Reviews
01.05.2019
A Closer Listen
«...WOLFFFLOW seems to have an extra “f” in the name, but we’ll pass over it, as the music is so extreme. VIBRANT MATTER is a drone/noise album, constructed to wreak havoc on speakers and eardrums. “Demystification” sounds like a jackhammer army in a collapsing factory. Beneath these cogs and chains and cranes, mysterious monologues unfold. Are these songs or conjurings? The oppressive atmosphere leaves it open to interpretation. But when a TV broadcast gets stuck in a loop on the subsequent piece, repeating “I’m too scared,” one realizes that the fear is intentional. And then the nihilistic “No more military, no more fun, no more anything, nothing.” This is a difficult listen, perhaps best when one is in a funk or needs to drive away door-to-door salesmen. The snatches of song on “The Force of Things Is Determined” are a bit more cheerful until they too are stuck in a loop ~ the sound of society disintegrating before our ears. Ironically, closing track “What We Need” returns to the earlier theme, intoning “no more religions, no more politicians.” This may be what we need, but is it all we need? What humanity might replace this craven beast?...»
14.08.2019
Stellage Store
«...Вторая сборка Kotä Records – возможно, не столь концептуалистская как прошлая за номером 20, но не менее насыщенная по составу причастных к лейблу и выборке материала. Как говорят сами издатели – характерный срез конкретного сектора современной российской экспериментальной электроники. Замечание точное, но скромное: за один вечер представленный багаж расслушать будет трудно.
WOLFFFLOW – vibrant matter
Затяжной прыжок в мертвую петлю, короткий перелет по черной дыре. Кажется, что этот альбом не кончается примерно никогда, но этого и не требовалось – шесть дронойзовых пьес пробивают сверху донизу, в процессе чего отличить пульсацию и вибрацию от их источника становится сложно...»
WOLFFFLOW – vibrant matter
Затяжной прыжок в мертвую петлю, короткий перелет по черной дыре. Кажется, что этот альбом не кончается примерно никогда, но этого и не требовалось – шесть дронойзовых пьес пробивают сверху донизу, в процессе чего отличить пульсацию и вибрацию от их источника становится сложно...»
«...WOLFFFLOW is a reflection on the concept of vitalistic materialism, which reveals active, living, vibrating, pulsating, evaporating, fluid matter. It is a trip through different landscapes of the present, in which one should strive to be attentive to everything, to sounds, emotions, found objects, things and affects, in order to trace the actions of an almost elusive materiality, crossing both human and inhuman bodies and making itself known through a special kind of thing-force. To produce this work the following were used: noises, devices, captured voices, errors, films, interferences, magnets, strings, broken audio fragments, found objects, feedbacks, loops, plants, and metasonix tube...»
13.03.2019
Syg.ma
«...New mix by WOLFFFLOW — an experimental project of the Moscow-based sound artist and musician Roman Golovko premieres in an hour. Roman compiled an imposing mix of avant-garde music of different genres and eras — from Xenakis to Eartheater. Improvised rhythms, vocal experiments and unconventional melodics...»
26.09.2017
Chain D.L.K.
«...Roman Golovko as WOLFFFLOW opens with an repetitively looped American spoken word sample monologue about art not floating in a vacuum, which initially, perhaps ironically, floats in a sonic vacuum. Gradually bridges are built, with a low repeating bass pattern working its way in. The arrangement feels more orchestral at times, a thick layering of pad synthesis that feels more assured and composed than live, with the palindromic structure that becomes evident towards the end emphasising the sense of tight planning.
This epic compilation to celebrate KotÄ Records’ 20th release is a collection of 5 tapes, collecting together over five and a half hours of music, all of it performed live at the EMA Expo in October and November 2016. Thirteen different Russian experimental musicians or groups each submit lengthy self-contained works, all simply entitled ‘Live Document’ with no other labels. The shortest performance is ten minutes long, and there are three pieces that each top the 40 minute mark. As a back-to-back listen, this is a whole day’s work! Hence the extended review...»
This epic compilation to celebrate KotÄ Records’ 20th release is a collection of 5 tapes, collecting together over five and a half hours of music, all of it performed live at the EMA Expo in October and November 2016. Thirteen different Russian experimental musicians or groups each submit lengthy self-contained works, all simply entitled ‘Live Document’ with no other labels. The shortest performance is ten minutes long, and there are three pieces that each top the 40 minute mark. As a back-to-back listen, this is a whole day’s work! Hence the extended review...»
27.10.2017
Trebuchet Magazine
«...Kotä: Selected Works of Experimental Music and Art Expo
Despite what some may imagine, Russian label Kotä Records claim that Russia is “experiencing a boom in experimental practices” and the strength of the material presented in this massive set strongly supports this assertion. This is a documentation of live performances by a selection of Russian artists and guests brought together by the label to perform across Moscow over one week in 2016.
To the casual listener, there are few obviously “Russian” signifiers in these performances. There are occasional Russian vocals and some performers use Russian/ex-Soviet equipment and field recordings, but little of this material is overtly Russian. Whether this aids or hinders the music’s transmission in Western contexts is an open question but its acceptance or otherwise in the West is a largely irrelevant question.
Faced by such a vast and rich wealth of material (13 concert recordings in a five-tape box), perhaps the best way to approach it is either to surrender several hours to it and immerse yourself in these performances, or alternatively, to follow the logic of the original event and listen to one or two performances each night. However it’s approached, the quality and atmosphere of the recordings is undeniable, making the listener want to have been there.
The brooding performance by WOLFFFLOW (Roman Golovko) features a mangled vocal sample seemingly taken from the patron saint of alienated sound art, William Burroughs. The uncanny result is one of the most memorable pieces in the collection – a paranoiac but seductive soundscape that seems to shift under the listener’s feet...»
Despite what some may imagine, Russian label Kotä Records claim that Russia is “experiencing a boom in experimental practices” and the strength of the material presented in this massive set strongly supports this assertion. This is a documentation of live performances by a selection of Russian artists and guests brought together by the label to perform across Moscow over one week in 2016.
To the casual listener, there are few obviously “Russian” signifiers in these performances. There are occasional Russian vocals and some performers use Russian/ex-Soviet equipment and field recordings, but little of this material is overtly Russian. Whether this aids or hinders the music’s transmission in Western contexts is an open question but its acceptance or otherwise in the West is a largely irrelevant question.
Faced by such a vast and rich wealth of material (13 concert recordings in a five-tape box), perhaps the best way to approach it is either to surrender several hours to it and immerse yourself in these performances, or alternatively, to follow the logic of the original event and listen to one or two performances each night. However it’s approached, the quality and atmosphere of the recordings is undeniable, making the listener want to have been there.
The brooding performance by WOLFFFLOW (Roman Golovko) features a mangled vocal sample seemingly taken from the patron saint of alienated sound art, William Burroughs. The uncanny result is one of the most memorable pieces in the collection – a paranoiac but seductive soundscape that seems to shift under the listener’s feet...»