HOAVI Vinilo y CD

Review: Hoavi (Kirill Vasin) lends his services to Ghost Zvuk to deliver a disordered series of IDM 'Phases', which are intentionally numbered incorrectly throughout the record, as if to suggest something got broken in transit. That being said, these are remarkable textural explorations for the synaptic and deep-thinking listener; 'Phase 10' is an incessant repeat ricochet, sounding like the internal workings of a plasmic ball bouncing around inside a supernatural lead pipe; 'Phase 5' is more beat-driven, with pressurised pink noise bursts sounding to escape the alloyed confines of a ritual dubbing chamber.

Review: Peak Oil is proud to present Invariant, the first LP in three years from Russia's best kept electronic music secret: Hoavi. Originally intended for pre-pandemic release, this collection of emotive and intricate homages to the slippery nature of genre has only intensified in relevancy and urgency. From alt sci-fi dimension floor-filler "Streamline" to "Dver", a contemplative evocation of a world in which time collapsed in on itself and liquid had embraced footwork, to the propulsive modular dub-tech evisceration of "Tessera" closing out the LP, Hoavi adroitly demonstrates why he should be considered amongst Russia's finest cultural exports. A gifted producer with a workaholic drive, these eight tracks are but a sample of his prodigious breath and grasp on the electronic music continuum, a clear harbinger of auspicious things to come for Hoavi.

Review: Crimean label Krym Mryk returns with its sophomore release: a Various Artists collection putting the spotlight on several top musicians from Russia and Ukraine as well as a few newcomers to the scene. Highlights come fast and thick throughout; we're particularly loving the grinding cyclicality of Rim Menko's "Illusion", beatless yet hypnotic arpeggio workouts ("Amb Day Out" and "November Bad") by Pavel Milyakov (Buttechno), man of the hour Stanislav Tolkachev with slow-mo entrancer "While You Are Drawing A Butterfly" and Hoavi's "Aya Horizon", which closes the LP with its sublime ambience.