A True Jedi's Downtime. Part II

The place where I prefer to relax is called 'Chayny Etazh' (the Tea Floor, on Nikitskaya Street) — it's a place where you can spend time half-reclining on the sofas, without endlessly greeting the huge number of people you can get tired of over a weekend, even if they're good acquaintances. You can drink collectible tea, which has been drawing me in lately, and see only your closest people. Chayny Etazh stands out for its pleasant design, which they'll finish over time, though I like it as it is; the music there is mostly ethnic, which they arrange themselves — sometimes we throw 'half-reclining' style parties there. We bring turntables and play exactly the music you want to listen to in that atmosphere. Sometimes we watch a good film, or simply spend the time in pleasant conversation. You can just drink tea, and that's more than enough. Lately I've started going there less often, because my son was recently born, whereas before we held parties at Chayny Etazh every week. And when people ask me where you can have a good time, this is probably the one place I find it hard to fault. Chayny Etazh is a fairly closed place — some will like it and take to it, while to others it will seem not quite a club and so on. But many people who ended up there, whom I was used to seeing only in clubs, spoke of it very warmly and go there more and more often. As for our electronic parties at Chayny Etazh, they've been suspended until January, because my friends — Dimka, the bartender from Mixa, everyone who took part, the guys from deepmixa — got a bit tired from preparing concerts and parties. And so we stopped throwing parties for ourselves. But I think it'll all start up again in January.

Oooh... Of the latest clubs, it's probably the MDMA office (located near the Yauza embankment). It's a closed place — an office by day, a club for insiders by night. And given that all those extra characters aren't there, I prefer to relax there. I like being in the company of my own people, because Moscow is the kind of city where the clubs are full of people who aren't ours. Sometimes I play at MDMA, but by and large it's relaxation rather than work. MDMA has things other clubs don't — for example, nobody else has lasers, and there, though the space is small, they do; graphic images are drawn and it's all reflected in the mirrors. I can drop by even in the daytime, just to listen to music. It's more comfortable for me that way. And if we're talking about real rest, then I prefer to spend time alone, but unfortunately that doesn't last long. Although writing music in the studio is also a rest. In some restaurants I relax too, when there are culinary treats on offer. I also like combining work with rest, when playing feels like resting, but that already depends on the people I'm working with.

I prefer to rest and relax on the French Riviera. In Moscow I usually go to the cinema — the Rolan cinema — or to a café; lately that's been Ogni. I don't have a favourite club; it's more like closed, private home parties in cottages and apartments for a narrow circle of people — these places have no names, they aren't standard clubs. And real rest is getting out of Moscow — for example, this year I spent a whole month in Spain, on Ibiza, as well as on the French Riviera, and I was in Turkey. But lately I don't rest, I work all the time, and if I'm at a club, then, as a jaded person, something is always not to my liking. That's why I prefer small closed parties, where everyone knows each other, where everyone listens to the same music, and complete harmony is achieved. The rest itself follows the same scenario as at the clubs — that is, a small pre-party where people meet, and then relax together. It all goes in a light mode, without serious doses of alcohol, without any drugs at all, everything very nice and harmonious. And in general I've already forgotten what rest is. The last two years of my life have been very intense, work-wise. I don't remember any free weekends; sometimes I play midweek too, so hanging out at any particular club is a problem for me.