Plato Newsroom #19

It's all about the new Belarusian indie wave of 2024.

21.07.2024

newsroom

Greetings! You are listening to the 19th episode of the Newsroom project, a music news show on Radio Plato about fresh releases from Belarusians. This episode is hosted by Alik Khamiak a.k.a. Schmoltz, and is all about the new Belarusian indie wave.

In today's episode:

garage indie rockers Kofe Iz Vitalura;
atmospheric indie electronica by Pinky's Dreams;
psychedelic newschool rap of Lemonovlad;
lo-fi hypnogogic songs by Vostochnyj Pliazh;
Michael Dailida's sunshine pop.

<br><iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1878323955&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/radioplato" title="Radio Plato" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Radio Plato</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/radioplato/plato-newsroom-19" title="Plato Newsroom - #19 w/ Кофе из Виталюра, Pinky’s Dreams, Lemonovlad, Восточный пляж, Michael Dailida" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Plato Newsroom - #19 w/ Кофе из Виталюра, Pinky’s Dreams, Lemonovlad, Восточный пляж, Michael Dailida</a></div><h2>Kofe Iz Vitalyura captures the essence of garage indie rock in the best possible way</h2>

We're kicking off with the debut album by the young Minsk band Kofe Iz Vitalyura, who released their debut full-length album "Vol.1" in May 2024. The album consists of 10 tracks that blend an upbeat and slightly introspective vibe, capturing the essence of garage indie rock in the best possible way. Strategically placed midwest-emo guitar phrases here and there, grunge drops that make you want to jump into a mosh pit, and perfectly positioned jagged guitar dissonances. In short, the album sounds cohesive and balanced. We chatted with the band leader Hleb Manul about the album, band's development and future plans:

– Actually, it's hard to call it a real band right now. I do all of the music. Back when we had a different lineup with Sasha and Misha, composing songs was a more collaborative process. They would add stuff and we'd pick stuff apart together. But that didn't last long. After all the lineup changes, the current one is actually 15th. All in all, I've been playing with other people in this band for 2,5 years and a lot has changed during this time. The genre and the whole thing.

I experimented a lot on the album. I’m influenced by a lot of different music, so I even thought of maybe starting a few different projects for different types of music that I make. For instance, this winter I made a lot of hip hop instumental beats. I'm actually putting out a mixtape soon. Overall, I think I may have gone a bit overboard with experiments for Kofe Iz Vitalura. The next album is gonna be way different. The music will be more complex, more chords. Not to say that it will be hard to wrap your head around. Quite the opposite, I think I managed to strike the perfect balance of complexity and listenability there. It won't be too out there for a casual listener. I've been practicing a lot more, developing my guitar technique. Really upping my skills, which I'm quite happy about.

Next up is Pinky's Dreams. "Blue In Pink" is the debut full-length album by a quartet of Belarusians abroad, which stylistically could be broadly described as indie electronica. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Things are not quite as simple as that. The facts is, this release was preceded by a rap EP called «Wanna Be My Gabber?» released last November. The latest release, on the other hand tends to treat vocal as another instrument, or a melodic texture, if you will. Not dissimilar to how artists like Grimes do. Which way is Pinky's Dreams' stylistic evolution progressing remains somewhat of a riddle, which we are by no means complaining about. Both the rap EP and the new – although maybe genetically older – full-length album, are equally intriguing. It does seem like genre definitions are a secondary matter to Pinky and the gang. A recent Telegram post in their channel expresses the desire to make the album (among other things) “captivating” and “stylish”. In my opinion, goal achieved. Let's hear what Pinky has to say about all this:

– First of all, Pinky's Dreams is not just Pinky. It's a crew of four: Pinky – the main engine of this machine; Liza Indie Shmindie – a wonderful lady with a wonderful voice, and an unusual approach to making music; Big Boy $lam Dunk – a jolly, charismatic big guy with a pleasing velvety voice capable of melting hearts and MumzDaKid - an amazing sound engineer, silent but deadly. At its core, Pinky’s Dreams explores the adventures of the four friends as they traverse unknown realms through music. It's a musical exploration of our universe. A universe, where anything can happen. In other words, you shouldn't expect any one specific thing from us. We work across various genres. Including visual experiments and so on.. No spoilers, but let's just say there'll be a variety of things coming.

"Blue In Pink" (the newest album) is very different from our previous EP. It's deeply personal. It's about loss, grief, heartbreak, and external losses. It explores the journey of self-discovery, the feeling of losing one's home, and the quest to find oneself beyond that home. It's a rather serious story covering a certain stage in my life attempting to document the changes. The album was basically finished by 2022, it had 12 tracks. But I postponed the release due to financial issues, as I wanted to invest in its promotion. By 2024 I decided that if I don't put it out now, it would never be released. It was becoming less and less relevant to how I was feeling. I was making new music. It's a deeply personal work for me and I did most of the work on it. MumzDaKid helped me a lot with the mixing. Indie Shmindie sings on a couple of tracks. And, of course, Big Boy $lam Dunk lent his helping hand too.

I've been thinking a lot about live performances. I do have some ideas for it, but I want to approach it as professionally as a budding musician like myself can. So, it's a bit of an open question for now. There are tentative plans to play a live show in Tbilisi, where we live now, by the end of August. A farewell to this wonderful place, of sorts... Pinky spent two and a half years here and is going abroad to study the art of music-making.

There's quite a few upcoming releases planned. Three completely different singles focusing on a different character each. And, hopefully, an EP with one of the band-members. It shapes up to be a very interesting release. It turned out to be a meeting of very like-minded spirits when we sat down to work together on it. I never expected we'd end up such a powerful production duo churning out some seriously filthy beats! The tracks we are making are really strong. At least, I'm extremely satisfied with them right now. There's a lot of plans. Pinky's Dreams is evolving. So, there you have it, my dear friends. Listen to Pinky's Dreams, love the people around you, cherish nature, create, and don't forget that the world is a wonderful place!

Lemonovlad is a young rapper from Minsk who does not shy away from experiments. The album "V Nachale Byl Logos" is truly full of sonic surprises. Wonky rhythms, colorful sound-design, abstract skits and strong electronic instrumental tracks; stylistic nods to ambient, IDM and even metal blending together like a rainbowy gasoline slick on a modern rap puddle. The album's lyrics are filled with self-reflection and at times, perhaps, self-irony, occasionally playing with the conventions of trap lyrics. Here's Vlad's own thoughts about making music:

– I started recording these strange songs of mine about ten years ago. I have made a lot of tracks using other people's beats. A few years in I realized you can communicate your ideas, what sounds in your head much better by making your own beats. Since then I have been focusing on making my own music that would sound rich, interesting and colorful. For this album I wanted to put all my musicmaking skills to work in order to make my first "public" album for global streaming platforms that would have a refined sound in all its aspects. To make it as close as possible to how I would like to see it.

I think, the music I listen to influences me a lot. I listen to a lot of UK electronica and all kinds of weird psychedelic stuff. I think, it's all about experimenting for me. Every track is like a stream of counsciousness. I never plan ahead when sitting down to make a track. I just flow from one plugin to the next looking for the sounds I like, which results in someting.. something weird.

I often hear that my music is pretty weird and why don't I make something more straightforward. I do know that a lot of musicians have this fear of getting too weird, too experimental for a casual listener. I would like to see more new daring and experimental sounds from people not afraid to express their most interesting ideas.

I have this memory from childhood going to grandma's house in the countryside. They would play this radio show in the evening on the radio called "Vitajem, vinšujem, žadajem" where people would call in to shout out their friends and family. So I would like to shout out my man, musicmaker and poet known as Krovat'. He is the best songwriter I know. You're very lucky if you ever came accross his stuff. To everybody else I'd like to wish peace, love and be brave to be yourself.

Vostochnyj Pliazh is a project by a young artist from Minsk also known as Marg. The album "Vostochnyj Pliazh 3" is deliberately lo-fi in sound, due to ample use of old-school instruments and effects, but with a keen focus on memorable hooks and melodies. Although, don't expect no k-pop or anything. We're rather dealing with a local Ariel Pink with a soviet drummachine and fuzz pedal. And besides, those melodies may sometimes veer off into an atonal stream of solos on all instruments at once, which to me resembles every high-school rock band I've played in. Not that there's anything wrong with that! It's hard to say how many layers of irony and references would have to be peeled back for an accidental listener in order to "get it" with music like this, but what I see underneath this insular aesthetic is just sheer joy of music making and (seemingly) pulling songs out of thin air. Let's hear about it in Marg's own words.

– My development as a musician had two distinct stages. First was the 2020 lockdown. It was then that I got the classic red Focusrite soundcard, which allowed me to record anything I wanted whenever I wanted. That marked the actual birth of Vostochnyj Pliazh. But, I would say, it really took shape last summer, when I borrowed a cassette portastudio from my good friend Vlad. After that I basically made two albums in two months. One of them is "Vostochnyj Pliazh 3" and the second one is a limited cassette-only album "V-Saidy" ("C-Sides" - rus.) Why was that such an important step for me? It's the offline recording process, when your are not connected to the whole world through the screen while working on music. You only feel connected to the electricity and the power outlet. You just record to cassette, as if you're writing your thoughts in a diary. It's quite similar.

The sound of the recording is very important to me, of course. The sound is my favorite part of my favorite albums. Stuff like early Ariel Pink, all wobbly with tape degradation – it's just wonderful, I love that stuff. But I also enjoy playing music live with other musicians. I started out by playing karaoke sets for literally no audience. It was sad at first, but then I played this kind of acoustic set with a drummer Zhenia Moroz - shout out Zhenia! - and I loved it, and everybody loved it too. Just recently I've assembled by dream band: Misha Dailida on bass, Vlad Sknarin on drums, and I play the guitar. And we're ready to tear it up! The audience seems to like it too, so... The carefully crafted lofi sound for the soul and live gigs for the fun – that's my formula.

I'd like to also mention that I've just released a new single called "Prazdnik" for my solo project Marg. It's the first release on our new label Sadovodcheskoe Tovarishchestvo. We've also put on two live shows with Vostochnyj Pliazh, Twigs Garden and Fkn Dosada – very cool bands. I'd like to use this opportunity to extend an invitation all interested musicians who dig this type of sound and are looking for an opportunity to publish their music and play live to get in touch with us.

Michael Dailida's "Kontury Ulybki" is the sixth album by the musician and painter from Miensk. Difficulties with definitive stylistic tags seem to be another theme of this episode, and this artist is no exception. Some say that's a sign of true authenticity. Insert blogger cliche about "an artist finding their own sound". So what does this album sound like? Sunshine pop, bedroom pop, "Pet Sounds"-like compound baroque chord progressions, you'll also like this if you like SOYUZ. The latter being no accident, Mikita Arloŭ of SOYUZ, a.k.a. Applepicker lent his hand in recording this album as well. Misha shares his insights into his musical journey, collaboration, and creative process in detail:

– (My) path in music (started) so far and deep that I vaguely remember it now. I think the first thing I did is record a bunch of industrial albums on a boombox with my friend George by walking around abandoned buildings looking for things to bang on. They're still out there somewhere. Then, of course, the thorny path of playing in bands of varying degrees of success and failure, which helped me hone my skills and master a bunch of instruments. I played with a lot of people, even more bands, so I was submerged in music all the time one way or another, in addition to my main occupation.

Speaking of the Michael Dailida project specifically, it started back in 2019 when Mikita and I got down to the studio and decided to record some songs. And that was, first and foremost, a studio project, or an art project. At least I always considered it that. We never put together a full live band. Whenever we played live it would be either just two of us, or later just myself alone. We focused more on recording albums. We considered the studio as an artist's workshop, and I view sounds and instruments as colors with which I paint. Painting with sounds, that's my metaphor for it. I also have an old-school album-oriented type of thinking. I consider the album, not the single, as a finished conceptual work of an artist. That's where I stand, because I listen to albums, at least I used to. I write the songs and put them together with an album in mind. Like a set of postcards. Just this simple concept.

As a musician, right now I exist just around the corner – everyone knows I'm there, but no one understands my current state or how to articulate it, because my creativity is strictly studio-based. Specifically, all these attributes of a musician such as tours, contracts, labels, and other things – attempts at ambitious breakthroughs – are absent. All music is made solely for your own pleasure. I hope it comes through on the records. Just for fun, as they say. Although it's not just "for fun", of course. I feel like I'm putting something into it after all, and I will, hopefully, leave more then just a couple of paintings behind – some songs too. Sometimes I listen back to my old songs and I'm transported to that time period in my life. I recall how I was thinking back then, what kind of time I was having. Basically, a diary of sorts. A diary you share with people. An audiodiary. Audiodiary, audio-pictures. It all comes back to my main creative work (as a painter). One could say, another spin-off from my main occupation, a parallel process to painting. Music as a way of branching off from my main artistic trunk.

Mikita Arloŭ (Applepicker, SOYUZ, White Cave) deserves as separate mention here. He was the muscle behind our musical expression, from back in the day when we played in Golos Kincheva together. The muscle and tendons holding it all together. We're just making a whole lot of noise bursting with ideas, and playing – and Mikita expertly puts it all together. His role in this was invaluable, without him my music may have just remained a bunch of demos recorded on my phone. His role in sheparding me out there was absolutely fundamental. I always point that out. Without him, it would just not be materialized.

I have a classic announcement: I'm working on a new album. Why so soon and why so often? The truth it, this album "Kontury Ulybki" has been ready for quite a while now, we had some delays putting it out.. By the way, additional props to Vlad Sknaryn who also helped me out a lot with it. Really great help with the arrangements, the methodology and the whole approach. We did a lot of work together, it was an invaluable experience. Not the easiest, but nevertheless, I think it should be noted. The new album I'm working on all by myself, which is an experiment in itself too. Sergey Zwicky is helping me with sound engineering and mixing. Hopefully we'll be done with it soon, release it, and then we'll see how it goes. If we manage to assemble a minimal lineup of good musicians, we'll do live shows.

Go check out my albums, and do pay attention. They’re really worth it, in my opinion. I am deep into studying music theory and try to put it all in there. Peace!

That's it for today. This was Newsroom, the radio show about Belarusians who make sounds by the Radio Plato team: Reemotto, Stwone, Helga, Krik, Schmoltz, Nadya Ya, Stereobeaver and KorneJ and graphic desiger chernova.ya.

If you're a Belarusian making music, share it with us on social networks and we'll share it with the world in our next episodes. Subscribe to the podcast on streaming platforms, support us on Patreon, or simply Paypal us a donation – this helps us do more cool stuff. Don't forget to support your local artists by buying their music on Bandcamp and, of course, by coming to their live shows. See you next time! Radio Plato loves you!