In the earliest days of the invasion initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24th, Kraviz shared a video of herself writing the Russian word for “peace” on Instagram with the caption “I am praying for peace!” Nastia (real name Anastasiia Oleksandrivna Topolska), a Ukrainian, was among the most outspoken critics of the gesture. She called on Kraviz to clearly denounce the Russian government in a volley of social media comments and posts, accusing her of harboring pro-Putin views.

On May 16th, Clone Distribution in the Netherlands announced that they had discontinued their business relationship with Kraviz’ трип label on the grounds that she “ignored personal requests to talk” and clarify her position on Putin and the invasion. Shortly thereafter, The Crave Festival in Hague and Pollerwiesen Festival in Dortmund shared in statements that they had chosen to remove her from their lineups. Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit simply wrote that she was “unable to play” in a statement of their own.

Topolska did not specifically name Kraviz in her post about Awakenings, although Kraviz is currently slated to perform at the Dutch festival. “As Ukrainian DJ I cannot play in the same lineup with Russians who are tolerant of war in Ukraine,” she wrote. “Those who can’t call war a war. Those who don’t realize the crimes that Russia is doing in my homeland: raping, killing, stealing, torturing and destroying.”

 

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The post continues: “I am a Ukrainian citizen with clear position. My position is much stronger and important than my business and career, so I will go to the end until the war is over. Representing Russia in silence or ignorance means representing its ideas and image.”

Putin authorized the use of military force in an invasion of Ukraine’s Donbas region that he called a “special operation” following Russia’s 2014 invasion of the region that resulted in the annexation of Crimea. According to the Ukrainian government, over 2,500 soldiers and 4,600 civilians have been confirmed dead with tens of thousands more estimated. Russia reports having suffered over 1,300 military personnel deaths.

Defenders of Nina Kraviz argue that Russian censorship laws prevent her from safely speaking out against the invasion. According to Human Rights Watch, journalists and activists have been arbitrarily detained thousands of peaceful protestors since early March.

Topolska argues that a number of other Russian celebrities have spoken out against the war. The website Human-Nonhuman.info cites TV presenter Ivan Urgant, actor Danila Kozlovsky, and singer Valery Meladze among a long list of the war’s open critics. In an April Instagram post, Topolska wrote, “I expect her to say that she is ‘scared for her parents’ and ‘they are in danger’ which is the main excuse for those Russians who try to escape from responsibility … There is not even one case when parents of those who made a statement got arrested.”

The organizers of Awakenings have not publicly addressed to Topolska’s announcement at the time of writing.

The decision was detailed in a statement written by Clone founder Serge Verschuur, in which he criticizes Kraviz for her “pro-Putin” views and her decision to “stay silent” in regards to what many around the world consider atrocities committed in Ukraine. “By refusing to choose sides, and by not speaking out, Nina enables herself to continue her lifestyle and her life as a performing artist as if nothing is happening,” Verschuur wrote.

Kraviz’s response to the war up to that point had been a video of a slip of paper with the word “peace” written on it in Russian. In a recent TIME article, artists such as Nastia and Pavel Milyakov (a.k.a. Buttechno) have criticized Kraviz’s silence on the war and asked her to clarify her stance.

Following the publishing of the story, Kraviz posted a statement on Instagram, saying, “As a person, musician and artist I’m deeply moved by what’s happening in the world. It’s appalling what my country’s relations have become. I am against all forms of violence. I am praying for peace. It pains me to see innocent people die.”

Titled Paradox, the double EP will consist of ten tracks encapsulating the sound Perälä has pioneered using his trademark Colundi Sequence. If his previous work is any indicator, it will exist somewhere between the ambient-infused techno of artists like Etapp Kyle and Stephan Bodzin-style ethereal techno.

Dream Sequence

Aleksi Perälä’s claim to fame is his development of the Colundi Sequence, which is built around frequencies outside of the traditional 12-note tuning system. His resulting style is more saccharine than much of what comes out in the minimal techno genre, but its seeming disharmonies still challenge the listener.

Paradox is Perälä’s трип debut, but by no means is it his first effort in recent memory. As recently as September, he released a nine-tracker titled Simulation on Clone Records.

Paradox by Aleksi Perälä comes out on Nina Kraviz’ трип December 15th.

Source: Resident Advisor

The experimental and obscure soundscapes of Halogen Continues blur the lines between techno, hardcore, ambient and downtempo. As a whole, the collection of songs almost seem to come from another dance music era altogether – one in which rigid genre definitions did not yet steer a producer’s creative process as much as they do today.

In fact, Biogen himself was one of Iceland’s early electronic music pioneers. Born Sigurbjörn Þorgrímsson, he produced alongside Þórhallur Skúlason under the moniker Ajax Project, and even collaborated with Goldie on the first hardcore record released in Iceland. By 1994 he adopted his current stage name and went on to launch the record label Thule Musik.

On the topic of the album, Kraviz told XLR8R:

I picked the most idiosyncratic cuts that show his creative approach most brightly. Some of them are short cuts ending obnoxiously with a lot of temper, and others gorgeous atmospheric narratives—so deep and haunting that it feels like they are not familiar with a notion of time and dissolve slowly into the eternity.

Biogen’s Halogen Continues LP officially comes out on трип tomorrow, June 23rd. Later in 2017, the producer will release a compilation of ambient and experimental tracks by way of Nina Kraviz’ newly launched label, GALAXIID.

Source: Only Techno