Forest techno-- Zavoloka -- mentioned in AGF "Wire" interview

I was at a Persian market the other day and they were selling CDs by a dude called "V*hid" and I was trying to imagine the beats.

So there is some Ukranian lady with mounds of analogue synths, named Zavoloka supporting the ginger one at upcoming gigs - is this the same person?

Because I am *all* about the arty electronic ladies with mounds of analogue synths but the description upthread is really not chiming with what I'm hearing on Spodify?

So far, this is not "Deep Forest" type techno at all, in fact barely techno, but more wibbly wubbly droney space electronics in a Laurie Spiegel stylee? But with beats, it's not all wub. (Then again, is Appalaichan Grove proto-Forest Techno?)

I'm listening to an album called Vedana from 2011, perhaps her earlier stuff is very different. I like this album, tho.

OK, I went and listened to an album from 2005 and it was indeed glitchy rubbitch. But this later stuff is very very good and droney and wonderful.

Ah, the joys of reviving abandonned threads from 2006 and talking to yourself.

the ginger one is touring?

was listening some AGF/Delay stuff last night while it was raining. still good.

The Ginger One is currently on the eternal "Pay My Alimony" Tour.

Zavoloka seems to be supporting in Copenhagen and Manchester? Anyway, I like her recent stuff. She seems to have done an album with AGF, too, which I'll listen to.

Wish the thread title were spelled correctly though. :-/

The pic on the WHP's website caught my eye

http://www.zavoloka.com/zavoloka_photos/zavoloka_at_GRM_INA.jpg

(warning: very very VERY embiggened image)

And sometimes, you can just look at an artist and know that you will like them? That. I am so easily swayed by massive pieces of semi-homemade looking beknobbed oscillators. Shallow, moi?

Talking of shallow I was going to say she looks pretty

I've also just realised this picture was taken HERE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_national_de_l%27audiovisuel

and nearly fell off my chair because it's not just massive analogue kit, it's massive analogue kit belonging to the French equivalent of the radiophonic workshop? ::swoon::

talking of tasty gear somehow this thread led me on to a thomas p heckmann youtube binge thinking that some of his techno is foresty but it's not really

anyway his studio is a good source of gear porn

http://blog.rebellen.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Thomas-p-heckmann-synthesizer-museum.jpg

man i need more techno like this in my life

and nearly fell off my chair because it's not just massive analogue kit, it's massive analogue kit belonging to the French equivalent of the radiophonic workshop? ::swoon::

yeah that was taken at INA-GRM. not exactly the equivalent of BBC Radiophonic, but the birthplace of musique concrete, founded by Schaeffer w/ Henry.

and the modular she's playing is the classic Coupigny: http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2008/11/mighty-coupigny-modular.html

used most widely by Parmegiani, if you know his late 60's/early 70's pieces you know the Coupigny. after Parmegiani's music started getting rediscovered in the late 90's, visitors to GRM started asking about it so they brought it up from the basement

I checked out zavoloka's soundcloud page, not all that radical but nice and I like the vocal samples

music of course does not need to be radical alla time

Thomas Heckmann has his own synth museum as well if I recall. He's underrated as far as I'm concerned. I listened to Raum just the other day. Get yr Shranz on..

I wonder if my mind would go straight from "forest techno" to "Gas" if he had not called an album Königsforst

(by which I mean, is the music intrinsically foresty, or only because he put it in a box labelled "forest"?)

anyway space-beats Spiegel-techno is just as intriguing, thank you thread

I think the sample based nature of Gas is evocative of the natural landscape for sure. I used to listen to Pop while imaging a small brook or stream flowing past. Currently listening to Elfish Echo pres. Sato Yumiko which has a forest feel to it's dubby techno beats.

Ah, thanks for the clarification, Milton, I'm not at all familiar with Musique Concrete and my descriptions of INA-GRM were based solely on poorly translated webpages. Still looks like an amazing place and glad to have an ID on the synth.

the split single with clifford / seefeel on polyfusia a couple of years ago is worth a listen. and the recent svitlo ep is great too.

(i sent off to ukraine for the first couple of lps after hearing the seefeel split ep. the new ones are available on amazon. yay, internet!)

(and for me it was this photo: http://www.zavoloka.com/zavoloka_photos/zavoloka_at_EMS_b.jpg )

Anyone heard Syngonia yet? She's been one of my favorite finds the last 2-3 years on the experimental/IDM front. Curious how it compares to Vedana

i've heard it only twice but it hasn't grabbed me as much yet. it seemed to have more regular beats on this one.

(it's the third part of a sequence which started with Viter in 2007, if you've not heard that. Air, Water and now Earth)

plenty of other back catalogue stuff available too.

I've only heard Nature Makes The Same Sound Twice but will definitely check this out.

"Nature Never Produces The Same Beat Twice" **

another listen suggests that there are a lot more programmed "drums" on this new record, a drum track driving things or, at least, distracting from the underlying tunes. which is ok, but not really my expectation of a zavoloka record.

another listen to vedena suggests that the drums were always there, they just didn't bother me as much 8) (they are slower and more distorted here, less drummy somehow, maybe that's it)

my absolute favourite thing of hers is svitlo

https://soundcloud.com/zavoloka/svitlo

the bit from 3:20 onwards is my current ringtone

Just listened to the new one last night. Very nice... but yes, less adventurous and epic as Vedana, but still really solid. Kinda wish it was a bit longer actually.

New one really clicked today. Love how the beats are covered in a static blanket. Definitely a grower which almost sounded rote on the first few listens; but this is some fine insectoid techno with lovely ambient bits

New album, Ornament popped up via Spotify Hipster Boyfriend and it is predictably wonderful!

I am forever looking for this thread, to revive and go "this is some awesome shit, maaaan" and never finding it because of the misspelling. Should we maybe get that changed?

sad to see Kvitnu stopping. i must have about 20 odd things from that label (and would've bought more during their sales except i could never remember what i already had)

They were a very cool little label, and I always meant to buy more from them than I did, but usually by the time I got to looking at their neat stuff, it had usually sold out!

I think Zavoloka have her / their (I think it may be more than one person now?) own bandcamp and I should go and throw some money at them because it's A+++ quality stuff.

This is the label they're on now:

https://prostir.bandcamp.com/album/ornament

she now seems to work with Kotra a lot, whose solo stuff had too much of a prediliction for white noise for me.

am sure the Kvitnu bandcamp page will continue.

their last release was a white 7" single with a locked groove of silence, called 'Silence'. https://kvitnu.bandcamp.com/album/silence