Integra - Electronic Music Festival.

The lifestyle of a modern person is woven from a multitude of interconnected things. Clothing, hobbies, leisure, external attributes, and inner values - all either match taste or help shape it. Over the last few decades, music that one loves to listen to has played an increasingly important role in uniting and structuring all these factors. Since the 1950s, behind each musical style name lies a vivid visual image and an association with a specific social or cultural group.

However, for various reasons, experimental electronic genres, which are developing more vividly beyond Russia, find little space in the 'land of rock and roll.' Talented collectives seeking unconventional creative solutions, thinking progressively and unconventionally, using new technologies, are unjustly underappreciated, have few opportunities, and largely thrive on personal enthusiasm and bright talent. This keeps contemporary domestic musical culture at a low level of development relative to the global.

The 'Integra-2003' electronic music festival is the first initiative to bridge the 'East-West' gap, where alongside the most famous European musicians defining not only today’s musical directions but also future trends, the best domestic performers of new electronic music genres will perform. The initiative is designed to balance the modern Russian music scene and foster cultural and informational exchange both within the country and beyond its borders.

The festival format: performances by electronic collectives + DJ sets + light, pyrotechnic, and video shows.

The festival will take place in an open area in the city of Sochi (Mount Akhun), which is part of the Caucasian State Nature Reserve, at an altitude of 2500 m above sea level, against the backdrop of exotic scenery (an architectural monument of the Soviet era), presumably contributing to the release of internal energy resources in people. It is known that the resonance of feelings has energy capable of transferring information to the subconscious. That’s why a clean southern starry sky, sea breeze, and abundance of greenery, creating a spatial continuum that allows one to feel the energy of time, was chosen for the festival instead of a smoky little club with a striptease.

Participants:

APHEX TWIN (UK)

Opinions about Richard James vary. Some consider him an unprecedented genius, the Mozart of electronic music, and a uncompromising experimenter (The New York Times, for example, called his 'Selected Ambient Works Vol. II' the classical music of the next millennium). Others view him as simply crazy, given how incomparable what he does is from anything else. Everyone agrees, however, that he is unlike anyone else. One trait that has become inherent in all his works is brilliant thoughtlessness. Richard learned fame with the release of his first albums, 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' in 1993, and 'Selected Ambient Works II' in 1994. To this day, he is a living legend of world electronics, the name Aphex Twin is known to every electronic music fan in any country.

THOMAS BRINKMANN (Germany)

Artist and musician Thomas Brinkmann is known for his unique experiments with vinyl records and turntables. He virtuously plays sets on players with two pickups, using them simultaneously. His minimal techno albums released on vinyl look extremely unusual - Brinkmann scratches various geometric patterns on the records with an ordinary knife, causing those grooves to thump and jingle at a rhythm of 133 beats per minute. The musician is known for his colorful dance DJ sets and remixes of works by European stars, such as Depeche Mode.

RUSSELL HASSWELL (UK)

One of the brightest noise musicians in Europe, often performing alongside Aphex Twin. At the same time, he is a great connoisseur of techno culture, famous for his DJ sets in the techno style. He releases albums on labels such as Warp, Mego, and collaborates with the best musicians in the world, including Merzbow, Hausswolff, and others. He performs alongside Aphex Twin. An acclaimed noise European musician, who plays techno as a DJ.

IVAN PAVLOV (Sweden)

A Russian musician living in Stockholm, who glorifies his homeland, as Western music critics hear something Russian in his works that is hard to express in words. Many young foreign musicians and artists in exquisite fields find their inspiration in "accessible-provocative works of the Russian giant, in his computer sentiments.” On the other hand, great names in world electronic music are also admired by the originality of Pavlov's talent. For example, the legendary Coil invited Ivan on a Russian tour.

Solar X (UK)

Another of our former compatriots Roman Belavkin, now residing in London. One of the pioneers of the domestic electronic scene, founder of the “ArtTek” label, with a background in mathematics, he mainly conducts experiments with sound. He works with many European musicians and actively tours Germany, the UK, France, blending an immense number of electronic genres into his program, although it is hard to fit it under any style. Most likely, his music is closest to the drum-n-bass direction.

Russian projects:

New Composers (St. Petersburg)
Moscow Grooves Institute (Moscow)
Ryaba Mutant (Izhevsk)
Dmitry Tikov
NetSlov (Moscow)
F.R.U.I.T.S. (Moscow)
Nuclear Losь (Novosibirsk)
Los Chikatilos (Kaliningrad)
Volga (Moscow)
Bigudi (Kaliningrad)

* Due to the complicated political situation, the festival organizing committee anticipates possible changes in the list of invited stars.

Festival program “Integra - 2003” (Mount Akhun):

1st day, Friday

• 21:00 - 22:00 DJ Valdis (Novokuznetsk) Techno-n-disco
• 21:45 - 22:00 Organizer performances
• 22:00 - 23:00 Nuclear Losь (Novosibirsk) Chill-out-house, porno-jazz
• 23:00 - 24:00 New Composers (St. Petersburg) Lounge-dance
• 24:00 - 2:30 Thomas Brinkmann (Germany) Minimal-techno
• 2:30 - 5:00 DJ Valdis (Novokuznetsk) Techno-n-disco
• 5:00 - 6:00 DJ (Sochi, St. Petersburg)

2nd day, Saturday

• 21:00 - 22:00 DJ (Sochi, St. Petersburg)
• 22:00 - 23:00 Moscow Grooves Institute lounge-dance
• 23:00 - 24:00 Los Chikatilos (Konigsberg) trip-hop, dub, ambient, funk, drum'n'bass.
• 24:00 - 2:30 DJ Eugene (St. Petersburg) break-n-scretch
• 2:30 - 6:00 DJ (St. Petersburg, Sochi)

3rd day, Sunday

• 21:00 - 22:00 DJ (Nizhny Novgorod)
• 22:00 - 23:00 Ryaba Mutant (Izhevsk) dark-electro-pop
• 23:00 - 24:00 F.R.U.I.T.S. (Moscow) techno-minimalism, noise
• 24:00 - 2:00 Aphex Twin (UK) noise, ambient etc.
• 2:00 - 5:00 DJ Kompas-Vrubel' (Moscow) break-beat
• 5:00 - 6:00 DJ (Nizhny Novgorod)

4th day, Monday, Afterparty at the club (VIP-party):

• 20:00 - 21:00 Bigudi (Konigsberg) cocktail-dance-lounge
• 21:00 - 21:20 Organizer words
• 22:30 - 23:00 Volga (Moscow) electro-ethno
• 23:40 - 00:30 NetSlov (Moscow) easy-lounge
• 00:30 - 4:00 DJ (St. Petersburg) easy-dance

As part of the 'Integra-2003' festival, alongside the program on Mount Akhun, there will be concerts by individual groups from across the country at club venues in Sochi. Up to five venues will be involved.

Location:

The festival will take place in the beautiful resort city of Sochi, in the Caucasian State Nature Reserve (Mount Akhun), at an altitude of 2500m above sea level.

Two venues will be involved: an outdoor area - about 600 sq. m. against the backdrop of an architectural "monument" of the Soviet era, and an indoor area - about 300 sq. m. inside the building itself (a former restaurant). The outdoor space will house a stage (6m x 8m), 3 video screens that will continuously showcase super video sequences and sponsor commercials throughout the event. The perimeter of the venue is decorated with illumination. The stairs leading to the closed "cafe" are decorated with festival symbolism elements. Inside, there is a bar counter, resting areas, three video screens, and a dance floor. The democratic atmosphere in the picturesque "ruins" of the Soviet era will correspond to the spirit of the chaos of the new time. The festival will be adorned with unconventional pyrotechnic and light effects.

A special program will take place during the same period in the club venues of the city of Sochi.