hyperspace, and exploring uncharted planets on the galaxy’s frontiers.”

Soundcloud / Personal Site / Microcosmos / Facebook / VK / Bandcamp