Stephen Fruitman, sonomu.net

«Stanislav Vdovin, for me one of the most interesting new minimalists working out of the Russian Federation these days, has teamed up with Olga Shaydullina for this affecting two-part, half-hour piece. Vdovin has set up a workshop inside Shaydullina's piano. He shapes the very air inside its hardwood rim as her crystal-clear, sparse notes ring out (briefly reminiscent of Harold Budd, at others of raindrops falling into a teacup), and makes sure parts of the piano that are otherwise frowned upon on a «good» recording are heard — like the squeak of the foot pedals or the texture of the steel strings. All Vdovin's tinkering and manipulating of the acoustics do enhance the experience. Shaydullina's more conventional transmission of notes via keyboard through sounding board are entrancing and discarnate while Vdovin's interventions provide us with a guided tour around the instrument in all its corporality.»

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Textura

«We reviewed a couple of Stanislav Vdovin releases a while back (December 24 and Rapid and Tired, both on Rat Hole) but these Occasion EPs have little in common with the ambient-techno stylings of those earlier outings. Second Variety, credited to Vdovin but featuring Olga Shaydullina's piano, and et_cetera, credited to both Shaydullina and Vdovin, are ambient releases of the micro-sound and electro-acoustic sort, the kind of material one might expect to hear on ROOM40 or Line.

Formal strategies underscore the approach Shaydullina and Vdovin bring to the two-part et_cetera though the listener can just as easily be ignorant of the driving concept and still remain engaged by the EP's thirty minutes of improvised material. The piece pairs Shaydullina's prepared piano and Vdovin's electronic treatments, with the two responding to and modifying the materials each contributes to the developing whole. As a result, a chain of improvisations is generated wherein the real-time sampling of piano notes produces webs of electro-acoustic sound that fluctuate between clear definition and aquatic blur. Slivers of percussive tinkles interweave with ghostly piano flutterings during the first part, while the second offers an even more textural take on their approach. For much of its fourteen-minute duration, the piano's plinks merge with the vaporous surround until the elements come to seem like elements slowly swirling within a cloud of industrial ash.»

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FdW, Vital Weekly #734

«The no cover approach made me first think that these were some MP3 releases burned to CDR, but the little card with the label and the number made clear this was indeed a CDR release, in an edition of 100. The label was founded by Stanislav Vdovin, on January 1st 2010 and he did the first two releases. Back in Vital Weekly 579 he was already reviewed with his project Unit 21 and more recently, under his own name in Vital Weekly 706. As such he presented music that was not too dissimilar to Gas, slow techno music with lots of bass end. On the first release he probably goes back to his training days, in classical music and jazz piano. Olga Shydullina plays piano here in a very soft relaxing mood, while Vdovin is responsible for composition and mastering. There is a bit of electronic processing going on in the background, but not a lot, but as the pieces (the two pieces seem to flow into eachother) progresses they take over the piano almost completely. It reminded me a lot of Kenneth Kirschner and Taylor Deupree, especially when they both work together. A very relaxing work with a nice dark undercurrent.»