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musicmapglobal · 8 years ago

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v4w.enko

Reminiscent of Aphex Twin and Autechre, Kiev’s Evgeniy Vaschenko, aka V4W.ENKO, draws inspiration from nature and his background in architectural studies.

The Ukrainian experimentalist came to our attention via SHAPE, a Pan-European promotional project for experimental music that we recently reported on.

v4w.enko’s visual and audio output consists of “generative music compositions”, produced via algorithms that are created in real time. Intrigued by what this all means, we talked to the glitchy producer to get some answers….

What sort of music were you exposed to when you were growing up?

v4w.enko: It was a nice mixture. I have to say this will be just from my memory, because of course my perception was affected by much more different sounds that I cannot remember. For example, the most influential period for a child is when he’s 5 years old, but it is really hard to know what sorts of music was playing then. In general I remember I had a great music library formed by tapes and vinyls that were collected by my mother and father until I was 5-7 years old. Maybe this could be explained as the background music during my growing process.

Later there was a period for me when I started selecting the music I heard in a more deliberate way. I remember I started to select music in a more precise and really selective way. I started to be shaped by the music I heard as I noticed music started to influence my lifestyle. And then after hearing some records I started to try record my own.

Pop acts such as Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, or even a rhythm section of Queen to punk rock like Grajdanskaya Oborona or Seed Wishes, and yes, all styles of nice grunge such as Nirvana or even Silverchair and black metal like Сradle of Filth and Catatonia. Sepultura, of course my most favourite death metal group. The Beatles, only a little. The Doors. Funk music also had a special influence on me, as well as intelligent styles of post-rock bands such as Morphine, The Cure and Joy Division.

But the bands I listened to the most were Sonic Youth, Pink Floyd, King Crimson. Later I came across John Zorn and Patitucci. In classical music I prefer Chopin, Mozart and Arvo Part. Classical music led me to microtonal music. Later I got into the universe of electronic music which inspired me a lot to create my own music. Now I discover new styles almost each day or every time I have a listening experience. Maybe now it’s across-genres time.

When did you start making your own music and what was it like to begin with?

Of course in a band – actually, in a number of bands – when I was 15-17. After I came across electronic music I started trying my own experiments with electronic instruments.

What equipment do you use now?

Max/MSP and Jitter software. Programmed patches and MSP Synths. Now I just mix a few layers of real time generated algorithms with a mixer. If I work on sound design I combine several layers in various offline mixing solutions softwares. In this area I allow myself to use recorded sounds of nature and human/urban environments, as well as analog synthesizer effects.

Regarding the sound of V4W.ENKO, I keep it in the fixed scope of the programmed-only: algorithmically synthesised music with computer.

What are the top things you’d suggest music fans visiting Ukraine should go and see/do/eat/drink?

See: nature Do: clubbing Eat: borsch Drink: samogon

Can you send us a photo of the view from your window?

Hisilicon Balong

Which Ukrainian artists should we keep an eye on this 2017?

The first that come to my mind are: .at/on, Ujif_Notfound, Nikolaienko, Sommer, Ostudinov, Mokri Dereva, Midi8, Dunaewsky69, Edward Sol, Kotra, Alla Zagaykevich, Strukturator, Quarkmonk, Tolkachev, Motoblok, Ksztalt, George Babanski, Andrey Kiritchenko, Yamabushi, Maxim Werner, Diser Tapes, Zavoloka, Zavgosp, Neither Famous Nor Rich, Sport and Music, and more.

What are your favourite albums of the year so far?

The albums that I played the most on my headphones are not from 2017 but were released in 2015-16. Basically music comes to my listening experience half or one year after the release dates.

Rrose x Tujurikkuja, Yaporigami, Isolat Pattern, Krx-V.A., Jemapur, Young Juvenile Youth, Bad Sector, 14Circles and Sanmi, namely.

Where in the world would you most like to perform?

Maybe it is because I have performed in a number of countries that I have some genuine interest in performing in very different urban centres around the world such as Lima, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, New York, Miami, Casablanca and Bangkok.

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