Acts of Kindness

Cross

Svitlana Nainio and Oleksandr Yurchenko are musicians with a long history in the still-mysterious Kiev Underground. Nainio’s first group Cukor Bima Smert [Sugar, The White Death] were active in the late 80s before Nainio’s solo record was released in 1992. Her work centers around deconstructed, minimal treatments of Ukrainian folk music and the palette of Eastern European harmony and rhythm. Oleksandr Yurchenko, a longtime collaborator and a pivotal figure in the Kiev music scene, was instrumental in creating the Novaya Scena, a loose conglomerate of artists who encouraged eachother to excavate both the sounds of the west and Ukrainian tradition.  'Znayesh Yak? Rozkazhi' ('Know How? Tell Me') is the duo’s most fully realised collaboration, an enchanting, complete world informed by Yurchenko’s instrumentation and playfulness with form and how it frames Nainio’s otherworldly soprano, recalling Liz Fraser steeped in contrapuntal melody and hymnal improvisation …. Originally released in 1996, this is the debut release of Znayesh Yak? Roxkazhi outside of Ukraine and a follow up to Lisova Kolekciya, re-issued by Skire in 2017.
Recorded in an abandoned park in Kiev during a fertile period for artists and musicians following the collapse of the Soviet Union, 'Znayesh Yak? Rozkazhi' sees Nianio and Yurchenko combine Casio keyboard, hammered dulcimer, percussion, and Nainio's unmistakeable soprano vocalisations to create music sympathetic to the specific locations in which they chose to record. Yurchenko's contribution is perhaps more present on this recording than anything else we have heard from the duo. His percussive dulcimer playing provides the basis on which Nianio can weave delicate keyboard lines while playfully contorting her voice, shifting from a low register reminiscent of Nico to what could be the call of a bird or an animal in distress. Whatever the intent, the effect is haunting and beautiful in equal measure. 

Nainio’s unique, unmistakeable vocal rings true here, weaving through the interlocking rhythmic patterns conjured by Yurchenko. There’s prevailing earthiness on the recordings, found in the warm hiss of the lo fi means of recording or the grinding, unspecified sounds that occasionally accompany the melody, like drones created on the fly by hands trying to keep warm in the ice. A prevailing mood of fragility and beauty seeps from these melodies, delicate moments of clarity spun by the two musicians. Znayesh Yak. Rozkazhi? is a dream spun in twilight, a crystalline, private world the listener feels both alien and welcome in.

Svitlana Nianio + Oleksandr Yurchenko - Untitled 1 (from Znayesh Yak. Rozkazhi?)

Excerpt taken from Clara de Asís -  Sans Nom Ni Forme
Pilgrim Talk 2020

Clara de Asís - De ce côté-ci (excerpt) [PT39]

This piece plays with the listener’s sonic expectations of what is familiar by fusing sounds, which a person can easily recognize, with new previously unheard sounds generated by algorithmic processing. By using various sounds and sonic artifacts that are common to the human experience, the work directs the listener to draw upon his inner visual associations with specific sounds and paint a mental soundscape of the acoustic experience. The introduction of other, unfamiliar processed sounds into the composition, invites the listener to break away from this familiar associative chain of acoustic phenomena and push the boundaries of his perception, in the process forming new sonic combinations and auditory experiences.
The musical piece was fully recorded and compiled in the Tonshoom Studio in April 2020. Some sounds were recorded using musical instruments, sound props, and speech; others were synthesized with SuperCollider. The final track was mixed down in Pro Tools and WFSCollider.

03. hybrid by Ivan Yerofeyev

taken from the debut album "Talbot Bells" by Grotta Veterano.
Out on 03.07.2020 as digital only release.

Talbot Bells

Download

Grotta Veterano - Roseneck

Double Six '1991

https://faceculler.bandcamp.com/album/elsewhere

Elegy

TR108 - United Bible Studies - The Night Fell Off Its Axis [excerpt]

система | system presents "Bubny Voices" audio Installation by Ukrainian Kyiv-based artists NFNR & unwavemenot.
~ "The Bubny Voices is an artistic documentation of the Nádraží Bubny area in Prague, which is about to be destroyed .
The compositions are created by Ukrainian composers unwavemenot & NFNR out of field recordings collected around the Bubny railway station by local inhabitants.
Originally the piece was supposed to be a site-specific performance at Nádraží Bubny. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak borders were closed, thus the invited artists NFNR & unwavemenot did not have access to the city. They decided to approach Bubny through auditory impressions of the local residents.
Bubny Voices reflects the experience of new places based on imagination rather than sensations. In such a way, the artists fulfill a need for discovery in times of limited freedom of movement. They suggest using imagination in order to document places that disappear. The work means to grasp collective aural memories of Bubny to be able to experience the area after its disappearance.
Bubny Voices were created as part of the Performance Crossing Festival in Prague in May-June 2020.." - NFNR & unwavemenot
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~ "Bubny Voices — це музична документація району залізничної станції Бубни у Празі, яку невдовзі знесуть.
Композиції створені українськими композиторками NFNR & unwavemenot на основі польових записів, зібраних навколо залізничної станції місцевими жителями.
Роботи мали бути створені як site-specific інсталяція у споруді вокзалу. Через спалах COVID-19 та закриті кордони запрошені музикантки NFNR & unwavemenot не мали можливості працювати з місцем особисто. Вони вирішили вивчити Бубни через акустичні досвіди місцевих жителів.
Bubny Voices є переживанням досвіду міста на основі уяви, а не відчуттів. Так музикантки задовольняють потребу у нових враженнях і відкриттях у часи обмеженої свободи пересування. У подібний спосіб, вони пропонують використовувати уяву для документації місць, що зникають. Композиції вбирають колективі акустичні спогади про район, щоб мати можливість відчути цю місцевість після її зникнення.
Bubny Voices були створені в рамках фестивалю Performance Crossing у Празі у травні-червні 2020" - NFNR & unwavemenot

- Olesia Onykiienko [NFNR] and Anna Khvyl [unwavemenot] are
Kyiv-based electronic musicians, composers, and members of Women’s Sound platform. Both experiment with field recordings and site-specific works.⠀
Olesia aka NFNR is a choir conductor, theater composer, and leftfield producer. Anna aka unwavemenot has a background in classical piano, and DJ-ing, composes music for films, has interest in urban anthropology. Both work with the idea of music for non-musicians integrating listening practices into everyday life.⠀
*
- Олеся Оникієнко [NFNR] and Анна Хвиль [unwavemenot] — українські музикантки, композиторки та учасниці платформи Women’s Sound. Обидва експериментують із польовими записами та сайт-спесіфік аудіоработамі. ⠀
NFNR — хорова диригентка за освітою, театральна композиторка і leftfield продюсерка. Unwavemenot — піаністка, ді-джейка, створює музику для кінофільмів та цікавиться урбаністичною антропологією. Обидва працюють з ідеєю музики для немузикантів, яка інтегрує практики слухання у повсякденне життя. ⠀

released December 25, 2020

Bubny Voices

Audio Installation for Performance Crossing Festival 2020 (CZ)

Composed by Olesia Onykiienko [NFNR] and Anna Khvyl [unwavemenot]

Field recordings provided by Jakub Prašivka, Adam Bláha, Klárka Ondračková, Daniel Toman, Nawar Talli, Matej Kamenicky, Iryna Zahladko, Oksana Khvostichenko, Petr Dlouhý, Timber Rattle, Heidi Hornáčková

Tracks 02, 04, 07, 09 poetry by Iryna Zahladko

Artworks: Iryna Zahladko
Mastered by Nika Zenova.

Bubny Voices

unwavemenot - The Drum station

"Make It Home" by Iconic Black Suit.

Music and production: Joel Andersson ( 2020 ).

Make It Home

International digital Music Label and Live Cast serie, Art and music events organizer/in situ projects conceptor working on the relationship between architecture and live music. Odesa-UA based project, active worldwide. We work against the GATEKEEPERS in the music scene and industry and give space to newcomers, unheard and forward thinking music.

unwavemenot - The Drum station

система | system

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