And other electronic music news.
How misguided do you have to be to think that releasing an EP with artwork depicting an illustration of four of the most successful women in electronic music riding a giant penis spaceship, wired into their brains, will go down well? If that’s not enough, use an alias named after an Italian porn-star known for rape play. Welcome to the fucked-up mind of veteran Ukrainian house DJ, Vakula, who sneakily released an EP called Per Aspera Ad Astra in February under the alias Rocco Siffredi, depicting Peggy Gou, Nastia, The Black Madonna and Nina Kraviz. Bizarrely, it seems Vakula thinks he’s being complimentary to these women, although it’s tricky to discern amongst his broken English, via his Instagram: “I dedicated this project to my beloved women, where we tried to portray the most beautiful dick that those girls on the cover could ever meet.”
The Black Madonna, Nastia and Peggy Gou have all called out Vakula via their platforms (Kraviz has yet to comment), and perhaps unsurprisingly, a number of accounts of Vakula’s misogynistic behavior are now coming out. Nastia herself has mentioned an interaction in 2015 where he called her a shitty DJ and proposed they ‘get together so he can teach her’. A San Francisco DJ has recalled his 30-minute monologue about how women can’t DJ and are invading men’s space. One Facebook commenter even noted that Vakula has missed opportunities in Melbourne after an incident that occurred backstage at his last Melbourne appearance in which he verbally abused a supporting female DJ. So in short, Vakula has completely fucked himself, but at least he’s done us all a service by finally exposing the ridiculous filth he is. This abhorrent attitude has no place in dance music. Fuck you Vakula, from an ex-fan.
Onto something far less serious, but still pretty annoying. This Friday May 3, fans of deeper and more abstract sounding techno have a shocking choice to make: Zenker Brothers or Vril. Loading Error will be hosting one of Vril’s euphoric live sets at The Sub Club, with local selectors PWD b2b Hyper Binary, Nat Salih and Different Shades on support. Sleep Deprivation are hosting Munich’s Zenker Brothers at Yours&Mine, with locals Chiara Kickdrum, Percy Miracles and Kufatali backing them up. This is a tough choice, this is the Australian debut for Zenker Brothers, who’ve been releasing DJing and releasing left-of-field music via their label Ilian Tapes for well over ten years. However, Vril’s live sets are akin to a religious experience, as you 2016 Inner Varnika attendees will know. God damn, this is a tough one.
