A deeply atmospheric composer of dark break beats, Bristol born, Moscow based Guy Fforde, aka Gyu, makes dissident 2 step.
Living in Moscow means two things to most people, meat and booze. Both are consumed in extreme quantities. When Brizzo local and teetotal vegetarian Gyu upped sticks and headed off to the mysterious Russian city of excess and glamour, his music became a reflection of his complicated cultural surroundings. Establishing self-founded record label entitled Coral Recordings after previously releasing his material via Digital Distortions, Subgrade, Urban Scrumping and Jungletek Movement Guy, remains an active member of breaks/techno outfit Mad-Tek with friend Globe Rotter. His layered electronic music is made to mesmerise. i-D hit Guy up to find out how he gets by living alongside the largest community of billionaires in the world. Look right for this week’s exquisite i-DJ drop.
“What does a teetotal vegetarian find to do in the land of Borsch and Vodka? I’ll tell you the story of a typical day, I start by heading to my favourite food-market Moskvoretsky near Khakhovskaya. There I stock up on fruit and vegetables, salty, Abkhazian cheese and still-warm Lipyoshki (a flat bread from Uzbekistan made in a tandoor). I head back to the flat to cook a vegetarian English breakfast, with the Abkhazian cheese as a bacon substitute. From there I visit the monthly shopping experience known as ‘Happy Sunday’. Held in an old factory called ARMA17 this place is half club, half clothes store to which crowds of young people throng to get their hands on cut-price garments. The atmosphere is buzzing, but you need to get a ticket. Best place to do this is the Bench store in Okhotney Ryad. From there it is time for a little culture, in the Tretyako Gallery. I love going here, for me it gives a real insight into Russian culture throughout history, not just the Soviet stuff that we often think of. Just opposite the Tretyakov gallery is a great vegetarian/vegan/raw food restaurant called sok (сок). Meaning ‘juice’ in Russian, they’ve got a great selection of vegetarian dishes which aren’t so easy to find in Moscow. I especially like their business lunches.
From there it’s off for a cup of…time. At Clockfacer (Цифрблат) you pay only for the time you spend there, about 100 rubles an hour. They serve tea and coffee and sweets/biscuits and they have a great selection of board games. It’s a great place to hang out and relax. From there it’s usually off to a bar to give my friend a chance to have a drink. My favourite haunt is The Chinese Pilot (Kitaiski Lyotchik) Located in Kitai Gorod (Chinatown), it’s below street level and is less glitzy and fake than most bars in Moscow. For me there only one main night to go to and that’s Capital Bass. Located in Solyanka (from MRSKPRT) they never fail to bring the cream of British bass music to Russia’s capital. And when the sun is coming up there’s no other way to get home but in a battered Lada, listening to Russian pop music and driving past all the major sights. In Moscow nearly anyone with a car will moonlight as a taxi for a few hundred rubles and it’s often a magical (or terrifying) experience. Either way, there’s nothing like watching the sun coming up whilst belting past the Kremlin and discussing the night.”
soundcloud.com/gyu
Introduction: Milly McMahon
