Skardas

In Lithuania, experimental electronic music has to be more than good to be picked up by a well-known label. Such was the material on Skardas’ debut full-length Neocron, the first officially released CD of new Lithuanian electronica that came out in 2003 on the respected alternative imprint Dangus. Dark, cold and abrasive, coming close to heavy alternative rock with its intensity, this electronica was at the same time spacious, luminous and amazingly deep. The effect of the record was all the more stunning since Skardas, with his distaste for publicity, never was the most visible face of Lithuanian electronic music scene, opting for hard studio work (preferably at night) instead. A versatile artist, Skardas is just as good at creating music of a different character – introspective minimal soundscapes and plastic IDM rhythms – under his other guises, Aplink and Atagal.

Jurij Dobriakov