Vlad Dobrovolski is a sound artist, who has been influenced by improvisation in contemporary art. In the early oughties he released a music collage and impromptu recordings under the Fitz Ellarald moniker under the Tokyo-based Amorfon label. His sound includes elements of ambient, experimental, electro-acoustic, new age and contemporary music. To get his low droning sound and supporting improvisation, he often uses vintage Russian analog systems. For EMA Expo, Vlad created a special piece dedicated to the issue of drowning. Vlad was accompanied by Michel Klimin, who put his adeptness of words and literary aesthetic on display.

The recording was made live at Electrotheatre Stanislavsky on the 29th of October 2016.

More on Vlad Dobrovolski: dobrovolski.net or kotaerecords.com/artists/vlad-dobrovolski.

S A D is made up of two men, Vlad Dobrovolski and Vasiliy Stepanov, a duo that address the issue of aesthetic and acoustic comprehension in music. They let the will of chance define the borders of their experiments, using this approach to drive their inspiration. Vasiliy and Vladislav use their own recordings, including sections of previous tracks, as well as unreleased records, field recordings, and anything on hand. The duo arrange the recordings in an unpredictable manner that gives their output a fresh touch. Sometimes for their live shows and recording sessions they collaborate with Bred Blondie (BB), who is doing his own research into collage music, using field recordings, various ready-made samples, and sounds from stories on Instagram, which he calls: "ready-made concrete music." Both S A D participants and BB share a common desire for the place of chance in their music, which fruits in totally unplanned results in their collaborations.

The recording was made live at Electrotheatre Stanislavsky on the 29th of October 2016.

More on S A D: soundcloud.com/5ad5ad5ad.
More on Bred Blondie: soundcloud.com/bredblondie.

Anastasia Tolchneva (Lovozero) is an active force in the current Moscow scene, who is involved in numerous multi-disciplinary projects, ranging from electromagnetic experiments to underground dance performances. Kira Weinstein has extensive experience in Russian indie-pop and rock circles, but is currently re-imagining her oeuvre in favor of sound art deviations, coding, improv ambient, and outer-boundary collaborations. Together the women have crafted an impeccable buoyant stream of sound that is equally traditional and fresh.

The recording was made live at MARS Centre on the 25th of November 2016.

More on Lovozero: lovozero.bandcamp.com.
More on Kira Weinstein: soundcloud.com/kiraweinstein.

Sergey Kasich is Russian DIY sound artist, founder and curator of The Moscow Sound Art Gallery SA))_ gallery and Moscow Sound Art Studio SA))_studio.

In 2015, Kasich was a member of the international jury for Prix Ars Electronica in the category of Digital Music and Sound Arts, he also produced the Russian Sound Art Showcase for Ars Electronica Festival 2015, the first ever collective exhibition of Russian sound artists outside the country.

The recording was made live at Cultural Centre Come-In the 6th of November 2016.

More on Sergey Kasich and Sound Artists Community: soundartist.ru/kasich, soundartist.ru.

Brinstaar has begun performing with his son, which is a good thing. Young, at literally just seven years of age, Marcus Myasoedov brings spontaneity and a fresh touch to every live performance in which he participates. It may not be obvious at first sight, but Marcus plays a major role in the show, sometimes leading with a synthesizer, which he patches in himself. While behind the scenes his father helps him put the chords together, the choice is always his, which is combined with a percussion set designed by Marcus. Brinstaar supports the act on every other level. A final touch to this performance came from Nikita Oleinik who was meditating from the first second to last on a giant subwoofer in the middle of the performance and when Nikita finished his inner practices, at which point the group all stopped playing at once.

The recording was made live at MARS Centre on the 25th of November 2016.

More on Brinstaar: kotaerecords.com/artists/brinstaar. More on Nikita Oleinik: nikitaoleinik.bandcamp.com.

Andrey Guryanov, a musician, sound artist and cinematic sound designer, lives and works in Moscow. Andrey is prolific at creating sounds for video art, theatrical productions, and installations. He is interested in improvisational music and performance practices, and minimal and generative electronic music. Andrey an author of many interesting sound conceptions for theatrical and cinematic plays directed by such masters as Boris Yukhananov, Andrey Silvestrov and new blood directors like Daniil Zinchenko and others, as well as installations and numerous musical collaborations, such as Lichna Nega with Felix Mikenski and the KGXXX duo, which also includes Dmitri Kourliandski.

The recording was made live at The MARS Centre on the 25th of November 2016.

More on Andrey Guryanov: facebook.com/andrey.l.guryanov.

In Multi-Operator, a co-performance by Solo Operator (Alexander Serechenko) and its audience. Alexander explores the theme of active participation from the audience in the process of his music composition. The listener is a co-author of the piece alongside the artist himself, who puts his spin on what he hears, listeners create live.

Alexander says: "In Multi-Operator the concept I’m looking for is a conversation. I let listener to be part of the process. Using their phones, they can connect to my loop station and record and play loops from their cell phones. In this interactive performance, I (a saxophone player) create different unconnected melodies, abstract sounds and noises, and the listeners choose what to record, what to reproduce, and how to reproduce it."

The recording was made live at Stanislavsky Electrotheatre on the 29th of October 2016.

More on multi-operator: facebook.com/multi.operator.
More on solo operator: facebook.com/solo.operator.

Brinstaar is a project from Moscow-based artist, musician and designer, Mikhail Myasoedov. Founded in 2006, Brinstaar employs a spontaneous and improvisational approach, whether working on recorded tracks or playing live performances. Involving a huge entourage of instruments like guitars, modular synthesizers, shaman whistles, Jew’s harps, harps and toys, Brinstaar creates vivid soundscapes ranging from chaotic noise and warm, ambient melodies to structured rhymes and heavy guitar feedback. Each performance has many unexpected surprises, even for Brinstaar himself, as everything is usually orchestrated on the go, with no preparation. Brinstaar is also a co-founder of Russian label Kotä, which focuses on pushing the boundaries of avant-garde music.

The recording was made live at Cultural Centre Come-In on the 6th of November 2016.

More on Brinstaar: kotaerecords.com/artists/brinstaar.