INTERVIEW: VORP

Hi Vorp, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Where are you from and how did you get into music?

Hello! My family immigrated to Louisville, KY from Minsk, Belarus in 1996 when I was 3. My musical journey began with classical piano at a young age. I played bass/guitar/keys in several bands from ages 12-19. After that I moved to Chicago for college, where I taught myself music production and worked with singer songwriters and hip hop artists. In 2019 I started focusing more on my solo production and djing, which led me into house, techno, and electronic sonic territories.  

Could you tell us a little about the debut release on your Dark Heaven label, ‘La Chasse’, and how it all came together?

The title “La Chasse” is a metaphor for pursuing the creative release that we thirst to have fulfilled as artists. Dark Heaven events feature a wide range of electronic styles on the lineups, so in reaching out to artists to curate the project our goal was to reflect what people experience at our events. Around half the artists have played our shows in the past, and the other half were within our collective network.  

What is the origin of Dark Heaven, how did you decide to launch this label and is there a meaning behind the label name? 

About 2 years ago I met the other co-founder, Asha, and learned that she had a history of curating free thematic parties in her apartment building’s vacant basement unit. She described installations, dress codes, contests and thematic activities which was really exciting to me because I’d had a growing interest in beginning to curate my own events. We started out with the intention of a one-off Vampire party in October 2021, but the turnout was so great that we quickly planned another party the following month, and continued doing so through all of 2022. 

By the end of 2022, we decided it was the perfect timing to curate a VA compilation album. Personally, it’s been a dream of mine to have my own record label for a long time! The meaning behind the name Dark Heaven is a metaphor for the yin and yang of life on Earth. There is no religious symbolism associated with it. 

There’s a wide array of artists on the compilation, how did you discover them all? How do you feel that this music influences or impacts its listeners?

Club Drippy, D. Strange, Lokua, Linquency, Jace Inman, Flex Blur, and Gino had already played our shows before we started curating the compilation. All the others have been in our collective network. Through word-of-mouth, social media, and performances, there is a plethora of talented artists that seem to be impossible to miss. I hope that listeners have positive feelings when they listen to the music, whether it’s in the form of therapy on the dance floor or in private, I hope that listeners resonate and find themselves within it. 

What’s next on the horizon for Dark Heaven? 

On the horizon of events, we are working on completing our 7 Deadly Sins series! The fourth one – Gluttony – is happening this Saturday September 23rd and will be our first day time, open air party featuring Madrid based artist/DJ Fernanda Arrau. We are planning our party for Sloth to be in November and intend on it being focused on ambient, downtempo music with sound healing ceremonies. Both the open-air show and an ambient show are new steps for us, which is exciting. Our current audience might be surprised by these choices, but while underground raves remain our main focus, we don’t want to be pigeonholed to just that. We have our semi-monthly party called Happy Hell that we will be bringing to Louisville, KY in November as well! 

On the horizon of the label, we are planning to release my (Vorp) debut EP, other artists EPs, and a VA compilation in 2024. 

Could you tell us a bit more about your local scene and share with us any notable hotspots or hotly tipped artists you’d like to mention, maybe some clubs, record stores, DJ’s and producers? 

As far as other promoters in Chicago’s local scene, Green Machine, Mictlan Productions, Braid Records, Sanctum, and Super Shmove are among some of our favorites crews doing great work.

Podlasie Club, Smartbar, The Whistler & California Clipper are some of the best venues featuring genuine underground artists. Of course, there’s some DIY spaces that deserve recognition but we must respect their privacy and therefore cannot name them. 

Hotly tipped artists/producers/DJs – the ones on the La Chasse compilation! Have you heard of them? They’re fantastic!

Record stores – Gramaphone, Wild Prairie 

Your own music as Vorp is wildly creative. Could you tell us a little about your own productions a little, what you use and what influences you?

Thank you! I try to use as many analog sounds as possible, but as far as gear I currently only have an OP-1 and a Prophet Rev2. For drums, I love sampling the OP-1 and programming drums in Ableton, where I pull more percussive sounds from either the stock kits or the internal Drum Synth. For synths and melodic substance, I combine the OP-1, Prophet Rev2, and sometimes the Trilian VST by Spectrasonics. I enjoy laying chaos on top of foundational simplicity, like a repetitive 2 chord progression that I modulate effects’ parameters on to simulate movement.