- Oddball techno, Trip style.
- About 70 minutes into her set for the Japanese streaming platform Dommune in 2016, Nina Kraviz mixed in Shadowax's "I Want To Be A Stewardess," looked directly into the camera, and mouthed along to the looped Russian voice sample. It was a moment that was pure Kraviz and Trip, her label: strange, surprising and truly original. Trip released "I Want To Be A Stewardess" on the compilation Don't Mess With Cupid, 'Cause Cupid Ain't Stupid a couple years later, around the same time that Mirabella Karyanova put out A & B, her first record as Shadowax (she's released as Ishome in the past), which wasn't quite as crazy but confirmed her as an artist who enjoyed using voice and relished taking risks.
Nikolai Reptile, her first EP for Trip, provides loads more evidence of this. Where "I Want To Be A Stewardess"—with its killer Amen-break reveal and massive bass—was menacing, this EP is frisky and a little tongue-in-cheek. The opening three tracks are stripped back, digitally polished and evoke early German minimal. Karyanova shows a fondness for wobbly basslines, particularly on "Nikolai Reptile," a highlight, but it's the voices that command the most attention. I'd imagine that even for Russian speakers the insistent warped loops are freaky and disorientating. For dessert, Karyanova serves up a 170-BPM acid trance track called "Mortal Talking," confirming her as a weirdo in the proud Trip tradition.
TracklistA1 Nikolai Reptile
A2 Ochen
B1 What About Me
B2 Mortal Talking