- A cultural exchange between Berlin's Cashmere Radio and Kyiv's Visual Culture Research Center.
- Berlin's Cashmere Radio takes pride in creating community by focusing not only on music but on the informative and social aspects of radio. They've recently ventured into releasing music, with their heavily conceptual first project exploring the connections between performing and broadcasting live and how people digest performances in different settings. This time, Cashmere Radio is collaborating with the Visual Culture Research Center in Kyiv to stimulate intercultural dialogue and engage young people in social action through music. The 11-track Nachtkultur / Нічна культура features contributions from artists made during a German-Ukrainian electronic music residency late last year. The artists, unable to meet in person, worked on the compilation as an imaginary alternative to a real residency. The Visual Culture Research Center's goal is to support artistic and activist partnerships, so their involvement is fitting.
Nachtkultur / Нічна культура is mainly composed of eerie ambient and captivating experimental music. In line with the aim of the residency, there are several instances throughout the release where dialogue is clearly being exchanged, at least metaphorically. You can hear it in the dial tone-like sounds on Mari Matsutoya's "Scrub-a-Dog," where the variety of tone frequencies could almost reflect conversations between different voices. On "Isn't It," by It Is, resembles several abstract voices set to breakbeats. The track jumps from a brief vocal snippet to an innocent, muffled melody to rough growls, conveying a sense of frustration. There are also faster, near-perfect club tracks that stand on their own terms without any conceptual underpinning, like AUCO's 140 BPM track "Arrival," with its hasty percussion and low-end spikes.
Nachtkultur / Нічна культура highlights are the more unusual ambient tunes, like Nastya Vogan's "Mononoavaree" or Hyui Ines Rmi's "Haeven." When vocal elements are presented in languages that some people in the intended audience might not understand, it shifts the focus from meaning to the way the voice is used as an instrument, a neat twist on the theme of dialogue. The mixture of styles and the various displays of communication in Nachtkultur / Нічна культура are meant to simulate, if not replace, the verbal discussions these artists could have had in person, and it's a successful effort. The intercultural dialogue that these artists might have happened in person at a residency is nonetheless striking and tangible on Nachtkultur / Нічна культура.
Tracklist01. The Chickens - This Is The Chicken Theme
02. Super Inter - Wrong Side
03. Mari Matsutoya - Scrub-a-Dog
04. It is - Isn’t it
05. Nastya Vogan - Mononoavare
06. NFNR - No Hue
07. Hyui Ines Rmi - Haeven
08. Lou Drago - Through the Wormhole
09. MNV/LD/RA - State Of Rave
10. Diser Tape - Glass Chains
11. AUCO - Arrival