#kamizdat

SHAPE Platform is a pan-European initiative designed to give the underground music scene exposure on its own terms. The SHAPE Class of 2018 is as exciting as you’d imagine, which is why we’re showcasing picks from this year’s selection every Friday…

This week’s highlighted artist is… Nina Hudej, 50% of frantic digitalist duo Warrego Valles.

The debut Warrego Valles album recently dropped – how’s the reaction been so far?

Nina Hudej, Warrego Valles: So, yes, our debut album Botox was released on March 1 with Kamizdat, a Slovenian label releasing exciting local electronic and experimental music, with the live premiere happening the same night at Kino Šiška, where we shared the stage with Laurel Halo. We were really glad and grateful to see such positive crowd reaction and also to get so much support from local media involved in the electronic scene before and after the release.

Besides some radio show features and magazine mentions coming up, we are now in the process of trying to spread the news about the release in the sea of all this amazing electronic music we can listen to today.

How did the project originally come about?

Our collaboration has also included promoting club and live electronic events for some years now, as well as DJing, so both being musicians and partners this project came about as a part of our daily life, work, thoughts and vision. With NinaBelle having a background in classical and jazz music as a flautist and now being a tireless digger of electronic music, we figured, after the release of my last solo record Disclaimer Null at the end of 2015, to join forces and start a new project.

Disclaimer Null by Nina Hudej (Warrego Valles)

Our first EP release happened a year ago and since then we significantly sharpened our direction and found firmer ground. We abandoned more vocal and melodic experiments, and are driving the IDM sounds towards the more post-genre road, experimenting with new trends, sounds, and structures; where anything is possible. We also started to integrate a lot of recorded vocal samples, tangling it around, integrating it into the rhythmic structure and playing with the many possibilities this organic instrument is giving us.

You’re described as ‘sonic psychonauts’, how much of the music is a journey in the minds of you two (or into other peoples’)?

Our debut is definitely a journey through our thoughts and fears and used as a multi-layered metaphor in this context. As a hopeful gasp for eternal youth, a deadly poison, or as a warning that humanity is only a short moment in the life of our planet. The album’s thematic undercurrents tell a story about the present times: the ephemerality of all action, persistent dehumanization, indifference to scientific knowledge, steady destruction of the planet due to climate change and modern slavery. Underpinning the tracks is a grim vision of a world ruled by psychopaths driven by the will to control, greed and domination.

What difficulties are event promoters facing in Ljubljana? Is it easy to find spaces and/or get permission?

Most challenges erupt from the fact that Ljubljana is one of the smallest capitals and has a limited audience interested in innovative music. For festivals and bigger events it’s almost impossible to get serious without acquiring funds from national and local cultural institutions. That being said, the scale of local art production is very impressive, and the existence of independent spaces and autonomous zones of great importance. As promoters, we are also managers (‘janitors’) in cultural centre Kamizdat Pritličje and club Monokel (part of Metelkova City), which gives us an important space for hosting experimental electronic as well as club oriented events.

Where are you looking forward to performing this year, or where would you love to perform?

Well, we’re not really picky. We’re excited to perform anywhere in the world if it’s in the company of inspiring people and in open-minded and creative spaces. We find the idea and vision behind Malmö’s Intonal festival really exciting and are visiting it this year for the first time. Maybe one day we’ll return as performers.

Botox by Warrego Valles