Without any prior music education, Andrey Pushkarev started DJ-ing at age of 15. A Russian DJ and producer, known for his unique, deep, melodic techno is celebrating 20 years of DJ-ing in a world tour.
We are lucky and excited, ’cause one of his twenty destinations is Novi Sad, Club Tunnel on 31st Decembar. In this occasion, we talked about his brilliant career, projects, while he also sent a message to all who will enter with him into the New Year!
Hey Andrey! First of all, thank you for your time!
What is it that attracted you to this profession you do? How did you fell in love with vinyls and techno music?
Thank you guys for your questions.
What I enjoy the most is to share my music vision with other people and communicate with them through the language of electronic music. I was 6 years old when my parents bought a turntable to listen to music at home. It was quite expensive at the time therefore we could only afford one. When I first approached electronic music I was living in Votkinsk – a small town in the Ural region of the Russia Federation. I spent my childhood there (I only moved to Moscow when I was 19) and at that time there was no internet so my only access to electronic music was through friends who had the chance to bring CDs and cassettes in town from their travels.
Votkinsk has the village-type of lifestyle therefore there was literally no DJ culture or whatsoever – we were a group of ten friends who cultivated the passion for electronic music.
After I listened to first the drum’n’bass cassette who was given to me by a friend who travelled to London I felt the urge to know more.
It was something new and revolutionary at the time; an unparalleled music scheme which totally appealed to the teenager’s search for freedom, inspiration and something to fully dive in. I began to spend a lot of time listening to and searching for new tunes until it became more than a serious hobby.
You became a resident DJ of the web radio Deepmix Moscow, that was broadcasting non-commercial techno and without any marketing, reaching up to 6000 listeners from even 53 countries of the world. How did that affect the Russian scene and further development of your career?
This project was born to connect like-minded people with the same passion for music. We were recording sets, uploading them on the website and people were listening to and downloading them.
Interestingly, most of our listeners were outside from Russia. It was funny to receive messages from people asking about track ID’s while most of the records we were playing were delivered directly from Germany. Within 5 years, the radio had broadcasted noncommercial Techno music to 6000 monthly listeners from 53 countries, all for free and without advertising and I think that was the unique character of the radio.
As for Russia, the Deepmix crew had a residency between 2007 and 2010 in venues called Minibar and Paparazzi bar. In my opinion, these parties were some of the best after-hours of that time in Moscow.
Besides DJ career, you are also a producer. You released for labels like Circus Company, next to to Nicolas Jaar, DJ Koze .. Are you planning some new releases? Would you prefer to see yourself as a DJ or producer?
My main focus has been always spinning records and this is what I enjoy the most. In 2011 Circus Company asked me to deliver an EP on their imprint and that motivated me to go to the studio. I see producing as a good opportunity to express myself in an alternative way. It is different approach which I am still experimenting – and yes, I do have some plans for 2017 🙂
Through the documentary „Kvadrat“, as a main caracter, you showed us a reality and the other side of this profession. Can you tell us something about it?
I think the best thing I can say here is: just watch it 🙂
The idea behind the project was to show my reality as it was when the movie was produced (things have slightly changed now). The interpretation of the movie is left to the audience. When I got proposed to be part of the documentary as main character I had no idea of how much work it would imply.
After months of shooting and filming in different countries and settings I realized It was something I was really enjoying doing – I felt like the child’s dream of being party of a movie one day came true. Me and Anatoly Ivanov, the movie director, worked very closely and I found this experience extremely constructive from the technical point of view. What I found most challenging to work on was the tracks selection for the movie score. It required lots of attention to the visual details of the film, high technical knowledge on the synching side, and lots of time to get the copyrights and necessary papers to use tracks from other producers.
Usually for a movie production you work in a team with a proper amount of people and for Kvadrat we were only two – I guess this made it substantially hard but also exciting.
5 best tracks of 2016 ? Who/What inspires you?
1) Nick Beringer – Grey (Taverna Tracks)
2) Q3A – Space Chamber Side B2 (Delsin)
3) Christian Vance – Air Rising [Novio Dub Tribe’s Rubbadub Mix] (Get Slow)
4) Ben Buitendijk – Near Mint (Oblique Music)
5) Janeret – Rear (Joule)
The most inspiring thing of 2016 were the Drum & Bass sets from DJ Fabio, LTJ Bukem and Grooverider recorded between 1996 and 1998 on radio Kiss Fm. I found these recordings a couple of months ago and can’t stop listening to them.
You performed in Serbia earlier. This time you’ll perform in amazing Club Tunnel, with the support of the local Public Π crew. What can we expect in the New Year’s Eve?
Good vibes, warm atmosphere and positive emotions to kick start the new year. See you very soon!
