Olga Korol & Per Hammar – Beshket EP

Per Hammar and Ukraine’s Olga Korol present their next joint release ‘бешкет’ (pronounced ‘Beshket’)Dirty Hands. Aptly titled in native Ukrainian, the forgotten and unearthed term translates into ‘brawl’ / ‘rumble’ in English.

Since the Russian invasion on Ukraine, the Ukrainian culture and language has been under threat of being extinguished, so with this in mind both the artists wanted to use their music as a tool to help keep the Ukrainian language alive. After meeting Olga in 2020 during the production of their first EP together, Swedish born Per Hammar has come to know and love Ukrainian culture and has since been studying the language, with the goal to one day be fluent.

Title track бешкет / Beshket as the name suggests has a brawly nature to it, with a forward moving and offensive beat and darker garage-leaning bassline it shifts back and forth between a more in-your-face sound to a smoother subby one.

Track two titled Darth Vader is interestingly based on a poem that came into Olga’s mind when they were mid-jam in the studio in Malmö. Their studio neighbours (huge psy-trance producers) had gone through a big studio renovation where they had stored away a huge pile of unconnected gear. One item caught Per Hammar’s eye immediately, a vintage and quite luxurious tube pre amp. He asked if he could borrow it and see how it would sound to run some different sound sources through it. He and Olga proceeded to run some vocals though the tube pre amp, which is when Olga wrote the poem, and they found that the sound of the amp fit really well with the warm and smooth sound of the Darth Vader beat.

The EP closes with Jumbotron, which leans into more microhouse territory with quirky twangs, scattering drums and a groovy undertone. As always with Per & Olga, there is a driving push through all the bodies of work, complimented by Per’s love for unusual machines and Olga’s creative force.

Tracklist