IC3PEAK – mesmerizing pop glitch from Moscow
The Moscow electronic duo IC3PEAK will also perform at Pohoda 2019. In 2017, they won an award in the electronic music category at the independent music awards, Jager Music Awards, and the best experimental project of the year award at the Golden Gargoyle Awards. They've toured the whole world and their videos have tens of millions of views on YouTube. However, one of them (video for the song "Death No More") caused that the hitherto exceptionally successful band caught the attention of the Russian security services. Several concerts were cancelled and the band members themselves were detained by the police. The story of the band linked to an alleged "blacklist of unwanted music" was reported by media such as The Guardian, The Independet, BBC, NPR, and Arte. Their combination of the genres witch house, trap and glitch pop will be also presented at the airport of Trenčín.
19. February 2019
IC3PEAK is an extremely productive band. Since the release of the eponymous debut, IC3PEAK (2015), they recorded a new album every year. The second one, Fallal, came out in 2016 and Sweet Life in 2017. The latest album CKA3KA is a horror tale set in the current context. You will find delicate ethereal textures, fiery rhythms, wild vocals, and moments of clarity on it. The duo focuses on bipolar aesthetics, where ice cold, spooky vocal melodic lines fight wildly with burning instrumentation, which results in truly bold production.
Their criticism of the Russian garniture and its undemocratic manifestations is also very bold. The garniture’s reaction followed the release very soon. At the end of October, a blacklist of artists and bands (mostly rappers or electronic genres) started a music witch hunt. According to The Independent, in its Russian version for the 21st century it is accompanied by unannounced fire inspections, power cuts, or arrests. For example, when fans of IC3PEAK were not allowed to enter the concert in Voronezh, the police argued that alleged food poisoning had occurred in the club. The persecution of musicians is related to more critical way of choosing, receiving and spreading information by the young generation. The authorities consider the influence of some artists to be the main reason why the current garniture fails to win young Russians over. The band's persecution, however, makes Nikolay Kostylev and Anastasia Kreslin get new fans even faster, and even beyond the borders of the Russian Federation. In 20 weeks, they will come to show the Pohoda 2019 attenders what they got.