Phishpie is a one-man band from Kyiv that creates a unique instrumental blend of jazz, indie and light psychedelic pop. His debut mini-album, Patina, released on Friday, showcases the musician’s talent as an adventurous and experimental songwriter who is not setting any limits to himself in terms of genre restrictions.
It is a light and free-flowing collection of melancholic pieces, inspired by everything starting from crime programs on TV, Brazilian music of the 60s, seasonal depressions and memories of the pre-pandemic past. Although quite short, the mini-album leaves a strong impression and shows very well the ability of Phishpie to blend different genres to create a sound that is uniquely his own. A great listen for any fan of lo-fi indie and jazz.
“The Future” is a new single by Odesa-based musician Dmytro Vaskovets (who performs under the moniker Wheatness), and it showcases the skilled, passionate and fully-formed artist with a clear vision. The driving force behind the release, in author’s words, was an unstoppable reflection on the events of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
It is a beautiful and fine-crafted collection of three songs, which shows that during his time in other bands (such as Night Dew Call), the artist was formulating his own sound and stumbled upon a fresh and exciting take on it — Wheatness’s melancholy-tinged shoegaze melodies are ambitious, big and loud. With no fillers and messing around, it’s an energetic, punchy and pure roar of independent music.
All tracks on the release were written, recorded, performed, and mixed by Dmytro himself. The single is out via Liky Pid Nohamy, a brand new record label from Ukraine, which recently unveiled its debut compilation VA. NOTATOK 1 (that also features Wheatness) and the debut LP by another Odesa artist Volodymyr Chyhrynets’.
Liky Pid Nohamy is a brand new record label from Ukraine, which has just released its debut compilation. Titled VA: NOTATOK 1, it is a fundraising album that contains compositions by musicians from Odesa and Kyiv, performed in various genres and styles: from bedroom jazz and herbal ambient to piano diary and Cossack Duma.
The idea behind the experimental release is a psychotopographic delineation of once familiar but still half-forgotten territories that have undergone unexpected transformations. The label’s creator, Viktor Konstantinov (aka Polje) has shared the below statement in the press release:
“The idea of creating a label has been in my head for a long time. It pops up from time to time, for example, when I accumulate material that can be published, or when I once again realize what talented people surround me. But this idea became especially acute after the beginning of the full-scale Russian military invasion, the first month and a half of which I spent in the house in the center of Odesa, in which in 1917-1918 the Ukranian People’s Republic activists Ivan and Yurii Lypa lived. Once I came to visit my friend, Volodymyr Chyhrynets (presented in the compilation under the pseudonym Vichnyj Gandzh) and told him about this historical fact, to which he replied that he had recently come across Yurii Lypa’s book “Ліки під ногами” (Ukranian: “Medicine underfoot”) on the Internet. As you can see, I liked this name very much, and then everything somehow pulled itself together.
The compilation “VA: NOTATOK 1″ includes 8 tracks from musicians from Odesa and Kyiv, the number is small, but the overall sound turned out to be quite coherent, despite the variety of genres. A big thank you to everyone involved in this release and the launch of the label as a whole”.
80% of the proceeds from the sales of this collection will be transferred to the accounts of several volunteer organizations that help the Ukrainian military and civilians affected by the war.
Acute Pop 