Vadim Gusis, Begründer von CHAOS AS SHELTER sowie ein Mitglied von AGNIVOLOK, schickt sich an, ein neues Projekt in den avantgardistischen Untergrund zu entlassen. Der russisch-stämmige aber in Israel lebende Künstler veröffentlicht mit „Credo“ ein erstes Lebenszeichen unter dem Namen THUNDERWHEEL. Als Gäste u.a. dabei Slava Smelovsky und Igor Krutogolov alias Igor18, in unzählige musikalische Manifestationen involviert. „Surrealistic Industrial Instrumental“ so nennt es das kleine aber feine Eastern Front Label selbst, darunter kann man sich gewiss nicht viel vorstellen.

Und auch mir fällt es nicht gerade einfach, das Gehörte in hinreichend passender Genauigkeit zu beschreiben. Instrumental sind die gut 50 Minuten fürwahr, sieht man von ein paar Flüsterpassagen ab. Mit Industrial hat es eher weniger zu tun, Elektronik beherrscht zwar die Szenerie, aber es fehlt die nötige Härte für diesen Terminus. Dann schon eher „surrealistisch“: leiernde Sägeblätter, Maultrommeln, der Einsatz eines Theremins. Avantgardistische Schwingungen, nicht frei von Struktur oder Melodik aber dennoch eher dem Augenblick verpflichtet als einer Dramaturgie. Für Techniker – hier wurde mit einem „Siel Cruise Analog Synthesizer“ gearbeitet. Hin und wieder wirkt das Ganze sakral wie bei „Emptiness“, dann schimmern wieder Ethno-Elemente durch. Gudis erweitert hier den von seinem Stammprojekt bekannten Horizont, wird aber dennoch dieselben Anhänger ansprechen. Ein komplexer Inlay-Text, der über Lebensphilosophien, Mystizismus und Religion sinniert, rundet das anspruchsvolle Werk ab.

Ohne allzu tiefen Sachverstand über die Materie bewege ich mich zwar auf dünnem Eis, würde aber das Prinzip der „diametralen Gegensätzlichkeit“ als einen Eckpfeiler von THUNDERWHEELs Kunst ansehen. „Good“ oder „Evil“, wie sich der Hörer den 8 klanglich ähnlichen Kompositionen nähert, sei jedem Hörer selbst überlassen. Ein interessantes, experimentelles Hörerlebnis steht allemal ins Haus. Auf 500 Stück limitiert und in gelungener Verpackung ausgeliefert.

TK (10.04.2009)
See the original page here:
TERRORVERLAG

Created by Vadim Gusis, already known for Chaos As Shelter and member of Agnivolok, Thunderwheel is a particular musical project. Helped out on some tracks by Igor Krutogolov (Kruzenstern & Parohod, Agnivolok, Igor Krutogolov’s Carate Band) and Slava Smelovsky (Grundik + Slava, Crossfishes), Vadim created the eight tracks of CREDO having in mind Zen philosophy and, I think, the particular structure of Japanese/oriental music. The result is a sort of surreal soundtrack where dissonant melodies, whispered vocals, percussive sounds and theremin create an oneiric world made of slow rhythms and strident sounds. Like a nightmarish orchestra Thunderwheel painted their personal picture and it’s all to be discovered…
Review by: Maurizio Pustianaz
From: http://www.chaindlk.com

Kulturterrorismus review of “Credo”, in German
Category: Music

Thunderwheel – Credo
… like Inspector Barnaby
VÖ: 2009 Label: The Eastern Front
Genre: (Dark) Ambient, Experimentell, Industrial Über die israelischen Landesgrenzen hinaus, verdiente sich der Künstler Vadim Gusis viel Anerkennung durch seine Formationen Chaos As Shelter (Begründer) und Agnivolok (Mitglied), womit er vornehmlich avantgardistischen Klängen frönt. Der in Russland geborene und in Israel lebende Akteur startete das Projekt 1999 und ließ es lange in der Ecke verstauben, aber jetzt 2009 sendet er mit dem Album “Credo” ein neues Lebenszeichen aus, welches in eine surrealistische Welt entführt.

Den überwiegenden Teil der Publikation “Credo” spielte der Aktivist ((gesprochener) Gesang, Percussion, Feldaufnahmen, Synthesizer) selbst ein, als “Unterstützungskommando” dienten ihm die Protagonisten Igor Krutogolov (Der Mann mit der singenden Säge!) und Slava Smelovsky (Theremin bzw. Ätherwellengeige), welche jeweils für Akzente innerhalb der Klangcollagen sorgen.

Inhaltlich bewegt sich dieses Opus zwischen den Hallen des Bösen und Guten, welche zudem noch Selbstverarsche, Spuren des Buddhismus wie Hinduismus und Weltfremdheit zutage fördern. Wer gewagte Thematiken präferiert, dem könnte Thunderwheel mit seiner Abgedrehtheit in diesem Punkt gefallen!

Die zu vernehmende Tonkunst auf “Credo” gleicht einem phänomenalen Soundtrack für Inspector Barnaby Filme, die genauso mysteriös wie Thunderwheel aus den Boxen über den Bildschirm flimmern und eine Menge schwarzen Humor transportieren. Vadim Gusis offeriert auf diesem Oeuvre 8 Tracks, die zwischen Sakralität & Surrealismus schwanken und Skurrilität vermitteln, weshalb der Vergleich mit der britischen Krimiserie Inspector Barnaby (Midsomer Murders) definitiv passt, wo ebenfalls Normalität nicht existiert. Des Weiteren basiert die Filmmusik zu Inspector Barnaby auf Tönen, welche ein Theremin bzw. eine Ätherwellengeige hervorbringt, die auch einige Passagen auf “Credo” dominiert, wodurch sich eine weitere Parallele ergibt. Personen, die zwischen leichter Rhythmik und ergreifenden (Dark) Ambient Flächen wandeln möchten, sollten sich ohne Scheu an Thunderwheel herantrauen, auch wenn gewisse Moment erst im zweiten Hördurchlauf zünden.

Im Falle dieser Veröffentlichung einen expliziten Anspieltipp zu empfehlen, birgt keinen tieferen Sinn, da “Credo” von Thunderwheel entweder Begeisterung oder Ablehnung hervorruft und keinen Platz für die Farbe Grau lässt!

Diese sehr eigenständige bzw. individuelle Arbeit erblickte das Licht der Welt in einer Auflage von 500 Exemplaren über das israelische Label The Eastern Front, welche zu den renommierten Manufakturen im Untergrund gehört.

Fazit: Individuen, die sich vornehmlich mysteriösen Musikwerken im Segment (Dark) Ambient bzw. Inspector Barnaby Filmen hingeben, sollten sich “Credo” von Thunderwheel nicht entgehen lassen – meine Empfehlung!

Hörbeispiele und weitere Informationen zu Thunderwheel findet Ihr unter folgenden Links:
http://www.myspace.com/thunderwheel
http://www.myspace.com/theeasternfrontlabel
http://www.theeasternfront.org

Taken from: http://kulturterrorismus.de/rezensionen/thunderwheel-credo.html

Vadim Gusis, già attivo in altri progetti come Chaos As Shelter e Agnivolok, dà vita ad una nuova e misteriosa realtà: Thunderwheel. Coadiuvato da Igor Krutogolov e Slava Smelovsky, l’autore israeliano varca la soglia di ogni umana previsione strutturando otto brani che assumono le sembianze del cubo di Rubik, tanto sono lontane da un facile ascolto o da una semplice classificazione. I mezzi dispiegati sono vari: percussioni, registrazioni dirette, voci rielaborate, non meglio specificati ’strumenti inusuali’, per finire col celebre theremin, il tutto unito dai suoni analogici del vecchio sintetizzatore Siel Cruise, da cui sono estratte le tante melodie sconnesse. I suoni guardano al passato e vengono legati tra loro in modo curioso, in una serie di motivetti naif supportati da arrangiamenti surreali. In due soli casi ("Harmless Song" e "Mindstream") Vadim accantona le linee melodiche per dedicarsi ad una sperimentazione più diretta, fatta di tanti rumori soffusi. Rispetto ai precedenti progetti Thunderwheel si spinge più verso l’estremo, entrando in un universo sonoro che assomiglia ad un enorme collage, su cui campeggiano evidenti solo i suoni delle tastiere anni ‘80, mentre il resto si fonde in immagini indefinibili a tratti scandite da ritmiche. Non si hanno atmosfere, non c’è intrattenimento, è difficile trovare un senso all’opera, se non subendolo in uno stato di allucinante trance. Lavoro complesso diviso tra minimalismi esecutivi e metodi compositivi automatici. Difficile dire se alla fine risulta più meditativo o irritante.
Michele Viali

From: www.darkroom-magazine.it

Thunderwheel is a new project of Israeli musician Vadim Gusis, who’s best known as the founder of dark ambient project Chaos As Shelter, and who is also a member of Agnivolok. For Credo, the debut album of Thunderwheel, he’s joined by a couple of guest musicians, namely Igor Krutogolov (a.k.a. Igor18), who’s a fellow member of Agnivolok, as well as being involved with Kruzenstern & Parohod and Igor Krutogolov’s Carate Band, and Slava Smelovsky, a member of Grundik + Slava and Crossfishes.

The first thing to say about this album is that it sounds nothing like Chaos As Shelter. In fact, it hardly sounds like anything else at all. The Eastern Front describe this as �?Surrealistic Industrial Instrumental Romance’, which may or may not give you some idea of what to expect. The instruments employed by Vadim Gusis for this recording include a Siel Cruise analogue synth, percussion, field recordings, �?unusual instruments’ and voice (although the album is largely instrumental), while Igor Krutogolov plays musical saw on six of the album’s eight tracks, and Slava Smelovsky plays theremin on three of them. Now, both the musical saw and the theremin have very distinctive sounds, and since only one track on Credo features neither instrument, you can readily imagine before even hearing it that the album is a veritable festival of weird, wavering, undulating tones. The synth is used to play slow, sinuous melodies, full of campy, phantasmagorical, atmosphere, while the saw and theremin swoop and wobble over the top, accompanied by an assortment of odd little incidental sounds. The second track, �?Into The Pure Land’, uses bold organ tones to eerie effect, �?Emptiness’ has a suspense-laden, creepy-crawly bassline (I’d have guessed this was a bass guitar, though the cover makes no mention of any guitars), and �?Harmless Song’ blends Danny Elfman-style keyboards and chimes with melodramatic whispers. The final track, �?Mindstream’, is the album’s longest at ten and a half minutes, and it’s also the most experimental, being a ramshackle assemblage of disjointed, mournful tones, fragmentary melodic themes and distant metal percussion.

There’s a tinge of decadence, of cabaret and carnivals, fortune-tellers and end-of-the-pier shows about Credo, and the music is also suffused with a distinctively bittersweet eastern European nostalgia and melancholy – unsurprising, really, since all of the musicians involved are former Russians who have settled in Israel. Musical saw acts, of course, have always been a staple of music-hall and variety shows, while it’s impossible to listen to a theremin without it conjuring visions of creaky old horror films from the 1920s and 30s.

In terms of sensibility, Thunderwheel do have something in common with the Russian-Israeli group Zlye Kukly, although their music is very different. The Paris Spleen album by Italian neo-classicists Ataraxia (reviewed elsewhere on Judas Kiss) drew on a similar dark cabaret aesthetic, but, again, with very different musical results. Musically speaking, Thunderwheel are perhaps closest to experimental acts such as Novy Svet, Ô Paradis and Mushroom’s Patience, but their music really defies easy categorisation. I definitely found it intriguingly different and beguiling, though – listening to a track or two on Thunderwheel’s MySpace page should give you an idea whether you agree or not. With Credo, The Eastern Front have once again shown themselves courageous enough to take risks with their release schedule, rather than simply churning out one cookie-cutter dark ambient, neo-folk or martial release after another, and this is commendable.

Credo is a limited-edition release of 500 copies, and it comes packaged in the usual Eastern Front oversized gatefold glossy card sleeve, with black-on-sepia artwork and texts which are a strange mixture of Zen Buddhist iconography and puzzle pictures, in keeping with the arcane nature of this very idiosyncratic recording.
Taken from: www.judaskissmagazine.co.uk

text: daniil kharms
drawings: igor krutogolov
music: grundik and slava

CLICK HERE

Album: “Live at levontin 07.04.2008”

Grundik Kasyansky
Slava Smelovsky
Igor Krutogolov

Label: Kunstkamera, KUNS0015, Creative Commons License, 2009
Time: 0:52:53

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Slava Smelovsky took part in recording of Chaos As Shelter (Vadim Gusis) new project – Thunderwheel – Credo. Surrealistic Industrial Instrumental Romance.

Thunderwheel musically differs essentially from Chaos Of Shelter and Agnivolok and may surprise for the best. Igor Krutogolov (Kruzenstern & Parohod, Agnivolok, Igor Krutogolov’s Carate Band) and Slava Smelovsky (Grundik + Slava, Crossfishes) feature on the record.

Pressed CD. 500 copies. Comes in 3 folded high quality packing with fantasy-symbolical artwork designed by Vadim Gusis. Will be released in December 2008.

7 April, 22:30, Live at Levontin 7, Tel-Aviv

Bagatellen, XAPMC, by Brian Olewnick:

Performing as simply Grundik + Slava, this pair has released several albums since beginning their partnership in 1994 though this is my first exposure to them. Arriving in one of the more needlessly aggravating packages I’ve seen (more annoying than those old Mort aux Vaches discs!), one is mollified somewhat by the inclusion of some neat little sepia-toned cards drawn by Igor Krutogolov. And the music’s pretty good as well.

Sixteen shortish tracks covering a wide range with portions of the text based on letters by the Russian surrealist poet Daniil Kharms. The opener is quite attractive, featuring some vaguely rhythmic accordion pumpings, Theremin-like wails and other odds and ends behind Slava’s deep but distracted voice, recalling Robert Ashley’s dream monologues. This approach would seem to be fitting for a homage to Kharms and indeed several of the better pieces possess an oneiric quality wherein a tonal element—single piano notes, for example—are played off against rougher, more environmental noises, as though the keyboard sounds are wending their way through a dark, slightly threatening field. A dreamlike, floating feeling accompanies much of the music, a voice wafting in the distance (sometimes Russian, sometimes English), hollow, windy roars, the plinking of a music box hammering out “Lullaby and Goodnight”. The works move in and out of focus, the sharply limned ones contrasting that much more with the blurrier examples, again evoking the pleasant, only mildly troubling feeling of a confused reverie. There’s even sitar! And is that an ocarina I hear? It’s a hodgepodge but an oddly effective one and well worth a listen.

Rruido’s website appears to be nonfunctional at the moment, but interested listeners can probably get more info about the disc from Grundik + Slava’s site

And keep in mind a hopefully upcoming release by Kasyansky and the Argentinean guitarist Leandro Barzabal; it’s a beaut.

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