Alexei Borisov

Alexei Borisov, in his U.S. debut—

Here, he presents his unusual work, Polished Surface of a Table, with Soviet-era electronics, cassette tapes, Russian text and abstract vocalizations. His music combines musique concrète and odd, unsyncopated rhythms. Borisov’s words describe mundane situations and everyday objects in detail, delivered with a unique vocal style approaching speech.

Borisov also will show his film, Vruchenije diplomov (Diploma Ceremony), shot at his daughter’s high school in Moscow. The program concludes with a DJ set that surveys the recent history of Russian electronic music.

Alexei Borisov’s (b.1960, Moscow, Russia) career reflects the shifting styles of Russian underground music. In the early 1980s he played in The Center, the first Soviet new wave band, until he founded the first Russian techno-industrial group Notchnoi Prospekt. In the ’90s Borisov turned to experimental electronic music, both solo and under various project names, including the duo F.R.U.I.T.S., which combined abstract electronica, noise, voice modulation/distortion and free improvisation. Borisov’s latest solo projects bring together his love for the absurd and the commonplace (examples of found sound sources are sports reports from the radio or a family member reciting a children’s poem) with crude, minimal noise. Collaborations include joint projects with the performance group North (Russia), KK Null (Japan) and Leif Elggren (Sweden). Borisov also collaborates with the video artist Roman Anikushin, multimedia artists Aristarh Chernishev and Vladislav Efimov and also with Olga Subbotina, Moscow theater director. In 2000 Borisov and Finnish experimentalist Anton Nikkilä formed the N&B Research Digest recording label. He has performed in festivals throughout Europe, and he has organized a number of concerts and festivals of electronic music in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Borisov lives in Moscow.