Biography
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Years Active
2005 – 2012 (7 years)
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Members
- Александр Дубровин (2005 – 2010)
- Галя Чикис (2005 – 2012)
Galya Chikiss is a singer and composer from St. Petersburg. Over the last ten years she has recorded a remarkable range of music, both as a solo artiste and in collaboration with others. Galya has taken part in many projects, whilst being nominated for the "Golos" prize and winning Artemy Troitsky's "Stepnoi Volk" award, both in 2012.
Her multifaceted background involves numerous festivals, both at home and overseas. These include: Tallinn Music Week, Manka Boutique Pop Fest (Tallinn), SKIF, Elektromekhanika, Stereoleto, Motherland, Sisto (St. Pbg) , Kazantip, Koktebel Jazz, Gogol Fest, Knizhny Arsenal (Crimea), Afisha Picnic, Avant-Fest, Struktunost', the Moscow Film Festival, Dark Horses (Krasnoyarsk), On the Grass (Perm), Culture Dialog (Murmansk), The Live Performers' Meeting (Minsk), Window on Europe (Vyborg) and countless club events.
Galya was born in Vitebsk and moved to St. Petersburg at the age of nineteen. She began her work on stage in the punk ensemble "Nervenklinik" (2003) and then moved to the psycho-pop outfit "188910" between 2005 and 2009. Together with Alexander Dubrovin (guitar) and Alexander Belkov (drums), she founded her own band - "Chikiss" – a little later. The line-up would change often… Such changes would allow Galya to have colleagues like Germany's Barbara Morgenstern (star of the Monika Enterprise label), Milky Toad (Omsk), Sun Glitters (LUX), Arseny Morozov (Padla Bear Outfit, Sonic Death). With Arseny in particular, Galya created the so-called "mortgage punk band," Sablya.
Subsequent colleagues have been the beatboxer Galun, Sensiva, Red Samara Automobile Club, Elochnye Igrushki, and Sansara. Other German partners can be added, too, like the video artists Matthias Fritsch and Fjodor Donderer (who collaborated in turn with Molly Nillsson).
Remixes of Galya's tracks can be found in the dossiers of Russian artists Hmot, RSAC, Milky Toad, 7he Myriads, Nocow, Speck, Arm Author, PCP, Kontext, Sensiva, Amore Entrave, and SBPCh. As we can see, Galya's career has undergone many metamorphoses, allowing her to remain securely at the forefront of Russia's avant-garde scene.
Three years have now passed since the publication of her album "Medlenno" (Slowly); the same three years have ushered in significant evolutions in this artist's life and aesthetic. She has published the "Bez kisloroda" EP (Without Oxygen) and the "Kino" single, two of her noisiest and most psychedelic statements. There has been a joint album with Milky Toad, called "Zimni Son" (Winter Dream). Many domestic recordings should be considered here, plus mixtapes and music for the film by Sonya Karpunina "Vse Prosto" ("Everything's Simple"). These endlessly shifting plans have been accompanied by the related transition from piano, guitar, and rhythm-section to analog synths and a rhythm box.
This spring – 2013 – the Moscow magazine Afisha announced Galya's second LP, the synth-pop "Nichego Ne Boisya" (Don't Be Afraid) - recorded together with Dmitry Skripin. Since July 2013, Galya has been an official artist of the Fuselab label.
When operating alone, Galya's music is stripped to the bare bones. Her songs become so intimate that the rigid framework of material existence is cancelled out entirely. All that remains is the ephemeral, fluid forms of her synths, accompanied by a gentle beatbox. The result may sound a little distant, but Galya's voice is always close by. The long-standing experiments listed here have allowed her to sidestep all manner of stereotypes regarding any "ambient" craft. Avoiding all possible risks regarding standard chillout registers, too, Galya is instead able to stress the importance of incisive melodies and apt lyrics. A constant refusal of anything "traditional" means that she conducts a close dialog with her listeners. Voices are never raised: there's nothing more than an exchange of whatever's most private, pressing, or important.
discography:
Nervenklinik - 1st wave (2003) - http://goo.gl/GkkmH
Girl from the Earth (2005, Chikiss rec.) - http://goo.gl/tF7d5
Untitled vitamin (2008, Netaudio) - http://www.lastfm.ru/music/Chikiss/Untitled+vitamin
Медленно/ Slowly (2010, LP, Soyuz music) -
http://chikiss.bandcamp.com/album/slowly
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/chikiss/id380438719
Без кислорода/ Hypoxia (2011, ЕР) - http://chikiss.bandcamp.com/album/hypoxia
Organic compound (2011, EP) - http://chikissecrets.bandcamp.com/album/organic-compounds
Chikiss x Milky Toad - Zimni son (2012, LP, Dopefishfamily) - http://dopefishfamily.bandcamp.com/album/zimn-son
Hypoxia remixes (2012, Thankyou.ru) - http://thankyou.ru/music/indie/chikiss/albums/hypoxia
Chikiss sings SBP4 (2012, Cover EP, Dopefishfamily) - http://dopefishfamily.bandcamp.com/album/chikiss-sings
Kino (2012, single) - http://chikiss.bandcamp.com/album/kino-remixes
Anthology Mixtapes in 3 pt. (2011, Weird radio) - http://weird-radio.blogspot.ru/search/label/Chikiss
Музыка к фильму Сони Карпуниной “Всё просто” (2012) - http://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4324213
Ничего не бойся/ Don’t be afraid (2013, LP) - http://chikissecrets.bandcamp.com/album/do-not-be-afraid
links:
http://soundcloud.com/chikissecrets
http://vkontakte.ru/club474896
http://chikissecrets.bandcamp.com
http://www.lastfm.ru/music/Chikiss
https://www.facebook.com/chikissecrets
http://chikiss.livejournal.com/
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