Lil' W. Abortion: Wavepool Abortion and their unbridled energy of pop-punk

Wavepool Abortion is russian duo from Moscow. Their music is reckless, energetic and powerful - there are a lot of bands like WA in the world, but for our country it sounds a little bit unusual. Their debut cassette was released through american DZ Tapes label, so I decided to write guys and took some answers from one of the band members, Matvei. Check it right now.

Your debut cassette was released on DZ Tapes, American independent label, how it had happened?

Pyotr has family who lives in Washington, DC. His cousin knows a friend who has DZ Tapes and he likes our music. So we e-mailed with him, and he asked to use our music for a tape, and we were very happy to have him release the tape. He made 100 tapes, and I think they are selling very fast on his website.

Lo-fi is necessary for you, it's a part of a genre?

Lo-fi I think sounds cool, but it is also necessary for us to record this way. I have a Korg PXR4 recorder that me and Pyotr used to record these songs, it's good but sometimes it doesn't sound clear. In America there is lots of cool lo-fi music, and that is maybe why they like Wavepool Abortion.

Your album had been recorded for 2 years, why it took so long?

Some of the songs we recorded when we were 15, songs like "Real Blood" and "I Want to Die." Since then we recorded 50 songs, but we don't like many of them, so it took 2 years to make 14 songs that we really like. Also me and Pyotr were in school so we were busy.


"Real Blood", one of the first WA songs


Can you say that there is some underground community in Moscow, that you're in?

We have many friends in Moscow, and we all like playing music and skating together. Lots of young people in Moscow are starting to listen to punk music, lots of American underground music. We call ourselves The Art of Pain, but it's not very organized for us, we don't wear uniforms or have meetings. We just hang out and listen to music and go skateboarding. I think there are lots of young people like us.

There is a clear influence of shitgaze in your music, is there any other more unusual influences on your music?

Sure, we like lots of American bands that are playing shitgaze. One of my favorite bands from America is Lightning Bolt, and they have a sound that is very shitgaze. Maybe a unusual influence is the band Atom & His Package from America. They are not shitgaze, They are more funny and electronic. We use a drum machine sometimes but we are don't do electronic music.

Some foreign music blogs have written about you - is it important for you? What's next?

Yes, it's important that foreign blogs write reviews about us, because sometimes people in Russia don't understand our music. This is why we wanted to do this interview in English, even if it is harder for us! I think the foreign blogs are very interested in our tape, and me and Pyotr want to go out of Russia to play some concerts this year.


"Snuggle & Die", epic ending of WA cassette

Are you catmen or dogmen?

Very good question! The song "Chloe" on our tape is about Pyotr's cat named Chloe. You know we make the cat noises on that song. But I am maybe more of a dogman.

Wavepool Abortion debut tape is avialable for buying here

Wild River Dance: chushi and his own inner world

chushi ("four rivers" in Chinese) is hip-hop instrumentalist from Dmitrov, Russia. There is nothing known about him, but in the process of interview I've known that his name is Alexander. His music sounds like wonky made by Madlib (with his jazzy samples), or instrumental hip-hop made by The Field (acknowledged master of total sampling). I wanted to understand something in chushi's music — and I had some questions, so I asked them to chushi himself. Enjoy the reading.

Chushi is one-man band, duo or something more? Is there some setup on anonymity which is discussed so much nowadays or it happened with no reason?

There is only one person under chushi theca, it's me, and my name is Alexander. You know, I've never thought about that anonymity, this project is about half a year old and all this time I'm thinking only about its details, entrails, what it's look like and how it tastes.

Instrumental hip-hop is genre where so many things are already thought out and created, why you chose it? How you own style, that strikingly differs from well-known ways, was born?

Years and years ago I fortuned on a track by turntable crew Beat Junkies, "Rockin' With The Best" and it was my first goosebumps. I began to search all the threads passing through these guys and listening to it all. Headphones in my ears were most of the day.
Hip-hop played a big role for me, but at that moment I didn't make a music like that one I'm creating now. And over the years and started to closer and closer tend to my rhythm. Now there are a lot of genres in me, I never mind about frameworks for a long time, listening only to the music that gives you an opporunity to think relaxedly, to plunge with interest in the world that was created by authors. Someone like to read books and I like to read music.
The main thing is not to limit yourself by common standarts, search and find only your, not abberant, feeling.

What's the world of chushi looks like? Seeming chaos is assumed by author?

Chushi's world is a place of total mess when I don't see all details, but can feel them. In every created track I take one of the details, inspire by it, put it back and trying not to touch it anymore. Chaotic state, perhaps, is the main notion and it makes clear an essence of the track.

It's also a reason for shortness of the tracks? Your unusual technique when alien elements of vocal invade in habitual detail and create something new, new melody — is it denote something?

Perhaps, I can't give an exact answer. It happens, something short, something long. Maybe one 20-second track has more sense that another one several times longer. "Invasion" makes track more interesting and gives an understanding of your limitless freedom. When you're walking around you can hear any sounds, whistles, voices — they create the atmosphere of life. Same melodic elements I'm trying to express in my world.
I like to depart from the frameworks as far as possible, to experiment, search and find something. 

To what leads your experimental way? What gives a soil to your new ideas?

To new ideas, opinions. It's nurtured from another music, art, games, clothes, cartoons with very off-gauge humour. I'm feeding on something new and trying to tell it in my way — for me it's one of the main elements making a ground for self-expression.

Who's your favourite cartoon hero?

I don't have a blue-eyed boy, just admire the work of animators and laugh simultaneously.

chushi @ bandcamp