Notable performances:

— Art’s Birthday Party w/ Lust for Youth, Family Underground and more (2012 Stockholm, Sweden)

— Servataguse Muusika Festival w/ Kemialliset Ystävät, Sand Circles, Kylie Minoise and more (2011 Tallinn, Estonia)

— Silent Film Days — Music for “An Andalusian Dog” (2011 Tromsø, Norway)

— Creepy Teepee Festival w/ Rainbow Arabia, Moon Duo, Terror Bird, Pictureplane and more (2010 Kutná Hora, Czech)

— Russian tours and shows with Kría Brekkan, Lucky Dragons, Dora Bleu, Golden Cup, Woodpecker Wooliams…

The couple actively participate in a number of experimental/improv projects and initiatives, and run Full of Nothing label together. Anya Kuts is also a visual artist. Ivan is a member of Metropolis Silent Film Concert band.

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Selected press:

No Fear Of Pop
Dumpster Diving Blog
Disquiet
My Dance The Skull
OpenSpace (RU)
Far From Moscow

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Photograph:

© Nikolay Egorenkov | Download hi-res

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Booking / contact: diykarelia@gmail.com

Social: Facebook / VKontakte / Twitter

Snail mail: Ivan Afanasyev, PO Box 30, Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia, 185035

2009

 
07/30 Saint Petersburg, Russia, A2 w/ Kría Brekkan

07/31 Moscow, Russia, Dub Club w/ Kría Brekkan, Lucky Dragons

10/17 Helsinki, Finland, Oranssi @ Jozik Festival w/ Kakaokamkami, Phenomenal Creature, Mustat Kalsarit, Ville Ahonen

10/19 Helsinki, Finland, Liberte w/ Vialka, Sydän Sydän

10/27 Petrozavodsk, Russia, Daze Club w/ Vialka, Evolet, Belies, Valery & The Greedies

2010

 
03/14 Istanbul, Turkey, Arkaoda

03/18 Saint Petersburg, Russia, Ruskomplekt w/ Arabian Horses, Menopause, Bedroom Bear

04/02 Petrozavodsk, Russia, Tainaya Komnata v Usad’be w/ Banana Pill, Wind in Willows

04/06 Saint Petersburg, Russia, GES-21 w/ Dora Bleu

04/07 Narva, Estonia, Roro

04/08 Tallinn, Estonia, Art Cafe w/ Maria Minerva

04/09 Vilnius, Lithuania, XI20 w/ Merlyn, Milf Wolf, Broken Sleep

04/11 Svetlogorsk, Russia @ Masterskaya “V Otkrytom Vozduhe”

04/14 Lublin, Poland, house show

04/15 Częstochowa, Poland, Elektromadonna w/ MAAAA, Sorry Satori, Jesus Is a Noise Commander, Annna

04/18 Chemnitz, Germany, Oberstübchen w/ Bionihil

04/19 Weimar, Germany, Gerber 3 w/ Bionihil

04/20 Mainz, Germany, Walpodenakademie w/ Martin Büsser

05/22 Participating in Kheta Hotem, Jyväskylä, Finland @ Yläkaupungin Yö Festival

06/11 Moscow, Russia, Shkola Tancev w/ Bedroom Bear, Menopause, Sunbells Fenimore, Catpills, Fukkitol

07/15 Kutná Hora, Czech @ Creepy Teepee Festival w/ Rainbow Arabia, Moon Duo, Terror Bird, Pictureplane, Collapsing Opposites

07/20 Riga, Latvia, Mediju-Stacija w/ Denj Pobega, Sound Meccano

09/19 Saint Petersburg, Russia, VMeste w/ Polypus Sapiens, Banana Pill, Twilight Owls, Billiam Wutler Yea, Menopause, Bedroom Bear

10/09 Petrozavodsk, Russia, Tainaya Komnata na OTZ w/ Arabian Horses, Harvey

11/01 Moscow, Russia, Blur Cafe w/ Wrist, Arabian Horses

11/02 Saransk, Russia, Kafe Vizit w/ Bedroom Bear

11/03 Samara, Russia, Art-Propaganda w/ Bedroom Bear

2011

 
01/30 Helsinki, Finland, Oranssi w/ Banana Pill, Vapaa, Ous Mal

02/03 Jyväskylä, Finland, Kahvila Lutakko w/ Banana Pill

02/06 Participating in Novoe Tsarstvo, Helsinki, Finland, Myymälä2 w/ Varropas, Grey Park

04/03 Moscow, Russia, Avant Club w/ Woodpecker Wooliams, Golden Cup

04/05 Saransk, Russia, Muzei Istorii MGU w/ Woodpecker Wooliams, Golden Cup

04/07 Saint Petersburg, Russia, Kitaiskii Letchik Jao Da w/ Woodpecker Wooliams, Golden Cup

04/08 Ivan solo as Okean Ognya, Tallinn, Estonia, East Gallery w/ Woodpecker Wooliams, Golden Cup

04/09 Ivan solo as Okean Ognya, Vilnius, Lithuania, XI20 w/ Woodpecker Wooliams, Golden Cup

04/10 Ivan solo as Okean Ognya, Riga, Latvia, Nabaklab w/ Woodpecker Wooliams, Golden Cup

07/21 Petrozavodsk, Russia @ SHUM/BASS open air w/ MAAAA, Priliv Tsvetov

09/17 Music for “An Andalusian Dog” (1929), Tromsø, Norway @ Silent Film Days w/ Ben Model, Mara & Gaute

10/16 Petrozavodsk, Russia @ Karavan Snov, OTZ w/ Olli Aarni, Banana Pill, Novoe Tsarstvo

11/04 Tallinn, Estonia @ Servataguse Muusika Festival w/ Kemialliset Ystävät, Sand Circles, Olimpia Splendid, Kylie Minoise, Postinstrumentum

12/24 Petrozavodsk, Russia, Heikkonen w/ Yarga Sound System

2012

01/12 Helsinki, Finland, Myymälä2 w/ Kuupuu, Novoe Tsarstvo

01/14 Stockholm, Sweden @ Art’s Birthday Party, Södra Teatern, Mother stage w/ Lust for Youth, Family Underground

March 11 — Saint Petersburg, Russia, Taiga w/ Grouper, High Wolf → last.fm

April 28 — Petrozavodsk, Russia, Sigmund Freud w/ Ensemble Economique

A. Love Cult
B. Tempera

Label: Stunned

Year: 2011
Cat. no.: Stunned no. 108
Limited to 111

Anya: voice, piano, bells, percussion
Ivan: effects, tapes, voice, percussion
Recorded winter-spring 2010 in Petrozavodsk and Lublin
Art by Phil French

“Ivan & Anya of Love Cult have a knack for capturing the sense of tranquility that accompanies moments of deep homeostasis, hovering over the fine line between communal music-making and private meditation. This split finds the Russian duo conducting three-part ceremony, where each passage tumbles naturally – and with an increasingly woozy bliss – into a beautiful stew of storm-tempered organ and female vocals. The accompanying side by Portland Maine’s Tempera absolutely locks in the high vibrations, with the troupe caught up in translucent vocal rhythms and cycles of electronic chimes. It’s one of the more magical moments of documented live performance we’ve heard in quite a while, and its dazzling display provides a listening experience that demands frequent revisiting.” (Stunned)

A. “Reflection”
B. “Absorption”

Label: Brave Mysteries

Year: 2011
Cat. no.: CQBL011
Limited to 100

Anya: voice, acoustic guitar, bells
Ivan: kantele, effects, lap slide, kazoo
Recorded June-August 2010 in Petrozavodsk
Mastered by M. Geddes Gengras at Green Machine
Art by Nathaniel Ritter

“Hailing from deep within the songlands of Karelia, Love Cult is the duo of Anya Kuts and Ivan Afanasyev. When asked to tell us a bit more about these sessions, the duo only told us things that made us feel even more alien and confused than we were when we knew nothing at all. These are truly sounds of a thoughtfully intimate and exclusive nature, like the soft concentration of singing lullabies to your first love. Using only acoustic guitar, voice, bells, kantele, lap slide, kazoo and effects, Love Cult construct two side-long epics that are fully enveloping. There is an easy and comforting environment that is conjured as the duo negotiates their own unique type of propulsion throughout a dream-like stasis. While fragile acoustics are fingered in pensive circular patterns, sinewy loops wrap themselves around the shimmering esophagus gently intoning it’s mantras. The expansive atmosphere of these workings give extra blur to the ghostly strands of melody slowly arching over fully hollow spaces between and around each note. Welcome to the shadowy bliss of the songlands.” (Brave Mysteries)

Review: Weedtemple

• Purchase cassette

• Purchase digital

A. “Sobaki, volki”
B. “Untitled” / “Gori-gori yasno (for Yanka)” / “Untitled”

Label: My Dance The Skull

Year: 2010
Cat. no.: MDTS06
Limited to 100

Anya & Ivan: voices, guitars
Recorded April-August 2010 in Petrozavodsk and Wrocław
Mastered by M. Geddes Gengras at Green Machine
Art by Anya

“Love Cult’s ‘Sobaki Volki’ is everything and nothing; a space once there, the spaces in between. In tune with something more than words. The damp sky overhead. The grass wet with dew. The pale grey haze of the morning, when nothing’s yet awake. Watching over lakes as a bird rises and falls with the wind. Half-heard voices from valleys far off. And you close your eyes and drift away from it all, warm and safe, alive and dreaming. In ‘Sobaki, Volki’ the listener can feel this distance, and lose themselves amidst a swirling mosaic of sound and voices. It is hard to put your finger on quite how this makes you feel, but one thing we know for sure is that we love it.” (Kieran Toms)

Review: The Wire

• Purchase cassette

• Purchase digital

A. Cursillistas “Great Salt Desert”
B. Love Cult “Breadcrumb Ponytail” / “Somn

Label: Blackest Rainbow

Year: 2010
Cat. no.: BRR159
Limited to 100

“Breadcrumb Ponytail”: Anya, Ivan, Nikolay, Sergey
“Somn”: Anya, Ivan live @ A2
Recorded summer 2009 in Saint Petersburg
Photo by Joe Blanchard

“Brand new split cassette from Portland, Maine based Cursillistas, who recently had superb LPs on Time-Lag and Digitalis, and Love Cult from Petrozavodsk, Russia. First up is Cursillistas’ epic 23 minute ‘Great Salt Desert’, a superb weirded out blues drenched, desert dried, psychedelic mirage. A real fine side summing up how awesome Cursillistas are, if you haven’t checked them yet, don’t miss this side! The B side opens with Love Cult’s ‘Breadcrumb Ponytail’, a swirling blissful distortion dripping psyche dream, a really beautiful 11 minute wonder. This is followed by ‘Somn’ a more crushing electrifying piece with tinkering and rattling from unrecognizable objects, distorted feedback blurts and what sounds like then objects trying to communicate.” (Blackest Rainbow)

Review: Norman Records

• Purchase cassette

A. Deep Magic “Infinite Heaven”
B. Love Cult “Tea That Tastes Like Void”

Label: Existential Cloth

Year: 2009
Cat. no.: ECR32
Limited to 25

Anya, Ivan, Nikolay, Sergey
Recorded summer 2009 in Saint Petersburg

“Bliss coming to you from solo artist Deep Magic and duo Love Cult. Both sides go to places of utter serenity, using slowly coagulating loops that shimmer into the forefront and slowly drip out and fade into your memory. Deep Magic going with more minimal and traditional instrumentation while Love Cult layers in found sounds and electronic noise into the mix.” (Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys)

Collaboration with Sergey Dmitriev (Black Sky Chant, Bedroom Bear, Kon Tiki Gemini)

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“Live in Saransk” (2011)
MP3, Pandafuzz
CD-R, Suspension Bridge

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“Live in Vilnius” (2010)
MP3, We Have No Zen!

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“Hope & Promise” (2010)
Tour CD-R, self-released

Compilations:

Siltaklubi Kokoelma (2011)
CD, not on label
w/ Banana Pill, Varropas, 3V, Kulkija…

We Have No Zen! (2011)
MP3, We Have No Zen!
w/ Arabian Horses, Suburban Howl, Caligine, throuRoof!…

Appearances:

Novoe Tsarstvo “Voda naidet teply dym” (2011)
Cassette, cae-sur-a

Novoe Tsarstvo “Beda u vorot” (2011)
Cassette, self-released

Kheta Hotem “Meri vaahtolaine” (2011)
CD-R, Jozik

Archers by the Sea / Kawrelia Soul Collective split (2009)
Cassette, Cabin Floor Esoterica

MAAAA “Burning Kukkovka’s Cock” (2008)
Cassette, Triangle