- Creative, IDM-infused electro from the Kyiv star.
- Sasha Zakrevska has been one of the leading lights of Ukraine's dance music Renaissance over the past decade. And amidst the chaos and tragedy of the most recent Russian invasion, she's become one of the most visible figures of the Ukrainian scene. She's defiantly kept her career going, touring constantly after a temporary relocation to Berlin, as if saying: you can't stop me. Her latest EP, for Polish label Dom Trojga, is another strong statement, containing some of her most inventive and melodically complex work yet. With a distinct early '90s flavor, Dogteeth features four stirring, unpredictable tracks that land in the sweet spot between IDM and electro.
One thing about Zakrevska is her brash, often jarring use of texture and timbre. "Kieł" kicks things off with a brassy arpeggio that builds and builds and builds, before dropping a ridiculous gated snare that feels big enough to blot out the sun. The track only becomes more and more claustrophobic until it's a swirling churn of an anxiety attack, a feeling only underlined in the more tender "Visa," which takes a whole two minutes before introducing any percussion. "Visa" is all about layering, as arpeggio folds on top of arpeggio on top of arpeggio, each of them shapeshifting across both the stereo spectrum and the frequency spectrum. It's cliché to call music "kaleidoscopic," but listening to "Visa" is literally like turning a kaleidoscope and watching the colors and shapes change.
"Acid Regular" is probably the dance floor hit here, with an Autechrian landscape of vast, elongated pads and squelchy 303 textures, but the way the melodies come out in a spray—like a partially blocked garden hose—is signature Zakrevska. Things slow down with "Visa Reprise," which sums up the EP's mood, vacillating between gorgeous and nervous, as if Zakrevska's own emotions were wobbling in real time.
Tracklist01. Kieł
02. Visa
03. Acid Regular
04. Visa Reprise