Voin Oruwu selects 11 must-know artists from the Kyiv underground

On March 4, 2020 by hyponik in Features, Lists

When it comes to the flourishing underground scene currently bubbling away in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv, Dmitriy Avksentiev knows a thing or two. He is a longstanding affiliate of Kyiv party CXEMA and has found notoriety under the names Koloah and Voin Oruwu. Through the latter, he released his BIG SPACE ADVENTURE album through essential Russian label PRIVATE PERSONS.

He is set to release a fresh EP of textural and energetic dancefloor movers via Ukrainian label NECHTO, a new imprint headed up by Nastia pushing sounds and artists from ex Eastern Bloc countries. You can check out the first cut, ‘Iterance’ below.

We couldn’t think of a better authority than him then to introduce us to eleven key artists from the Kyiv underground that we need to know, spanning from industrial techno and electro to experimental A/V provocations.

1. Vladimir Gnatenko.

Very prolific young producer. Recently he has put out an album with 27 tracks on board! About 3 hours worth of material. Highly recommended. Vladimir is a very versatile producer comfortable with house, techno, trance, ambient and experimental music.

2. Recid.

I’ve been following Andrey since the very beginning. We grew together in a small town at the centre of the largest uranium extraction operation in eastern Europe. We called our town The Uranium Ghetto. It heavily influenced both our musical taste and style. He released some great music through such labels as ARTS, Monastereo, Corrido Audio and more.

3. Poly Chain.

From cinematic ambient to cold electro. Sasha is very cool, with big collection of her own releases, Boiler Room appearance and great live act. She lived in Poland for a long time, appeared at Unsound festival numerous times and collaborated with local musicians. But now she moved to Kyiv and our scene is better because of it.

4. Lobanov K.

One half of Spekulant. Hugely experienced musician and a resident of Ukraine’s famous Closer nightclub. For the last few years I’ve witnessed his live act only a couple of times, but it was very cool. Apart from production, Kostya also works on his own Dnipro line of modular synthesizers.

5. Noisynth.

Some crazy shit inside. Next Sound festival resident. Experimental techno and industrial music is her domain. I’ve heard her live act only a couple of times and it was awesome.

6. Zolaa.

He represents National Distortion formation. I’ve made music with Dima numerous times. Our collaboration even appeared on my first album Big Space Adventure which came out in 2017. He had put out tracks on FTP, Neo Violence, Dred Collective and recently released a great vinyl on Eya Records.

7. Diana Azzuz.

Cinematic lo-fi with outstanding atmosphere. She is also a 3D artist known for her outstanding visuals.

8. O’FortyFour.

New project of Pahatam — Kyiv-based producer and DJ from Groove Operator promo group. His live act was presented at last year’s Brave Factory Festival. It is an awesome mix of breakbeat, tech house and trance.

9. Rina Priduvalova.

Strange experimental electronics with cool sounds and form. Often collaborates with Diana Azzuz. They stage a very interesting joint audio-visual performance.

10. Monoconda.