Alex Pervukhin strikes again. Now – at Kirik’s label Sweaty Bull (yes, in case you didn’t know – there’s another label run by Kirik, probably his own not-so-little empire also needs a tour, who knows, maybe you’ll read about it a bit later).
When I asked Alex about the release, he said, “My solo EP “Illegal” was started a year and a half ago, when the whole world was scared by coronavirus and we had our illegal parties. Once again we in Ukraine have proved, that our freedom is the thing we love the most. This EP has the spirit and the sounds (breaks, tech-house, trance ambient passages) of that time.” And again we have the whole EP on our Youtube channel, but one track we liked the most. As usual.
It’s “Choco Trance”, the closer of the A-side. The name has its own story, since that one track is dedicated to Miya, Alex’s co-resident in the Night Ambassadors crew, who was sending him A LOT of chocolate when he was sick at those times. Few words about the track – well, here we have, probably, the finest example of Alex’s sound of that era. If you followed his releases in 2020-2021, you probably know what I’m talking about – strong kick, powerful bassline, catchy main melody, few atmospheric chords with that little nostalgic ravey feeling, not just copied, but revisited.
Probably, his hardware will tell you more about that signature sound. As I was told, it was written with Akai MPC 2000xl, Roland JV1080 (Chernowitzer hack edition), Waldorf Micro Q, Roland MKS 50, Yamaha TX81z, Elektron Digitakt (hell of a setup, right?). “Also, when you write it – tell them, that I’m buying on OLX (Ukrainian eBay) some obscure libraries of samples and converting them into WAVs in an oldschool way”. OK, Alex, telling them.
What do we have more? 3 more bangers, of course. The first one on the EP – “Escape From Fluxland” starts the record with a little breakbeat and then shmears that into some main ingredients – a few dreamy chords and a short, catchy melody – a formula that was practiced into perfection already. That has one easter egg inside, but let’s save it for the nerds, OK? “Quarantine Break” is another take on the breakbeat here, that with its moderate speed, is still smashing the dancefloors, you can believe me here, I heard it live many times. The last one on the release, “Into The Jungle” starts as a home party with tea and cookies and turns into a full mayhem from the second minute. The strongest one here, no doubt.
There shouldn’t be any delays with this one, so you know the drill – run to Juno, Deejay, Coldcuts // Hotwax or wherever you’re buying your wax for your pre-order.
More information on Alex Pervukhin
Facebook | Resident Advisor | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Instagram | Discogs
More information on Sweaty Bull
Bandcamp | Discogs
This article was written in Ukraine. Ukraine is in the middle of the war with Russia right now. Would be great if you could donate to the biggest Ukrainian volunteer fund here. Also, you can pick any music initiative, that is also trying to help from our list here. We’ll be stronger together.
