Bad Zu from Moscow

The Russian producer of electronic music, who took the pseudonym Bad ZU, performs under the African mask and plays cosmopolitan dance militants based on the rhythms of the GKOM , transferred to Moscow sleeping areas. In the world of Bad ZU, Moscow is the same melting boiler of ethnic groups and cultures as New York or London, and people of different nationalities and religions can unite in the dance. On September 15, Bad ZU will present at the Ethnomechanics festival in St. Petersburg its first album Zupreme, which has just released on the Hyperboloid Records label:

Bad Zu

I started making music about 16 years ago. At school, I played the guitar and wrote songs, there was a rock band. At the institute, I became interested in electronics and in 2007 gathered the first studio and the first serious project- Kubrick's Cube . It was such a student period when electronic music seemed magic: nothing really happened, but it was very interesting. In 2012, I met Ibenji , with which we began to take commercial orders, and in 2014 I opened the studio of a sound production and quit from a large company where I worked. This allowed me to focus on what I want from my own stuff, and so Bad Zu appeared.

African music appeared in my life, probably from the first album Die Antwoord - I did not understand anything then, but specifically imbued with the idea. The music, which originated in Africa, made an incredible circle and returned to Africa again. In this Staffa there was as much energy and sex as you did not receive for weekends in Moscow clubs! I began to listen to a lot of both electronic and traditional music from different parts of Africa, I felt it more and more. I have never been to Africa-I dream of going to play somehow.

I decided to write the album "Zupreme" when I realized that Bad Zu is serious. The drummer Sasha Malyshev plays live with me, and I really wanted to finally work with him in the record. From last summer, we drove around the factories and garbage dumps in Moscow and Berlin, imitating the African “Trash-Dramz”, cut them in the studio and applied synthes-as the first things were recorded. In parallel, we have been working with the vocalist Katya Tonkolid for a couple of years, and somehow I suggested that she try to read out on the track on the album. We liked it so much that we recorded a bunch of material, some of which will come out under its new pseudonym K1K1 . In fact, we wanted to release the album in April of this year, but there were overlays with the Berlin release. But during this time we recorded three more tracks and rewritten parties in most already recorded.

This release is much more borrowing than before. These are the music of emigrants, the music of large cities, where people come and bring their traditions, kneading to a common mix. A new wave of musicians from South Africa (Durban) who popularized the genre of the State Commander -in -law - DJ Lag , Dominowe , Citizen Boy , etc., had a great influence on the album. On the other hand, these are Russian raves, known throughout the world with their gloomy. "Zupreme" is more about the reflection of reality. For example, the track “RSSN Ting” - about European stereotypes about Russians or “MSKVBD” (“Moscow”) - about the fear of the Muslim community and the need to accept each other and dance together. At the same time, if we talk about what happened, it turned out not to load the listener. This is a blockbuster: a purely entertaining album that unites and knocks out all the nonsense from anyone on the dance floor. The disadvantage, in my opinion, one is few collages, which led to a certain monotony of material. I was too carried away by my ideas, but I know how to fix it on the next album.