Kim&Buran

Taming analog synthesizers, kind robots on solar batteries, the best friends of asteroids and cosmonauts, the group Kim and Buran created a new touching musical story without age limits. The first triumph of the Kim and Buran group was their performance at the 'Stereoleto 2005' festival when they overshadowed all foreign participants and instilled hope in the hearts of skeptics for a bright future for Russian lounge. Today, Kim and Buran is perhaps the only St. Petersburg electronic project whose music is, first of all, not carefully crafted sample delica, but a true soulful outpouring. They do not bet on shock value, nor do they try to shock the audience. Kim and Buran simply communicate with us in a language of music that feels so familiar since childhood. The author and ideological inspirer of the project is Slava Zavyalov (DJ Kim). A self-taught musician, a one-man orchestra, DJ Kim has been interested in electronic music since childhood. Home experiments with Soviet turntables and revived synthesizers, working on the radio, early musical experiences, and, as a result, the beginning of work with the label Solnze Records for the release of the group's first albums. Recently, several compositions for his surf compilation were taken from the group by Artemy Troitsky; their tracks were played on 'Dostoevsky FM', although Russian groups rarely appear there. Kim and Buran have performed in clubs such as Red Club, Platform, Griboedov, Buddha Bar, Gogol, Project O.G.I., as well as at festivals Stereoleto (2005), Plug-n-Play (2006), Abracadabra (2007), and at the special event 'Cosmic Odyssey 2006', dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. The instrumental duet of Slava Zavyalov and Igor Tsvetkov naturally and easily performs cosmic retro music, inspired by the romance of Soviet science fiction films such as 'The Age of the Universe'. This evokes images of a childhood morning performance by interplanetary captains. However, lovers of heartfelt melodies and boundless positivity - the guys from 'Kim and Buran' - are gradually enriching their stylistic palette. If their early album 'Kosmos for Children' was a tribute to the aesthetics of sci-fi films, a kind of 'Moscow - Cassiopeia' of the 21st century, then the subsequent 'Rock'n'Robot' did not overlook other sacred corners of retro culture. Here you have twist, electronic quasi-surf, naive rock 'n' rolls, and synthetic pop in the spirit of Italo Disco, for the younger crowd. Perhaps, the creativity of the group now more closely resembles the joint opuses of Kostrov and Gitarkin; however, if the two Olegs were overly fascinated with absurdist sample delica, then the space captains produce normal, decent, well-orchestrated, and arranged compositions. The project’s performance is invariably accompanied by touching video art intertwining classic Soviet animation with the fantasies of the project’s ideological inspirer Slava Zavyalov and the continuous dance of the audience. 'I experience this music as a second childhood. Without all these adult complexities and stereotypes,' says Slava, the author of the project, about his retro science-fiction music. Ruffled adolescent solos on the little organ, interplanetary vibraphones, and drums recorded as if in a school assembly hall deserve to sound from every speaker, just as it once was with 'The Best Girl in the USSR'. And Kim and Buran, if anyone has forgotten, are two brave captains from 'The Mystery of the Third Planet'. The concert version of Kim and Buran is a concentrated static performance on stage and non-stop dancing in the hall. DJ Kim is scarcely visible behind the pile of retro and not so retro synthesizers, along with him are a drummer and a bassist. This instrumental trio naturally and touchingly performs cosmic retro, inspired by the romance of Soviet science fiction films. After the concert, DJ Shlimmer will present a program of retro-electronics from the 60s and 70s.