With the current global crisis comes the increased demand for music and more productivity on the part of various artists, who suddenly find themselves at home with time to be making more music. So too are listeners more attentive to online music than ever before. What a timely introduction to San Francisco-based electronic duo Nikavo, who will be releasing their new single ‘Yummy Miami’ this coming Friday.

While the A-side is more disco and dance-oriented, the B-side ‘No TV’ is more EBM / industrial in nature. Both tracks feature a quick BPM and are clever in their own unique ways. Of course, each song demonstrates a different facet of the band, who are not shy to admit that they just want to make good music, without feeling confined by limiting genre definitions.

Sounds good – let’s not pigeon-hole the electronic duo, whose whole repertoire actually covers even wider ground, like a concoction of house, techno, disco, and electro rock. Think Minilogue, Daft Punk, Hot Chip, Digitalism, Armin Van Burren, Tiesto, Trentemoeller and even Telefon Tel Aviv. Nikavo’s music is elastic and catchy. This is fun, this is eclectic, this should be on your playlist… or several of them. This is the new San Francisco (via Switzerland and Russia) – ideal for the cosmopolitan musical mind, wherever you may be.

So who is Nikavo? This is a musical union of producers Philip Winiger and Alexey Laduda, each quite prolific in is own right. The name of the project came from an aural transcription from Russian, meaning ‘nobody’ or ‘not a single person’. As they say, two heads are better than one’, especially when united by electronica and rooted in such a concept as future nostalgia. As such, Winiger and Laduda bring their own unique skill sets and experience to the studio.

Originally from Switzerland, Winiger has a strong affection for the German electronic music scene and was formerly half of Cleopatra Records -signed industrial/ EBM outfit INHALT. Alexey comes from an entirely different background, having grown up in the rigid, yet highly creative, post-Soviet space, playing the guitar and singing. Both share a passion for dance music and analogue audio synthesis, ultimately manifesting themselves in Nikavo’s ever experimental, yet accessible, sound.

“In ‘Yummy Miami’, the lyrics speak for themselves. It’s about a direct experience that both of us had separately while working in the service industry and finally getting a time off, a break from the day-to-day grind and an opportunity to go somewhere where you feel happy,” says Philip Winiger.

“It’s pretty transparent, there is no deeper meaning to that. An underlying desire for having fun and the excitement of getting there. We think most people can relate to that, everybody just wants to let loose and go nuts once in a while.”

In terms of their sound, aesthetic and songcrafting, Nikavo’s songs are influenced by the work of Minilogue, Daft Punk, Kraftwerk, Trentemoeller, Telefon Tel Aviv, Jean-Michel Jarre, Victor Tsoi (KINO), and Morton Subotnik.

Title track ‘Yummy Miami’ is being released digitally across key online stores and online streaming platforms, but the special A-side/B-side edition is exclusive to Bandcamp

CREDITS
Written and performed by Alexey Laduda and Philip Winiger
Guitars by Andrey Kahn (Moscow, Russia)
Graphics by Vasily Mayzin (New York, USA)
Produced by Alexey Laduda and Philip Winiger
Mixed at Gagarin Studio (San Francisco, USA)
Mastering by Alexey Laduda and Philip Winiger

NIKAVO
Facebook
Bandcamp
SoundCloud
YouTube
Spotify
Apple Music