Brain Crisis, aka Pavel Khudyakov, hails from Russia, the Eastern DnB powerhouse which has be providing our scene with rich input for a long time now. This producers material is dark and powerful which is standard for me to take notice but the material that hit my inbox made me very excited…..
The Tech and Neurofunk scene has always been about evolving that sinister edge, which is sculpted via innovative sound design, careful arrangement and twisted atmospheres. When balanced correctly, the shadowy art that precipitates from this alchemy is, for me, second to none. In short, Brain Crisis is delivering on each element right now. The light is starting to brighten for this producer, no doubt!
With releases this year on Major League, Plasma Audio, Impact Music and a debut on TAM Records as well as a collab EP with another Russian project – 2whales, Brain Crisis could never be considered idle.
I was able to ask the man a few questions recently; check out what he had to say below.
Pavel, your inspiration for your music is clearly laid in the darker regions of the psyche; what has provoked this?
My music is different emotions drawn from different people, things and everything that is around. When I start making a track and get goosebumps then I feel confident about it. I consider myself a perfectionist in the music field but there is still a whole lot to learn. It is now hard to get inspired by music, as there is not so much of inspiring stuff right now. I’ve experienced many things over the past year, got a load of impressions both positive and negative. I don’t feel sorry about anything that happened, a good experience is always necessary.
Tell us about your musical tastes. Do you have any guilty pleasures?
I often listen to hip hop and trap, I like halfstep vibes, I draw a lot from this music. I love cool vocal samples, twisting the vocals, I like cheeky rapping in a vein of cloud trap, also other atmospheric music; dark atmospheres turn me on.
The video for ‘Gravity’ was really dark, well produced and complimented your sinister audio brilliantly. Tell us a bit about the production and your involvement.
Video for the track ‘Gravity’ was actually filmed not by myself. It is based on the film ‘Greystone Park’. The story itself is based on the real-life experience of directors Sean Stone and Alexander Wraith. During the dinner with Oliver Stone in October 2009, when ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ was being filmed. Sean and Alexander decided to visit an abandoned psychiatric hospital in New Jersey, famous for its radical treatment of patients with mental illness. Once inside the institution, they soon discovered that they were not alone. After watching it I realized that I have music that suited it really well.
There is always a great bunch of production that comes out of Russia; tell us about the Drum and Bass scene there at the moment and who we should look out for in the future.
Yeah, definitely there is a rather high level of production on the Russian scene, I could point out artists like Cod3x, Razlom, Lowriderz, Tobax, Kije, Enei, Synergy, DaVIP and also a plenty of young and really perspective producers, such as 2whales, with whom I keep working closely. As for Russian labels, the most prospective one is Ignescent – apparently the label owner works really hard on it 😉
The technical ability of your sound design is impressive and this is something that really drives the track you have produced with Dub Head- ‘Paralel’. Getting air play on Noisia Radio is no easy feat but you clearly have ambition to improve. Tell us about what drives you and where you see your future.
Very excited about Noisia, Mefjus, Tsuruda, Ivy Lab, June Miller. They inspire me to work diligently on sound design. I really respect these guys for their skills and really love their music.
What should we be looking forward to from you in the coming months?
Currently there are a lot of solo works in the pipeline, their destiny is unknown yet. Also I’m working on our collab EP with the 2whales guys.
A massive thanks to Pavel for the interview; it’s always a pleasure to feature such great material and artists.
Written by: Contaminated Rhythm
You can listen to the ‘Dream’ EP right here:
Also, make sure you check out ‘Paralel’ which I mentioned in the interview. A collaboration between Brain Crisis and Dub Head – this track is absolute fire! Love it, plus also the link to the video for ‘Gravity’
Also check out more from Brain Crisis on his social media pages:
