Satellite Voices

Moscow

The Fly Russia Takeover: Demokracy

May 27

Concluding our celebration into the future sound of Russia with the creeping electronics of the Siberian duo

• Text by Terence Teh



Alongside the Error Broadcast guys and the Gimme 5 blog and collective, another label to watch out for with the sphere of icy, leftfield electronic bangers supporting the Russian beats is Robox Neotech. And although the label is from Germany, one of the mainstay duos on Robox Neotech is Demokracy whose "Shapeshifter" track is a nasty cut of bleeping bass and terror synth lines.

Satellite Voices: Can you introduce yourself and your releases so far?
Demokracy: We’re Albert and Stas, two friends from Russia. We’ve had some stuff released but don’t really want to talk about it because it’s already happened. Past tense. The only thing to say is that we’re working intensively on some new shit and we’re happy that there are some nice people who want to release it. There’s also our friend Charlie aka Didjelirium from China around with whom we’ve been working on some music recently. He’s a great guy, fair singer and gifted lyricist!

SV: There seems to be a creative uprising in Russia, how do you feel your scene?
Demokracy: We feel that the only Russian people who need the scene are producers themselves. There are no vinyl workshops in Russia so it’s hard for producers to be considered seriously with releases only on net-labels. The other aspects are positive - it looks like the Russian scene is finally acclaimed in the West, which is a good sign. That’s easy to understand because all of us “new electronic producers” are making music for export, completely not for inner use. If you want to be a “popular underground artist” in our country you must rap in Russian on shitty beats or sing in Russian on kinda ordinary electronic music about blood, sadness and stuff. Still, mindless of these facts, we see a lot of mutual support between producers and that alone gives us the will and wings to carry on with the production. This is only the beginning...

SV: What do you think about the luxury vs. the punk DIY vibe that exists in Moscow?
Demokracy: It seems, like every metropolis, to have the same vibe and, yeah, as we’re being hobos, DIY rules!

SV: What other artists inspire you?
Demokracy: Too much to list, you know? Well, keep an eye on some Romanian and Russian guys like Montgomery Clunk/ Contorsionist, Mountain, Maguett, Nocow, Liar, Myown, Kontext and FPRF band etc because at the moment they are one of the greatest honchos in the game. 

SV: What are the best parties in Russia?
Demokracy: As for the rest of Russia... Well, there is a number of every-day-struggling independent promoters in every big-enough city whose lack of money doesn’t stop them from doing some great gigs. Echotourist and Blood Firm/Lunapark crews from Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg's Urbansoul/Subline, Tyumen's Ezhprom, Krasnoyarsk's Gimme5, St. Petersburg's Wax Paper Cup and Skweeeterburg crew, Chelyabinsk's Octopus Bass and more and more and more. All of these guys are almost literally broke but they still keep doing their thing. So big up and respect to everyone!

SV: What’s next?
Demokracy: "Next" is the name of boutique in Lesosibirsk where Stas lives. There are loads of repulsive clothes made in Turkey and China while it costs the same as original Dolce&Gabbana wear.

Go get "Fly Russia". The story continues.