{"id":3446,"date":"2025-12-28T12:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/?p=3446"},"modified":"2025-12-28T12:29:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:29:33","slug":"marginal-disco-is-about-loving-yourself-an-interview-with-yegor-babov-yahorsho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/emigration\/marginal-disco-is-about-loving-yourself-an-interview-with-yegor-babov-yahorsho","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMarginal Disco Is About Loving Yourself.\u201d An Interview with Yegor Babov (yahorsho)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/yahorsho\/\">Yahorsho<\/a><\/strong><strong> \u2014 aka Yegor Babov \u2014 is a familiar project and a familiar person in many <\/strong><strong><s>criminal<\/s><\/strong> <strong>places in Warsaw. A participant in the projects <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kvldgs\/\"><strong>kovelskie psy<\/strong><\/a><strong> and <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pvspunk\/\"><strong>peresadka v stambule<\/strong><\/a><strong>, <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/belgoslofi?igsh=MWlydXAxbHVjbTRlNA==\">ZAO \u201cDoubtful Initiatives\u201d<\/a><\/strong><strong>. But this conversation is not about the musical projects he plays in, and not about things like: \u201cwhere in Warsaw the cleanest sound or the best shawarma is.\u201d We also won\u2019t touch on the questions: \u201cwhy did he emigrate to Warsaw and not to Hanoi?\u201d and \u201cwhat is the hardest thing about emigration?\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We will talk about the existence of something I always knew about, but never put into words \u2014 marginal disco, and the project yahorsho as a representative of this genre. What kind of genre it is, what traits and roots it has \u2014 we tried to figure all this out. And I have no doubt that when asked \u201cwhat is disco?\u201d, Yegor\u2019s answer won\u2019t differ much from mine, with the same names, dates, and necessary references. But marginality \u2014 that\u2019s exactly the second corpse we\u2019ll be poking with sticks in between conversations about music, trying to understand who it is and who killed it.<\/strong> <strong>We also suggest you listen to a playlist by Yegor and several yahorsho recordings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yegor Babov, project yahorsho \/ nottoday <\/strong><strong><strong><s>media<\/s><\/strong><\/strong><strong>\u2014 marginal disco: are you just someone who loves the chic of cocaine parties but has no money for cocaine, or a crack smoker in an abandoned house where someone forgot a disco ball?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yegor Babov (yahorsho)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2014 For those who are hearing about yahorsho for the first time. I specifically tried to find information about you online \u2014 and was surprised that there\u2019s almost none. What is the yahorsho project? How did it appear?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I wanted to write songs and was slowly making music. For about two years. Then I thought: enough making music, it\u2019s time to make songs. I bought three grams of weed and a couple boxes of pizza. Locked myself in a rented apartment in Moscow for three days and made the first album. That\u2019s how it all appeared. I wrote the album completely solo, and it was mixed by Denchik from kovelskie psy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"border: 0;width: 100%;height: 120px\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1431602293\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/track=3067691253\/transparent=true\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/yahorsho.bandcamp.com\/album\/-\">Excesses by yahorsho<\/a><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>On Bandcamp you describe your music as<\/strong><em><strong> marginal-disco, passive aggressive darkwave, hangover synthpop<\/strong><\/em><strong>. Are these full-fledged genres or a joke that unexpectedly became true?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 These tags kind of stuck gradually along the way, mostly not on my initiative. But it seems I invented marginal disco myself, because I had to label all of this somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first there was <em>hangover synthpop<\/em>. When I made the first album, I decided this style would be called hangover synthpop, because that\u2019s what it was. Not that I seriously invented it \u2014 it was more an attempt to describe what I had done. And marginal disco \u2014 later I listened and realized it\u2019s danceable, easily accessible music, not raging punk or hardcore, but it still retains a sort of backyard vibe. That\u2019s how marginal disco appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a data-fslightbox=\"post-gallery\" href=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2021-11-03_12-53-25-769x1024.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2021-11-03_12-53-25-769x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4112\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo from personal archive<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Did you know there\u2019s a term \u201csubcultural nomination\u201d \u2014 when genres are born from jokes, memes, and image-words? If marginal disco is a joke, why did it work better than \u201cserious\u201d styles?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Probably because people understand what you mean when you say marginal disco or hangover synthpop. And you don\u2019t have to explain every time what you play. \u0443\u0441\u043b\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e, when a person sees this tag somewhere, they\u2019re like: \u201cOh! Marginal disco. I\u2019m a marginal too, I\u2019ll listen.\u201d That\u2019s probably how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for other tags, like passive aggressive darkwave \u2014 that was slapped on me when some outlet posted my second EP. I just liked it, because I realized they described that release spot on. Sometimes someone just says something, and I\u2019m like: \u201cOh yeah, that fits!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or I think about how to name something myself, then I name it \u2014 marginal disco. Because disco, fuck. Because disco is about how cool it is to drink beer at 7 a.m. and not rush anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: \u0422\u043e\u043b\u043f\u0430 \u0435\u0431\u0430\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u043c\u0443\u0436\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0432\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/2K8aJg6Y0065dYd2fQlE2j?si=2ee0156760584d97&amp;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Right now tons of genres are born from memes: <\/strong><strong><em>witch house, dumpster techno, ketapop, gopnitsa-wave<\/em><\/strong><strong>. Does marginal disco stand in the same row with them, or does it have a different logic of emergence?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I didn\u2019t rely on other genres when I invented this one. I just needed to call what I write somehow. You could say marginal disco will form as a genre when another five artists appear who tag themselves the same way \u2014 then we could talk more seriously about it. For now, I just blurted it out and put it on the internet, here you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>What of this have you actually heard \u2014 <\/strong><strong><em>witch house, dumpster techno, ketapop, gopnitsa-wave<\/em><\/strong><strong>? Are these words familiar to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I\u2019ve heard witch house. Ketapop \u2014 I haven\u2019t heard that, though maybe I did but didn\u2019t know it was ketapop. Gopnitsa-wave \u2014 I can even imagine what that is. Probably the band \u201cPozory\u201d is gopnitsa-wave. I don\u2019t know how they tag themselves, but if I imagine a band by that tag \u2014 I imagine \u201cPozory\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>How do you feel about genres being born from jokes \u2014 and either remaining memes or turning into full-fledged scenes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I feel fucking great about it. Because back when I was hanging out at 20 in some metalcore-hardcore scene, everyone tried to invent a new genre based solely on musical currents. Jazz-fuck-core or something\u2026 Or tried to combine something?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems to me that when you\u2019re too obsessed with some music \u2014 and for me music is actually pretty simple and banal \u2014 you should look for other things too. Music doesn\u2019t just carry music, it carries some kind of message. Either you want to say something, show something, or just share a mood. And for a genre to form, there has to be something else in it besides music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in this particular case, I\u2019m positive about it, because awesome things are born from memes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"border: 0;width: 100%;height: 120px\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=429877999\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/track=1044455830\/transparent=true\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/yahorsho.bandcamp.com\/album\/--2\">Intellectual Superiority by yahorsho<\/a><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Let\u2019s talk about <\/strong><strong><em>marginal disco<\/em><\/strong><strong> as a separate genre, and along the way discuss the rest. In your view, does marginal disco have its own philosophy? If yes \u2014 what is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 First of all, it\u2019s egoism \u2014 to live with pleasure for yourself, so that no fucking nightmare happens around you. Marginal disco is about loving yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Wait, it\u2019s important to clarify whether we\u2019re talking about the same thing. Disco raises no questions, but what do you put into the concept of marginality? Is it: a socio-cultural state? A political position? An aesthetic pose? An inner mindset?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 From what you listed \u2014 probably a socio-cultural state. But I emphasize living with pleasure. Fighting for that possibility for yourself, in a rather cruel and stupid world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>I thought marginality was more about exclusion from generally accepted circles?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Maybe, but I definitely don\u2019t intend to enter those circles anyway \u2014 I don\u2019t like them. For a long time in my life they were imposed on me as the only correct choice \u2014 I never thought so. At some point it seemed to me that it was all true and I was the idiot, and then I thought: \u201cNo, it\u2019s fine, I made this up\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I just want to show that, guys, it\u2019s actually cool to live like this. That is, marginality for me doesn\u2019t have any negative context, in most cases when I use this word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And about exclusion \u2014 I think if someone excludes someone else from somewhere, then for me that\u2019s generally a bad person. You can distance yourself, but what does \u201cyou exclude\u201d even mean? Who the fuck wants to do that? I\u2019ll fucking exclude you from society if that\u2019s how you want it. So I don\u2019t think anyone should be excluded from anywhere. You can keep your distance from someone you don\u2019t like \u2014 that\u2019s normal, but not exclude them from society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a data-fslightbox=\"post-gallery\" href=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2023-10-04_10-32-16.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2023-10-04_10-32-16.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4114\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo from personal archive<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Is marginality a conscious choice or a condition that overtakes you regardless of your will?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I\u2019ve seen a lot of people for whom this choice is conscious. But it happens differently: someone really got fucked over and can\u2019t get out. Someone quite consciously chooses how to live their life. I probably walked toward this fairly systematically my whole life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can say that marginality is my conscious choice. I had nothing \u2014 there was no alternative I had to refuse. There was the option to go to work. But I never seriously considered it. No one from above dropped me a real opportunity to go into another life. The fact that I\u2019m here now, where I am \u2014 that\u2019s also a coincidence of circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Now many people call themselves marginals for the sake of a pose. Do you see a difference between aesthetic marginality and real social marginality?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I do, it exists. First of all, beautiful things can attract people who love with their eyes. Some people genuinely like that lifestyle \u2014 they see beauty in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also see a certain beauty in it. A person does what they want. They like vibing on marginal aesthetics \u2014 what\u2019s wrong with that? But of course, I\u2019ve seen many broken people because of this, who got too carried away but didn\u2019t survive, or seriously harmed themselves \u2014 mentally and not only. Not everyone can handle it. I myself am not always sure I can handle it. I\u2019ve seen examples of people who completely lost their shit because of all this. So take care of yourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Could you call yourself a marginal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Yes, I could. Because by the standards of this society, from which people like to exclude others, I\u2019m definitely a marginal. I don\u2019t have a job, I walk through train cars singing songs. What else\u2026? I wander the streets, do random shit. Basically, the street is a very homely thing for me. I spend a lot of time on it. And I can consider it my home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a data-fslightbox=\"post-gallery\" href=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2025-11-27_23-27-01.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2025-11-27_23-27-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4113\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo from personal archive<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>When I hear marginal disco, I immediately imagine a certain kind of music \u2014 something closer to the No Wave sound. What sound do you yourself see in this style? What distinguishes it from others?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 For me it\u2019s accessibility\u2026 Essentially it\u2019s the technique of bard songs, just in electronic form. I take a danceable base and just pour something over it \u2014 whatever I feel like at the moment. And that\u2019s exactly what I put into marginal disco \u2014 accessible marginal music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: \u0423\u0432\u0430\u0436\u0430\u0435\u043c\u044b\u0439 \u0447\u0435\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0435\u043a\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/76AjxuQsRLo63g8ddcIix6?si=3ba792452acd4547&amp;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>A question about the yahorsho project. Tell us about the sound. You write it alone \u2014 how did you find your sound?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 At first, when I made the first album, I wanted a cold sound, but still danceable. That\u2019s roughly how I searched for it. Technically \u2014 the Caustic 3 program. It has 12 synths inside, and you can find anything. In general, when I write music, I search for a lot of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I understand that on the next album I\u2019d like to slightly change the musical vector. But I haven\u2019t fully figured out how yet. The albums that already exist are like this, and I understand that I won\u2019t manage a fourth album in the same musical type. It\u2019s gotten a bit boring. At the moment, I\u2019ve come to playing in other bands. And I can only play concerts with old material \u2014 I\u2019m not writing new stuff. But I\u2019m slowly thinking about how to repackage all this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for that you need to live, walk around, do things, accumulate stories, so that you want to make an album. I didn\u2019t want to make the third album in that sound, but at some point it just started pouring out of me. I spent a year roaming around Europe, living off couchsurfing, and things were happening to me \u2014 and all that somehow found reflection. Some texts were written, some music was written, and it was possible to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Is the text important for the genre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Yes, it is, because without text nothing will work. I have a lot of music that I\u2019ve written. I also use it in other projects I participate in. But here (in yahorsho), if there\u2019s a story that needs to sound somehow in a song, then the song will exist \u2014 that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: \u041c\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0434\u044b\u0435 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0441\u043f\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u044b\u0435\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/5lAT7dXoQswHFKMV0crMp1?si=33147d72dc2848de&amp;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Back to yahorsho. Judging by the lyrics, you\u2019re close to bleak, depressive poetry. Is this dictated by the project\u2019s aesthetics, or is it an attempt to record stories life <\/strong><strong><s>shared <\/s><\/strong><strong>with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Over the last five years I often felt like shit. And that\u2019s why such lyrics appeared, because when I feel good, I\u2019m doing pleasant things, not writing songs. And it\u2019s not that music is an unpleasant thing for me \u2014 on the contrary, music is pleasant. But for yahorsho, something has to happen for a song to appear. Something maybe even unpleasant\u2026 In any case, whatever happens, it turns into some kind of laughter \u2014 laughter through pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, I wrote the first album when I just felt like shit \u2014 I was living in Moscow. I wrote the second album in Lviv, when the war had just started \u2014 and it\u2019s more reactionary, there are things connected to that. The third I wrote just wandering around Europe alone\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>So you don\u2019t write from joyful emotions?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 When I wrote the second verse of the song \u201cThe Drunkard\u2019s Dream\u201d, I was maximally happy. I was just sitting drunk under a hostel in Berlin, drinking beer alone, smoking a joint, listening to the demo on my phone without vocals yet. And I was like: that\u2019s it, fuck \u2014 it\u2019s happening, it\u2019s happening. And I realized how fucking great my life was right then. That was happiness, actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the song is about a love that\u2019s almost dead. And it seems like everything was bad. So it turns out: I started writing it in absolute depressive shit, and finished it happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a data-fslightbox=\"post-gallery\" href=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2024-09-08_01-33-58-1024x679.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2024-09-08_01-33-58-1024x679.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4116\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo from personal archive<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Where does the genre come from? Who, in your opinion, could be proto\u2013marginal disco?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Nothing comes to mind except bards. Bards\u2026 you know, you\u2019re walking and some guy is sitting on the street \u2014 a bum with a guitar. \u201cPour me a glass of vodka, I\u2019ll sing you a song.\u201d That\u2019s bards. I don\u2019t know their names\u2026 If I associate myself with someone, it\u2019s with these unknown heroes. As the host of the TV show \u201cCome Dine With Me\u201d once said when I was on it: \u201cYou\u2019re a wandering philosopher.\u201d So proto\u2013marginal disco are wandering philosophers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although I usually try to find comfortable places with people who will potentially understand what I do \u2014 though people appear on their own. But it still remains in harsh underground conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once I played a concert in a museum, and they asked me to stop. But I didn\u2019t deny myself the pleasure of saying between songs: \u201cWith friends like these, straight to the museum by the dick.\u201d It was a great concert: six or ten people, absolutely shitty sound, columns, high ceilings. And I\u2019m heavily drunk on beer, already sweaty, walking around, slowly reciting my songs. A good picture. But again \u2014 what was the result? I got kicked the fuck out. Well\u2026 asked to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>And who among contemporary artists could be adepts of marginal disco?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I\u2019d include the band \u201cVitebsk Flex\u201d. But unfortunately, they have no recordings. Look for them somewhere in Warsaw. They crawl out sometimes and perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"border: 0;width: 100%;height: 120px\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3464483370\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/track=3928718847\/transparent=true\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/yahorsho.bandcamp.com\/album\/utvisning\">utvisning by yahorsho<\/a><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>And one more question about yahorsho. You already have three albums \u2014<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/yahorsho.bandcamp.com\/album\/utvisning\"><strong>Utvisning<\/strong><\/a><strong>, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/yahorsho.bandcamp.com\/album\/--2\"><strong>\u201cIntellectual Superiority\u201d<\/strong><\/a><strong> and <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/yahorsho.bandcamp.com\/album\/-\"><strong>\u201cExcesses\u201d<\/strong><\/a><strong>. From the titles it\u2019s clear you approached this very seriously. What do these words mean to you? Why them \u2014 each sounds like a diagnosis of the era, not a release title?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <em>Utvisning<\/em> translates from Norwegian as either \u201cexpulsion\u201d or \u201cbanishment\u201d. The title appeared because at the moment I was working on this album I ended up in Norway and was performing my marginal disco literally on the street. At some point an immigration police officer came up to me and said: \u201cDude, you\u2019re working in Norway, but according to your documents you have no right to work here. So come tomorrow \u2014 we\u2019ll take your passport and you\u2019ll get acquainted with your case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in the end, after a week of having my brain fucked and very fun parties in Oslo, I came \u2014 and they gave me a paper saying I had to leave Norway on my own by a certain date. And I thought: fuck, everything happening is exactly this expulsion. I was nowhere at that time. I couldn\u2019t find any place. And on top of that, somewhere I even got kicked in the ass. That\u2019s why \u2014 <em>Utvisning<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cIntellectual Superiority\u201d<\/em> is such an idiotic phrase. Like: \u201cOh yeah? And who the fuck are you?\u201d I heard it from a guy in conversation. And when I was making this album I was angry \u2014 the war had started. At first I had the feeling: \u201cWhat the fuck is music at all?\u201d But then I snapped out of it quickly, literally in a week or two, and the songs appeared very fast. And most importantly, I didn\u2019t care at all. There were no concerts, nothing. I just wrote the songs and realized they needed to be released \u2014 and named somehow. I remembered that conversation and thought: \u201cThis will be \u2018Intellectual Superiority\u2019,\u201d here you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And <em>\u201cExcesses\u201d<\/em> \u2014 that was a moment when it seemed to me I was living like\u2026 I probably hadn\u2019t yet accepted this marginal component of life. Everyone around me was fussing about something, and I thought: \u201cMaybe I should fuss too.\u201d And from that fuss only strange entanglements and funny stories happened \u2014 excesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was also a proto-EP to that. You can find it on VK, it\u2019s called <em>\u201cTroubles\u201d<\/em>. There are two songs there that ended up on the album, and one that didn\u2019t. But I might be mistaken \u2014 I barely remember what was there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a data-fslightbox=\"post-gallery\" href=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2024-11-21_12-22-48-819x1024.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/photo_2024-11-21_12-22-48-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4117\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo from personal archive<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>If we imagine that marginal disco someday becomes a mass genre \u2014 what absolutely cannot be lost? Or is it like grunge: awesome in a garage and a tragedy in a stadium?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 In a stadium it would definitely be a tragedy. The only possible form of mass appeal is some kind of total, collective madness somewhere in a forest. A big semi-crazy festival under pine trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marginal disco is unlikely to exist by the rules of modern society. And I categorically refuse to believe it will become popular. What can\u2019t be lost?.. The personally lived story of the bard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You need to remain a bard. You can probably find templates for how to \u201ccorrectly\u201d write lyrics \u2014 I\u2019m sure such masters exist. But I\u2019m not like that: I can write only when I\u2019ve actually lived it. Until it\u2019s lived \u2014 the song doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>If disco in the 80s was decoded as:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>D \u2014 Distinctive, I \u2014 Intelligent, S \u2014 Sexy, C \u2014 Charming, O \u2014 Outstanding,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>then what could marginal disco mean in 2025? Which option is closer to you:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>D \u2014 dirty, I \u2014 immigrant, S \u2014 synth, C \u2014 chaos, O \u2014 outcast,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>D \u2014 dizzy, I \u2014 inside, S \u2014 static, C \u2014 concrete, O \u2014 overdose,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>D \u2014 disco, I \u2014 is, S \u2014 self, C \u2014 consuming, O \u2014 organism?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 I\u2019ll combine them: <strong>D \u2014 dirty<\/strong>, <strong>I \u2014 immigrant<\/strong>, <strong>S \u2014 synth<\/strong>, <strong>C \u2014 chaos<\/strong>, <strong>O \u2014 overdose<\/strong>. But I don\u2019t recommend overdose to anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: \u0422\u0435\u043b\u043e\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/5Pbc5fYqgr9qB9P14YcoVf?si=180d0553aa3748e7&amp;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 <strong>Great, we figured out what marginal disco is. We talked about your yahorsho project, and there\u2019s one last question: \u201cIf we look broader \u2014 what makes a genre viable, and what leaves it just a joke?\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Releases and concerts \u2014 that\u2019s what makes a genre alive. If there are artists in a genre who release music and go on stage, then the genre lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without concerts and releases \u2014 it\u2019s probably all just a joke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yahorsho \u2014 aka Yegor Babov \u2014 is a familiar project and a familiar person in many criminal places in Warsaw. A participant in the projects kovelskie psy and peresadka v stambule, ZAO \u201cDoubtful Initiatives\u201d. But this conversation is not about the musical projects he plays in, and not about things like: \u201cwhere in Warsaw the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-3446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emigration","tag-mastactva-jemigracyi"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3448,"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3446\/revisions\/3448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nottoday.media\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}