You are a god for my soul and ears👁️🫀👁️

swung wide with a key so crudely wrought
hung high to be seen for miles along

how wise to refuse the rite of rot
such pride to assume you wont get caught 
time will tell you

obedience is worth its wait in gold
cling to the coat tail as the structure folds

submissive to the will that casts the die
oh what a vision i would never drop my eye

one decision with a quickly diving stock
turn on the tide and be dashed against the rocks

i bow to the hand that plants the seed
do all the dishes for the hand that feeds

Sugar Coded

Ode to Obedience

Svitlana Nianio — Transilvania Smile, 1994

Release title: Transilvania Smile, 1994
Release subtitle: Original Soundtrack For The Dance-Theatre Performance
Release artist: Svitlana Nianio
Release date: 2023-08-04
Label: Shukai
Catalog: Shukai 8
Formats: 12” LP / Digital
File under: Folk, Classical

Linear notes:
Svitlana Okhrimenko (artist name: Svitlana Nianio) is a Ukrainian artist, musician, and signer. She is one of the most prominent representatives of the independent music scene of Kyiv in the late 1980s — early 90s. She has repeatedly recorded and performed in collaboration with other musicians and bands, such as Oleksandr Yurchenko, Sugar White Death (Cukor Bila Smert’), Ivanov Down, GeeNerve & Taran, and Blemish. Svitlana still performs and publishes new recordings today.
“Transilvania Smile” is one of the first solo works recorded in 1994. During this time, Svitlana repeatedly visited Germany, where she had the experience of playing in parks and on the streets, gathering contacts of the local art scene. Her cooperation with the international choreographic group Pentamonia, based in Cologne and consisting of several girls who performed in theaters, took part in various performances, and were engaged in music. They met in the 1990s during joint performances with "Sugar-White Death." After that, they corresponded, and the idea of doing something together arose. Svitlana attended several of their performances, which inspired her to write music for a new project, and the band members helped to realize their creative ideas. Later, they started rehearsing together.
The name “Transilvania Smile” was invented by the project participants, and it symbolized the mold on the mirror and the reflection of a smiling vampire. However, shortly before the premiere, they changed it to “Firefox”, as the participants actively used flashlights and the play of light and shadows in the scenography.
The premiere occurred in the local Urania theater, previously a gallery. Isabel Bartensein directed the choreography, and Svitlana played, sang, and improvised. She said it was an excellent experience for her and the band. Besides Cologne, they also performed in Aachen.
Later, Michael Springer offered Svitlana to record this material in his "Phanton" studio. They had already worked together and recorded music for their project (Svitlana Okhrimenko / Phanton). Michael was also interested in the Ukrainian independent scene and participated in the creation of several compilations that featured bands from Kyiv and Kharkiv. Svetlana played the piano and harmonium in the studio and also sang. After the recording, the material was never released in its entirety. Two compositions appeared on the cassette compilation “Shovaisia” (Hide) in 1995, some episodes were re-recorded for the “Kytytsi” album in 1999, but for a long time, the full version of this recording remained practically unknown to listeners and was kept in Svitlana's and Michael’s archives.
This album is one of the most personal and insightful works of Svitlana Nianio from the 90s, which you can now get to know in its original form and sound.
Tracklist:
Side A (45RPM)
Episode III
Side B (33RPM)
Episode I
Episode II
Episode III
Episode IV
Episode V
Episode VI
Episode VII


Credits:
Original Soundtrack for the Dance-Theatre Performance “Transilvania Smile” by Svitlana Nianio
Recorded in phantonstudio, Cologne, 1994—1995
Mastered by Michael Springer (phantonstudio)
Shukai team: Dmytro Nikolaienko, Dmytro Prutkin and Sasha Tsapenko
Liner notes by Vlad Yakovlev
Graphic design by (DN)
Svitlana’s stage photo by Christiane Bowinkelmann
Pentamonia Dance Group photos by Olav Faustmann
Special thanks to Michael Springer (phantonstudio) and Guido Erfen

Shukai 8
www.shukai.org
© ℗ Shukai / Svitlana Nianio
2023

Transilvania Smile

Episode III

Svitlana Nianio - Episode III (Transilvania Smile, 1994)

i slip
if at all
i sit astride

in fits
it stalls
it spits
and on

insist
on one
at once

   •   •   •

i dreamed you held my eye
and lay beside me willing
let my head upon your thigh
ruddy flush fulfilling

slipper cup up on its side
pillow hands forgiving
in little pins in floods the light
whats the point of living

took both hands and scrubbed it off
and in the bathtub yelling
swore a song to seal it up
on my waiting belly

just hush its only luck
but in the back i pray
find the wool and slip it on
with my legs asplay

   •   •   •

i slip
full lull
i sit 
straight up

in drips
it fills
and spilled

sweet bliss
of one
undone

Paphiopedilum rothschildianum

Slipper

Pre-order: Shukai 9

Cukor Bila Smert’ - Recordings 1990—1993
Release Date: 15.04.2024
Format: 2xLP vinyl 

Cukor Bila Smerť (Ukrainian: Цукор — біла смерть, IPA: [ˈt͡sukɔr ˈbʲiɫɐ smɛrtʲ]; lit. Sugar — White Death) was a Ukrainian rock band formed in Kyiv, Ukraine. The band was active from 1988, until its dissolution in 1993. It was one of the first bands that initiated the creation of the ethno-gothic scene in Ukraine. Considered to be one of the most prominent music bands of Ukrainian underground.
The main figure of this project was Svitlana Nianio. After graduating from music school with a degree in piano, she began composing music. At first, she played with cellist Tamila Mazur. Sugar - White Death was formed when they were joined by guitarist Jevhen Taran and pianist Oleksandr Kochanovskyj.[3] The band significantly differed from the music of that time by high female vocals, non-sensical lyrics, and, previously unknown, instrumental-gothic performance.

Liner notes:
https://muscut.bandcamp.com/album/recordings-1990-1993

Recordings 1990-1993

The Great Hen-Yuan’ River

Pre-order

Cukor Bila Smert’ - The Great Hen-Yuan’ River

Sjöhunden (Sea Dog) 

I’d been tinkering a bit with an old friend.
It started as a bass experiment, but we couldn’t agree— and it went nowhere. It then became sleeping for a while, however, the fishing trawler association eventually later led to this Swedish West Coast pastiche.

Yeah, I know… there are tons of ambient tracks like this — but hey, here’s another one.

PERFORMANCE
Composition: Me 
Performance: Myself
Production, mix & master: Me, Myself & I, aka Bing Bashby
Recorded at home: –2021

Why?
Music has been a major interest throughout most of my life, but sadly, I am neither a musician nor a singer in reality. In my 50s, I completed a sound/music program at the “Studio Blue” school in Stockholm. Since then, I’ve had the humble ambition to create musical content that, at the very least, impresses myself— and hopefully, keeps improving over the years.

You're welcome — feel free to leave a like or a comment if you thought this sounded halfway decent.

Many hugs,
Bing Bashby

Sjöhunden (Sea Dog)

This is a stripped down version of an upcoming track that will likely land on my upcoming album. I took some recordings of rain and ran them through a series of resonators, chopped them and quantized them and fed them back through the resonators again. The full album version will more elaborate and built out… stay tuned

Jay Phonic - Rain outside my window (reduced version)

The New Backwards, created in 2007, was originally included in the Ape Of Naples box set released on Important in 2008 and was constructed by Peter Christopherson using material from the Backwards sessions, recorded in the early 90's for a planned release on Trent Reznor's Nothing Records label. The New Backwards, like Ape Of Naples, is an intense fan favorite and an essential part of of the Coil catalog.

The New Backwards

Coil - Careful What You Wish For - from The New Backwards CD/LP

Carola Baer "The Story of Valerie" coming soon on Concentric Circles.

The Story of Valerie

Carola Baer - Golden Boy

Record 1993

You can buy the album here 

https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B09XS18PBH?ref=sr_1_6&keywords=Ingblazh&crid=1A27JS7JC8SCY&sprefix=ingblazh%2Caps%2C213&qid=1650554121&sr=8-6

5. Ingblazh - Малютка жизнь, дыши

scythe held high in the name of love with the sickle side going my way
waist shaved slight just to slide above with the will inscribed in your name
dive to hide in the headlights lull, got to find inside in a new haste
justice served in a pickups hull, lose trust inspired by your new ways

* * *

and you know the sun is warm and then your wings are melted
in leather tanned and worn you hit the road and felt it
thorned throne to press upon and cleanse in golden showers
tight coil towards the hum, rose lined procession soured

Anemone

Vitiligo

Valentina Goncharova - Recordings 1987-1991, Vol. 1
Cat. number: Shukai 03
Format: 2LP, Limited to 300
Pre-order: https://shukai.bandcamp.com/album/recordings-1987-1991-vol-1

Tracklist:
A1 Symphony Of Wind
A2 Insight
A3 Zen Garden
B1 Passageway To Eternity
B2 Maitreya
B3 Higher Frequencies
C1 Metamorphoses
C2 Contemplation
D1 Vigor
D2 Dynamics

Liner notes:
Historically informed violin player, prize-winning street musician, new age experimentalist, chamber ensemble performer and conservatoire deviant. The career of Valentina Goncharova (b. Kyiv 1953) shares parallels with those associated with the broader new music movement of the 20th century and the dissemination of home recording technologies. Valentina’s was a youth spent immersed in the world of classical music study under soviet rule, first in Kyiv and later in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) from the age of 16. With the supervision of professors M. Vayman and B. Gutnikov she learned concert violin and developed alternate playing styles alongside skilled pianists. A student of the Leningrad conservatoire during the years 1969 through to 1983, her repertoire included music for violin and later expanded to contemporary music composition. The improvisatory nature of free jazz and then-budding experimental rock circles also intrigued Valentina during this period in Leningrad. Departing from the rules of the conservatoire, she briefly performed in underground rock clubs alongside future members of the industrial group Pop-Mechanika (Popular Mechanics). This perpetual state of flux is central to the variety found within ‘Recordings Vol. 1’, though as opposed to any degree of uncertainty Valentina’s practice is one in flux by way of earnest curiosity.
						
Pushing further into an exploration of solo electro-acoustic sounds, she took to home taping on a modified Olimp reel to reel recorder. Intrigued by the manipulability of dubbing and the fresh sounds of DIY effects chains, Goncharova developed pickups alongside her husband Igor Zubkov. Her infatuation with the music of Stockhausen, Xenakis, Ganelin Trio and Pierre Boulez channels through considerations of space and erratic sound design, the three movements of ‘Metamorphoses’ embodying this textural approach to musique concrete. The compositional skills developed in Leningrad unfold in the romantic gestures of ‘Higher Frequencies’, whilst manipulated cello combines with synthesise keys across ‘Passageway To Eternity’. The slow, pulsating drone soundscapes recall the likes of Robert Rutman’s US Steel Cello Ensemble or even deep listening pioneer Pauline Oliveros.
						
The juxtaposition of written notation and improvisatory flare is central to Goncharova’s sound world. This period of home recording documents a confluence of minimalism, free form and flirtations with new age tropes (inc. bell chimes and cavernous vocal mantras). Experimenting with unusual performance techniques, such as shouting into amplified cello strings, Valentina’s home studio functioned as a place to foster full artistic and creative freedom away from any academic strictures.

Credits:			
Composed and arranged by Valentina Goncharova Recorded in Tallinn and London during 1987—1991
						
Mastered by @producedbyflaty
Compiled by Sasha Tsapenko, Dmytro Prutkin and Dmytro Nikolaienko 
Liner notes by Fergus Clark (@fergus_clark)
						
Master tapes courtesy by Valentina Goncharova
Photos by Igor Glazistov
Special thanks to Ats Luik and Martin Jõela

Ode to Obedience

tipsy kiss

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