Radial Gaze – Refined (THISBE Recordings, THISBE02) + Interview

Hello, Radial Gaze, nice to have you here for the interview –  for those who do not know about you, could you introduce your project to our readers?

We -Andrey and Stas – are two brothers from St. Petersburg, and Radial Gaze is an electronic music project that we have recently created and are currently developing further. From a music style perspective, Radial Gaze is a cross-genre project, whose main direction of creative search is essentially indie dance, techno and leftfield.

What is the idea of your project? Please describe your sound. What made you start this project?

The idea of a cooperation between the two of us was on the cards for quite some time. Before Radial Gaze, both of us already had some experience in music: Andrey as a DJ and electronic musician, Stas as a professional guitarist. It was interesting for us to combine our different capabilities and see what would come out of it. The idea was to explore the boundaries of the techno music genre, and to combine some sound design, sound archaic, and some “orientality” to it… creating a kind of musical hybrid in the process.

Some of your biggest influences?

Music has always played a big role in our family, starting during our childhood and my father’s collection of tape recordings. At different times, we listened to completely different music: from bossa nova to trance, from garage rock to disco, ambient, experimental music and all this had indeed an impact on our musical taste. We drew musical ideas and inspiration from traveling the world and experiencing exotic cultures. Then we also pay a lot of attention to the trends that occur in the music genres on which we work. We are not the only ones doing this kind of style experimentation, but we do it our own way. We are always in search of a new sound and do not stand still. It all started with a disco atmosphere with a clear ethnic melody and oriental samples, whereas now the sound is becoming more electronic, with a lot of fx and deepening into a more complex synthesis technique.

Could you tell us about your new “Refined” record? How did it all work out? What did you use to produce it?

“Refined” is a three original tracks EP, and it so happens that the three songs were recorded during different periods of time. Hence, each track differs in character and technique. You can even trace some evolution in our music production. For instance, “Dense Rays” was produced from our earlier work, featuring a leading bass part, a lot of ethnic percussions, voices and a rather disoriented sound of synthesizers. On the other hand, “Fluffy Corn Syrup” and “Refined”  were written relatively recently, their content is more electronically restrained and balanced, a lot of FM synthesis, arpeggiators…

The three compositions are hence very different, and we hope that each track of this record will exactly find her or his listener. Furthermore, the remixes of our friends Romain FX and Theus Mago complement the picture perfectly, we think.

What – besides making music-allows you to express yourself?

Stas is simultaneously engaged in creating sound performances and audio for theaters. He has a theater education and experience as a project director in that area. His side project Monotonia is an ambient-oriented musical project in the field of theater, which explores the nature of the sound environment around us, documentality of sound. Electronically transformed sound environment and text connect with the story that is happening around us. In essence, this is a theatrical performance, quite inclusive for the audience, which is of course very interesting.

Andrey leads several projects as a producer and works a lot as a sound engineer in his projects as well as on invitation. In addition, he remains very active as a DJ.

How are you coping with the current global situation? Has this had any positive impact on your career or personal life? Have you adapted your creative or productive process during the pandemic?

To say that the pandemic has left its mark on us is an understatement! At that time, the lockdown period allowed us to focus our energy on what we considered the most important in our work and not be scattered. That has opened up new opportunities to grow our creativity. Strangely enough, we started working even harder. We had to rethink our plans in the music field, look for new ways to express ourselves and earn money. We started studying more commercial genres such as those used in the film industry for example, and this has allowed us to seriously develop ourselves technically. Yes, this is not an easy time, but it only makes you hone your skills more. Now the situation is normalizing, we are opening parties, with a few restrictions, this certainly provides up with hope!

Mental health is becoming increasingly relevant as a topic in the club scene. Would you like to talk about it?

With the arrival of the pandemic, the problem of psychological health and alienation has highlighted itself more than ever. The widespread isolation and distance between people is probably underestimated and will have great consequences on people`s psychology. We think that it is time to pay attention to the importance of non-virtual human connections and to what we overly hope is the effectiveness of virtual communication tools. Now you can see that the balance is clearly lost. It is definitely a difficult period psychologically, there is still a lot of work ahead before everything returns to the old course. Perhaps the psychology of the club scene will change forever and will not be the same due to social restrictions. We shall see…

Personal tips and recommendations for connecting. Motivational and/or positive experiences or topics.

This may sound banal, but reading motivational books does do some good. Living experience, human communication and relationships, new sincerity, continuity, interest in cultural identity… These are, as it seems to us, the main aspects of our lives today. Work hard, don´t stop working hard, and it should smoothly bring us to a better place!

What future releases/projects can we expect from you?

We will release new remixes in the near future and we do have another record with an interesting collaboration already planned. We hope that nothing will prevent this record from being released.

We are also currently creating a live project, and are full of new ideas, but everything will come in due time.

Thanks a lot!

Our Friday selection:
Radial Gaze – Refined (THISBE Recordings, THISBE02)

Andrey and Stas aka Radial Gaze, one of the freshest production duos to emerge from Russia’s vibrant underground scene, are set to release their ‘Refined’ EP on April 23, 2021. Due out on Berlin based independent label Thisbe Recordings, the project features three original tracks and two remixes. Drawing on Andrey’s background as a resident DJ at Skotny Dvor club and Stas’ background as a sound designer and both theatre and musical director, ‘Refined’ is a perfect representation of the dramatic club music the duo are known for.

The first track ‘Fluffy Corn Syrup’ begins with a grand soundscape and bizarre synthetic elements, setting the stage for the sound of the record. After the booming tribal congas are introduced, you’re smacked with a thick dirty bassline and old school style vocal sample. As the track continues, an addictive synth riff hooks you in before a suspenseful breakdown. Once the track explodes and all the layers have emerged you can tell this one is going to be a hit on the dancefloor.

‘Refined’ has a similarly powerful beginning, characterized by a spaced out vocal sample, ominous cowbell, and whooshing synths. It’s quickly clear something big is going to happen and at the drop of a coin the seriously mean bassline strikes. The sonic landscape becomes even stranger as the song continues, later adding more eerie samples and snappy percussion. The track is both weird and dancefloor-oriented, making it the perfect track to lose your mind to at the club.

The third track ‘Dense Rays’ starts off slower, with trippy synths that sound like they’re from outer space. An ominous piano is a focal point but the track gets increasingly unusual in the background with an atonal flute and other unidentifiable elements. After the breakdown, a pronounced synth line gives this track a theatrical feel that leaves you wanting more.

Next up is a remix of ‘Refined’ by Theus Mago, the alter ego of established Mexican producer Mateo González. Undoubtedly the most experimental track on the EP, Theus Mago keeps many elements of the original while making the soundscape more pronounced and tripped out. Adding a new sci-fi, 80’s style synth line, this version is wonkier than ever.

The final track is a remix of ‘Fluffy Corn Syrup’ by France-based Romain FX. Immediately various styles of keyboards are layered giving this version a much more melodic sound than the original. A bright track, this deep and hopeful song is reminiscent of a spring day.

Available both on vinyl and digitally, ‘Refined’ is not to be missed! The project will be released on April 23, 2021, via Thisbe Recordings!

Tracklist: Radial Gaze – Refined (THISBE Recordings, THISBE02)

01. Fluffy Corn Syrup
02. Refined
03. Dense Rays
04. Refined (Theus Mago Remix)
05. Fluffy Corn Syrup (Romain FX Remix)

Buy release: Vinyl // Digital
Listen on: Spotify // YouTube

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