nocow

saint petersburg

Millions of years will pass, and if music in our sense still exists, the source of musical ideas will be the same seven main tones of our scale, in their melodic and harmonic combinations, animated by rhythm. They will continue to serve as the source of new musical thoughts

Пройдут миллионы лет, и если музыка в нашем смысле будет еще существовать, то те же семь основных тонов нашей гаммы, в их мелодических и гармонических комбинациях, оживляемые ритмом, будут все еще служить источником новых музыкальных мыслей

Petr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Alexey Nikitin is widely admired, having passed through abstract hip-hop, wonky, future garage, and “Boiler Room-ism” to find a more individual voice within the lo-fi networks of Moscow’s GOST ZVUK. As his fame grows, so does his sense of responsibility. He bemoans certain aspects of local music-making, since he wants to avoid them.

“Here everything is done ass-backwards. Double-glazed windows are installed by people who can’t use a spirit level; asphalt is poured on top of ice by utility workers; doctors are busier making money than healing… ‘Russia’ nowadays either means Dostoevsky (only recognized posthumously) or––let’s say––some drunk guy on vacation in Turkey. In order to get something [like global recognition], we first have to deserve it. Currently we’ve got precisely what we deserve.”

Nonetheless, positive changes are afoot: “Our artists, those published on western labels, are much more recognizable to the world… You could even say that Russian music has never been so evident in the West. That certainly makes me happy.”

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