How the USSR Influenced Russia’s Brightest Young Producer

It's not every day you get to talk to an electronic music artist that samples Baltic art rock from the 1970s.

OL may not be a familiar name to most North Americans, but he is one of the most burgeoning young talents in Europe. Recently signed to Meda Fury, a subsidiary label of R&S, Oleg Buyanov's dusty house productions sound like they would be birthed out of Detroit or Berlin. Deeply drawn to hip-hop, soul, and jazz at a young age, he is most heavily influenced by all types of Soviet-era art and media.

"I think as an artist I was mostly affected by the Soviet period of the late '80s, with its movies, design and musical foundations of jazz, funk, art rock and early electronic music." Buyanov was born in Moscow in 1986 and has lived there his whole life. His enjoyment for Russian jazz and funk started at a young age.

Oleg isn't just listening to music that's been essential to him. The late Soviet period he speaks of is where most of his samples come from in his original productions.

"There is a great database here," he said. "The USSR left us a massive musical catalog: pop, art rock, underground electronic, sci-fi documentaries, TV shows, music from adverts, and even present day stuff. All of this is local material that's not well known abroad."

Buyanov digs for these unknown gems at local record shops. When he finds a sound he wants to sample, he'll plug it into his MPC 1000 and sequence a track from there. But Russia's wealth of sample-able music doesn't end at the record store.

"[I go] almost everywhere: TV, YouTube, tape or VHS cassettes, torrents, and our local social network, vkontakte. Sometimes I use a mic to get some field recordings, voices or noises."

Aside from this local Russian flavour, he does have more international influences.

"When I was a kid we used to listen some Thunderdome, Prodigy or even punk rock on cassette tapes with my friends-that seemed huge!" he exclaimed. "I still remember those days. Although we didn't know much about rave or punk culture then, we were really feeling the emotions and atmosphere from this music and could get images of the subculture from it."

Oleg says his father also brought him up on records from Queen, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. He continued, "I think I just liked the wide spectrum of emotions that music can give or express to you."

This emotional connection he has with music remains personal. "Russian people are very soulful and deeply spiritual. Our culture is very big, isolated and authentic; we also have a huge and interesting heritage."

This intimate nature of Russian culture is evident in his most recent EP for Meda Fury.

"This EP is raw; the sketches were made quickly and then I just tried to keep the grooves, melodies and rhythms as they were without over thinking it. The main [compositional] method was sampling-lots of samples-from early '70s Baltic and Eastern Europe art rock to US hip-hop from the late 2000s."

This unique conglomeration of samples is at the core of this release's identity.

"That's why the EP is called Scape Border," Oleg said. "It includes pieces of very different periods and places, and this shady mood is the middle point that connects all of the tracks into one EP. The main influences were jazz, rock music and raw funk vibes, laid on house rhythms. Plus, there are some rare Soviet movies with unique atmospheres that I watched while producing."

Throughout his travel across Europe as a DJ, Oleg has become more passionate about the local scene back in Moscow. With the growing electronic music community, he has become deeply involved in the arts and music culture.

"There are a lot of places, from small pubs to huge warehouses, with line-ups that are sometimes crazy," Buyanov says. "2014 wasn't so good at one point: A few well known clubs like Solyanka and Arma17 were closed, but now it's getting better. My good friends are working on a new place called НИИ (Наука и Искусство)-a space that is a club at night but will also work as a gallery and creative space during the day."

OL finds these types of venues to be important to the local scene. "I feel really happy about it; this place is more about the music. They own it so we can do whatever we want there without any sort of pressure to push a commercial agenda."

Locally, he performs regularly and has a fresh 12" vinyl dropping on Moscow based label Gost Zvuk in February.

"I usually DJ. For me, a live performance is a rare thing, but it happens occasionally. For example, in February there will be a presentation of my new release and I'll perform live with this material."

Despite all of this positive momentum for Oleg and his friends, the recent economic turmoil in Russia has still taken its toll.

"That's a sad point," Buyanov lamented. "Moscow was a very expensive city from the beginning, and with this situation, prices for everything just blew up! Some of my friends lost their jobs and it's not their fault. I feel very sorry for the people who continue to work hard but are making less money now."

This hit home further for Buyanov in a recent trip to visit his girlfriend in London. "I converted all of my earned money into pounds and realised that I've lost more than a third because of the rapid ruble devaluation; it was awful."

These personal economic hardships have been tough, but Buyanov still finds time to help his friends out with their local businesses in Moscow. "From time to time I help my friend develop his small company DAMN Apparel," he said. "I participate in sales negotiations and production processes for merchandise like T-shirts and beanies."

It's clear that Oleg is busy. But between his music career and supporting friends, he still finds time to relax.

He also has a psychology degree and still keeps up with the subject, through reading and enjoying informative documentaries. The global dance music community should feel hard pressed to find a more intriguing, well rounded figure to represent it.

OL's tracks are featured on Meda Fury's brand new compilation, along with his solo EP. Here you can buy the comp and the EP.

OL is on Soundcloud // Facebook