The Kool Kids

The Russian soldier from Moscow, Proxy, is known for his terrifying sounds since the first time he dropped his classic “Raven“. Currently signed to Turbo Recordings, he will release his first album on the label, formed by Thomas Von Party and Tiga.

Background

On the Myspace page of Proxy’s you can find more info about the mysterious artist:
“From the ashes of the Soviet empire, from the flames of history, rises Proxy. Post 9/11 rave vibes cloaked in Muscovite angst. A line drawn in smoking rubble along the border dividing East and West, Stüssy and Spetsnaz. 1997. The Year of Tar and Horses. The Prodigy plays Red Square in Moscow. Hundreds of thousands of people attend the show, but only one is truly changed. By the crushing sound. By people absolutely losing their shit to synths and sustained aggression.

The experience causes Proxy to question the quality and purpose of Russian “electrica” acts like Nu-Lag Xpressions and Sweatislav. There was simply no scene from which to emerge. “Whatever a fool does, he does it wrong. A poor dancer is impeded even by his own balls,” he recalls. In a decade’s time, Proxy would be remixing Prodigy and opening for them on a massive tour of Russia. 2004. Proxy grows interested in the increasingly punishing sounds of the electro scene, as he hears Tiga sing “Hey You Little Children of Glasnost” at the W Hotel in Anzhero-Sudzhensk.

2006. Proxy reaches out to Tiga via his MySpace page. Thomas Von Party intercepts the message and is stunned by fully formed landmines like “Destroy”. Masquerading as Tiga, he signs Proxy to Turbo Recordings, beginning his own deceit-fueled ascent up the biz-ladder of the music ladder-business. 2007 to present. Proxy earns respect and awe from such heavyweights as Justice, Soulwax, Boys Noize, Erol Alkan and Mr. Oizo with astonishing, severe tracks like “Decoy”, “Dance in Dark” and the massive “Raven”, which merits special mention not just because of its ubiquity, but because it illustrates in full the singular power of Proxy music.

Recall, if you will, the first time you were ever caught in an explosion. Close enough to the blast that the only things that register are a light beyond blinding and a sound that arrives too soon. Now imagine that as you lose your body to the fire you are reassembled, better, your self subsumed by something far greater (for many, this experience seems to manifest itself as sitting in obedient unison). The sound now commands you, transmuting you into the screaming, searing blare.

Proxy has also produced remixes for Peaches, Prodigy, Tiga, Boys Noize, Chromeo, Digitalism, Moby and a host of others willing to pay him in Kocmoc cigarettes. The coming months will see him co-headline a huge New Year’s Eve show with Soulwax in Australia and embark on his first North American tour, which will include shows at major festivals. As rumor fills the Earth of the impending release of his debut album, Proxy demurs, “I hear it, and it’s mine, and you stay away from me,” before reluctantly conceding that it will drop in 2010. “My music tells you what to do, but never why. Your ear may be afraid, but your body completes its labor.” “

Album

After some delay, the album will be released somewhere near the end of this year, Thomas Von Party said in an interview. “The Proxy album is a big event… Very delayed, but that one also somewhere around winter, maybe.” At first Proxy and Turbo Recordings set sail to release the album around the end of May, but they had their reasons for the delay. “The reason for the delay is very simple. Once you set a goal to yourself of making an album, just because you have enough tracks for an album, that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to put it out there as an album. You only release so many things, so you want to have it set up for yourself, so that it has a real impact when it drops. And for the Proxy, for a lot of reasons it just hasn’t quite been finished. He’s working on it and there’s a lot of great material that is going to be released.”

This doesn’t mean that the Russian artist is staying on the background until then. “We’re doing one single in June of Vibrate, that won’t be on the album actually but just as another single. But there’s really good remixes on it by Noob, who did two great versions, The Bloody Beetroots, who are big Proxy fans and supporters, and one more by Sound of Stereo. Proxy has lots of fans and we do want to keep the interest up by releasing bits and pieces for now.”

Turbo Recordings are very kind to release the Bloody Beetroots Remix of Proxy’s Vibrate for free. In order to get it, you only need to sign up for the newsletter from Turbo Recordings.

Questionable track list:
1. Who Are You?
2. 8000
3. Parasite
4. Think First
5. Vibrate
6. Cypher
7. Cooper
8. Kamuyi
9. The Status pt. 1
10. The Status pt. 2
11. Quad Damage
12. Abyss
13. Predator
14. Dance In Dark (Live Edit)
15. Destroy
16. Decoy
17. Indian Film
18. Raven