Maverick Grooves from Kiev: Pavel Plastikk & Philipp Markovich

Pavel & Philipp hail from a Kyiv scene-setting event series called LOW Party. The onset of Ukraine’s longest running club night they are curating since 2009 was at the heydays of a modern disco sound revival coming out from the Northern hemisphere. Since then, their musical offspring has gone over stylistic borders and the guys have extended their booking roster with big shots of both house and disco scene. Their duo is a blend of maverick bar grooves and catchy club sounds. Mixing together discoish pallets, early days balearic beat, housey twists and sing-along folk anthems they are both crowds’ and dj-colleagues’ favourites.

Tartu 2024’s event producer Kaspar Aug had some questions for them.

Hello, Pavel! Hello, Philipp! Welcome to Estonia!

Pavel: Hello!

Philipp: Heya dancers! Looking forward to meet you all in person soon!

Are you on tour?

Pavel: Sort of. It’s Tallinn, Tartu and Gallerie Kurzweil in Darmstadt on 23/10 for me

Philipp: I’ve been touring Lithuania and now I am finally adding up another pin on my Baltic touring-map. I have recently played at 1986 gallery in Vilnius and Lizdas Club in Kaunas. Pavel and I also recently played a b2b set in Oslo for the first time since the full-scale Russian war of aggression in Ukraine broke out.

What made you consider performing here this autumn?

Pavel: Ott’s invitation [Ott Kelpman from Uus Laine in Tallinn — K.A.]

Philipp: … and the urge to spread the universal word of LOW.

Anything you knew about Tallinn/Tartu/Uus Laine/Kivi bar before?

Pavel: I’ve been to Tallinn twice with the gigs – really loving the city. Tartu I know from the common course of geography.

Philipp: For one thing I know that those places are packed with friends of Ukraine.

Any experiences going to European Capitals of Culture?

Philipp: I absolutely fell in love with Kaunas, this year’s European Capital of Culture. It is crazy that you can have three simultaneous exhibitions of the most significant modern artists there are — Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovič and William Kentridge — in a city of 300 000! I also attended the Audra electronic musical festival there this summer and it blew my mind pretty much too. Chapeau!

About the dancers: who should come to Kivi to listen and dance to your set? What should they know before the awaited night begins?

Philipp: Pretty much everyone is welcome who‘s heart got a beat and soul got a groove.

Pavel: They should be ready to discover music they may have never heard as well!

Your promo text leaves some room for imagination about the genres you spin. Could you be more specific? Describe the vibe.

Philipp: That’s what some people call Balearic beat, but I’d rather go by house meets wave meets disco meets lyrics driven groovy songs.

You’ve both released very special projects recently. Pavel did Ukrainska Epika and Philipp’s is Silence of Sirens. Tell us a little about them.

Pavel: It’s the first mix I’ve ever complied from only Ukrainian Music, I’m a bit surprised how good it went on Bandcamp –– it went to almost 70 collections now with minimum price of 5 euro, for the mix which is a supernice result for such platform as Bandcamp where nobody usually selling a mix.

Philipp: Here’s the Bandcamp page. It’s a fundraiser compilation of air raid alarms all across Ukraine with an interactive website to it.

Finally, what’s your favourite song, favourite animal and favourite food?

Philipp: Fav song is a folk-ish one, pet is a doggo and fav food is wine.

Pavel: John Martyn – Solid Air. Animal is whale. Food is pho bo and seafood.

Philipp: Ok, I’d be more specific on my song too. It’s «Just Us — Easy».

Get into the groove through our Facebook event and see you on Saturday!
The party has no ticket but please support Ukraine via https://slava.ee/en/ or any way you prefer.