Selected cuts from Belarusian and Russian electronic music sculptors have been identified and extracted to compose and display their musical signatures for the world to digest. And it’s about time, too. Based on an event that took place in August 2002 called ELKA.MNSK.2002, ELKAmpilation.001 derives from the seeds that nurtured this events magnetic pulse headlined by Novel 23 (ArT-Tek, Shaped Harmonics, Bip-Hop, Pitchcadet). But the fury doesn’t stop there, the musicians featured on this exquisitely designed package have been composing for several years only to be finally realized by a larger audience as they began to expand into other areas of the world. Take artists like Vesna, Eu, Fizzarum, and Ambidextrous, for example; they have all managed to increase their wave of electronics on labels like n5MD (US), Pause2 (UK), Domino (UK) and Merck (US). With such a force behind the musical architecture of abstract electronics bubbling in Belarus and Russia, it comes with great pleasure to hear ELKAmpilation.001 giving more obscure artists a chance to display their musical thoughts.
Combing an attractive ambient distraction on tracks by i/Dex, Autism, Maks Retort, Randomajestiq and Dreamlin, it’s satisfying to hear such creative frequencies evolve into complete entities of their own. Elsewhere on this 70-minute extraterrestrial excursion, H.H.T.P., -Ed, and Milkman deliver a disjointed melodic synapse of experiments that flows smoothly into the brain as they bend and contort into audible oddities of electricity. Some of the highlights on ELKAmpilation.001 come from the artists who delve into sharper, imaginative and puncturing beats: D’iskord, Koordinates of Wonder, Novel 23 (featured on Pitchcadet’s Melodies Of Childhood For Advanced Imagination), Un-Co and JDPC offer up darkness wrapped in a veil of enlightened electronics (rhythms are crisp and energetic, melodies are fragile but accurate).
Blending optimistic digital beauty with a hint of darker shadows lurking in the background, ELKAmpilation.001 comes highly recommended at Igloo Magazine as one of the finest (and overlooked) compilations of 2003. The strength of each track forms a cosmic audio unit delivering a sound that remains light-years ahead of itself –Truly sophisticated, yet undeniably fresh. Fans of Suction, n5MD, Warp, Skam, and DUB take note.
ELKAmpilation.001 is OUT NOW on Gizmo Lab Records.
