EU
blurb:
EU (or, for complicated linguistic reasons, Elochnye Igrushki) is a duo, from Saint-Petersburg - Russia, formed by Sasha Zaitsev and Ilya Baramiya during 1997. They both became interested in contemporary electronic music in the early nineties through listening to releases from the emerging (highly Westernised) electronic music scene.
To be precise, the first track by EU was recorded on October 7th, 1997. Named MICE ON MOON, it appeared on the now legendary PERFORATION compilation album on Perforated records, a small independent label located in their home town of Saint-Petersburg. The following year and a half were devoted to active experimentation in their home studio with all kinds of accessible equipment (PC, Boss DR-660, old analogue keys) and occasional live shows in different local clubs (such as Port, Griboedov, MAMA, Ten). The new material which was recorded during their March '98 - February '99 session was released as MC and limited edition CD via Perforated records (distributed by Manchester Files, however only within Saint-Petersburg) and could be regarded as an introduction to the early EU sound. During the summer of '99 they recorded and compiled the material for Rhythm Manipulation MC; a collaborative / split release between EU and young talented artist Tenzor. The MC, which contained unfamiliar sounds which were not 'usual' for EU, was released by Perforated Records.
All of the remaining tracks recorded at this time formed the first full-length by the group, an album entitled "EU_SOFT", released by Art-Tek Records of Moscow. They then began to write tracks which would later become their debut single (the much saught after Wienn / Srez limited 7") and mini-album (Reframing) to be available outside the former Soviet countries.
'Reframing' was released to international critical acclaim and saw EU visit the UK for the first time on a bit of a 'press mission' in October 2000. Then followed requests from labels as diverse as Peacefrog, Earworm, Neo Ouija, Vertical Form and Merck for contributions towards their releases.
In addition to continuing to write and record more music as EU, Sasha and Ilya began to work alongside Tenzor (once again) on a collaborative project, Christmas Baubles, who released a full length album on Lo Recordings.
EU have now begun to play live more frequently outside their native Russia, although often the costs associated with shows are prohibitedly expensive, they played at the Transmediale Festival (Berlin) In January 2003 and completed their first tour, here in the UK, in March '03.
releases to date
EU_SOFT album (ArT-TeK)
Wienn / Srez 7" (PAUSE_2)
Reframing mini-album (PAUSE_2)
Vera / Bant 7" (Isonauta)
Tuner EP (PAUSE_2)
Warm Math album (PAUSE_2)
audio: here
- web site: www.pause2.com/eu
