Moscow is perhaps little known as a rich source of forward-thinking pop music, but in fact, there’s a hive of activity in the underground of this metropolis only two and a half flight hours away. One of the protagonists of this new scene is Kedr Livanskiy. Born on October 4th, 1990 in a dissolving Soviet Union, she feels equal parts akin and misunderstood among the grey buildings of the suburbs. She listens to The Cure, reads Washington Irving, studies film, and finds her kindred spirits in the Moscow artist collective John’s Kingdom. On the collective’s hard drive is the music of Inga Copeland, DJ Rashad, Laurel Halo, and Aphex Twin—John’s Kingdom is, according to Livanskyi herself, “the most alive and honest thing in Moscow”. The influences of this global electronic underground are mirrored in Livanskiy’s own productions, but it is with a bracing naiveté that she, in her bite-sized, pop song -shaped pieces, rhymes gloomy sound collages with sugary melodies and technoid monotony with nervous breakbeats. Fresh!

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