Needing some interesting background music today as I tried to get some work done, I turned to BandCamp and came across what sounded like it would be an interesting listen in the album Space Muze by Shurkin. With a description that says “weird electronic synthesized melodies blended into atmospheric ambience with classical sounds of piano and orchestra smashed with breakbeats and dub space beats”, I knew this could work.
Shurkin grew up in The Ukraine and attended both music and dance school in his formative teenage years there. He immigrated to the US in 1999 and immediately wanted to get involved in the music scene. He has experimented in many different genres from Russian Hip Hop to Industrial Punk Rock, but I think he may have found his calling in the electro genre of Space Rock. Shurkin’s new album Space Muze is a great entry into this interesting genre. It is a 15 song instrumental opus that explores many soundscapes that sound as if they were beamed right from the former planet Pluto. His song ‘Voyage To The Void’ touches on many different sounds layered over eachother to create a wall of sound that cascades over your whole body. The listener can hear the influence of The Prodigy in the slow/hard pace of ‘Planetary Dispute’. This song has many different parts that seem to contradict each other only to keep your mind focused on this spacey song. The album closer ‘Last Year Snow’ opens with a classical sounding recorder flute over a static-y background before a mellow drum beat is added to carry you through the atmosphere that is the rest of the song.
Bottom Line: Shurkin has found his true calling with Space Muze and has the ability to lead in an underserved genre. Take a look and listen at: