Album Notes

Nick Zavriev, better known by the name Ambidextrous, can be easily considered a veteran of Russian electronic music, having had almost half a dozen releases (including solo and group work) and participated in numerous club and festival gigs. At the start of his career, Nick preferred making IDM, appearing on various European labels, but lately has been into experimenting with dance music. Possessing encyclopedic electronic knowledge, he is able to combine the style and sound of several epochs.

Ambidextrous (from Latin- “ambi”- two, both; «dextrous»- right) means “a person who can use his both hands”. In accordance to his name, Nick manages to do several activities at once- give lectures to students, manage Shum label’s creative aspect, promote indie music with friends and colleagues from the promo group “avant” and have two more music projects at his side.

“Freakcoctail” is Nick’s fifth LP, not counting, just like Fellini, the two split albums he made. Ambidextrous mixed a lot of components in his “cocktail”: his beloved electro disco influenced by the 80s, soft tech-house, classic electro with vocoders, and even a techno-punk track, recorded with Arusyak Mirzoyan, his Jermook bandmate. There are two more tracks recorded with vocalists on the album: the opening electro-action track “Le Puma” and 80s-like “Disco Bassline” reminding of the times when disco was turning into acid house.

In contrast with his previous CDs, that Nick patiently mastered in his home studio and only then released, “Freakcoctail” was a “concert studio” album- all the material was tried out on the public. All the tracks were played at Ambidextrous’ concerts. Often a track was composed the night before the concert and some parts of it were played live- as a real time improvisation.

The album is released on a Moscow based record label- Doodley Records. The labels main goal is to popularize electronic music, with an emphasis on experimental movements. Out of the previous releases, it’s worth noting an album of a band “Livelectro” called “02.03.04” , belonging to the experimental IDM genre.

Links:
Ambidextrous – http://ambi.mu.ru
Doodley Records – http://doodley.1gb.ru