DJ Vakula au Basement

Vakula: DJ Ukrainien. (Firecracker Recordings)

Genre: deep house, konotop house, experimental, jazz, ethno, funk, folk, electronica...

Globally considered the deep house man of the moment, Vakula has gradually established himself as Ukraine's most demanded musical phenomenon. Konotop-native Mikhaylo Vityk gained international recognition in 2008 after a series of highly acclaimed releases on upfront electronic labels such as Meakusma, Dekmantel and authentic dj mixes filled with thick, fudgy analogue groove and crisp multi-layered rhythmic palette.Â

Inspired by his grandfather — traditional instrumentalist and bandura performer, he contrives to blatantly project Ukrainian and Slavic identity into a Detroit state-of-mind musical context through analogue synths, drum machines and old-school vinyl records. Vakula recently launched his own vinyl-only imprint Leleka, referencing to the Ukrainian cultural landscape and his passion for folk explorations, as well as participated in Firecracker's Shevchenko affiliate, titled in honour of his country’s literary master. All the while he's been regularly delivering sell-out EP's for committed labels and has just released two full-length albums under aliases Vedomir and V.

His take on house music is heavily influenced by the rich history of the genre, with subtle jazz touches multiplied by unique and very personal attitude to sound design. Consequently Vakula became the first Ukrainian producer to hit the Resident Advisor series of podcasts with a mix consisting entirely of his own quality production. Mostly on tour, but when home, can be found around Kiev and Konotop observing the beauty of his land and riches of its history.