Andrey Kiritchenko - Kniga Shazok
There is a thriving electronic community in Ukraine and at the center of it is the Nexsound label. Andrey Kiritchenko is the one of the rising stars on the label and Ad Noiseam -- Germany's upstart one man operation which is turning more and more heads with each release -- has the fortunate opportunity to release one of Kiritchenko's first full-length records to be released under his own name. Unlike the more experimental work which he has done under the names of Nihil Est Excellence and Sidharta, Kniga Shazok is a precisely designed work of glitch-tinged ambience.
The title of the record apparently references the idea of fairytales turned into music and these ten tracks are bedtime stories which contain no words, just pictures built from sound. Imagine Boards of Canada style innocence and wonderment infused with the Germanic metronome of the click 'n' cut movement of Force Inc or Mille Plateaux. The rhythm of "Myth02" is a pair of hospital monitors, bleeping and chirping in some abstract time signature while tiny layers of fabric rustle in the background. Other elements sneak in like the woodland animals do when storytellers gather their audiences around the campfire. Shhh, children, listen. You can hear your hearts beat in time with the motion of the story; you can hear the tiny pitter-patt of your nervous systems as you subsume yourself into the mystery of the tale.
"Sleeping Beauty," with its repetitive melodies and whispering hits of static and vinyl crackle, sounds like a collaboration between Thomas Brinkmann and Stefan Betke (of Pole), while "Airless" moves like vapor trails streaming across a broad expanse of dawn-fingered sky. These are songs for CGI fairies, perfectly rendered digital pixies which shiver in and out of the scene, unhindered by laws of physics. "Cheers, My Fairy" is filled with the sound of their tiny lace wings, chirping and ringing in the crisp, unhurried air. "Skazka" is the ambient sounds of the dragon's cave as our hero sneaks in past the slumbering beast, his passage through the maze of gold and precious jewels lit by the glittering reflection of dragon fire from the myriad towers of golden riches.
I love records which ask you to bring the full force of your imagination to them; music which causes me to empty my head and dream is the drug which I crave. Andrey Kiritchenko's Kniga Shazok is a sublime slice of pure fantasy, a minimalist never-ending story which becomes infinite as I touch it. The precise compositions and delicate interplay between glitch, minimal techno, and ambient structures has endless possibilities, endless variations and avenues of exploration. "Siren" is a fierce creature, a stern tale of movement and shadows, rhythm and flickering light. It begins slowly, carefully sliding into your consciousness before multiplying frenetically, glowing and sparking with sunbeam dappled energy. For this track alone, the record is worth your time. The fact that "Siren" is surrounded by nine equally stunning works is the reason I call Kniga Shazok masterful. Highly recommended.
Andrey Kiritchenko
Ad Noiseam [2003]
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