Who is making noise under the name of Kikimore?
Kikimore is a group of 6 women who discovered the love and passion for making noise music. We are Kati Flowerfields, Staša Guček, Sara Mlakar, Nina Orlić, Sara Pegam and Barbara Poček and we share a bond that brings us a lot of joy and fun. We met on various workshops where we were building DIY analog electronics instruments within the organisation ČIPke – an initiative for researching the conditions of women who are active in the context of science, technology and media art in Rampa Lab on Kersnikova Institute in Ljubljana. We built the instruments ourselves and we wanted to try them out. The jam sessions started on so-called Noise tea parties at Rampa Lab, and soon we connected both literally and physically… for without electricity there is no noise!

Where does the name Kikimore derive from?
Kikimora is a mythological creature, a female home spirit in eastern Slavic mythology known for producing noises and weird sounds in the middle of the night. So we put it in the plural of Slovenian and voila. Kikimore can seduce you, intrigue you, frighten you or inspire your imagination.

What kind of music is Noise music?
Noise music is not everyone’s cup of tea. We all like electronic music so we started to discover noise out of curiosity. We wanted to learn how machines/instruments are made. What kind of noises they produce etc.  What drives us in our musical endeavors is the experimentation. The combination of sounds, the manipulation of it and the rhythm produced from it is something we try to master. Although sometimes noise music can be overwhelming we are trying to build a sound that we can call our own.

What is the interesting part of making noise music?
Building your own instruments and making music with them. There are no grey areas in DIY electronics. When you build your instrument, which takes a lot of time and patience, it either works or it does not. 1 or 0. The feeling when you connect your machine and it makes the sound for the first time is indescribable. The joy, the wonder, the hype. We love the smell of solder, and we like to play our machines.  

Do you improvise or do you have rules on how to play the gig?
Our DIY instruments are like people. Sometimes they do not play well with others. On our rehearsals, we try to figure out which machines sound good together.  After we figure that out we give each member of the group space to express herself. We have a concept of what we try to achieve and we plan out which machines to use to get there. But as in life, our compositions change from one gig to another. So while we have a built structure of our musical pieces, they are different every time.

How are you different from other noise artists?
We have been told on several occasions by our listeners, that it was like some sort of meditation for them to listen to us. Meditation is not something that one connects to noise music. Not on the first note. But we are trying to tell a story and we are also trying to give each member of our band room to express herself in her own way. We have also been called a pop noise band but as long as we are getting reactions from our audience, we are doing something right.    

Where can we hear you?
Our live acts can be from 20 minutes to an hour long. We have played big festivals like Sonica as well as smaller outdoor chill out spaces. We were also the closing act on this year’s Ljubljana Fashion Week in October 2017. We can be seen and heard in interesting and very diverse places. As long as you give us some space, good speakers and electricity we can make some noise.

What does future the future hold for Kikimore?
We will try to continue our research of sound and we will try to have as much fun as possible on the way. We are preparing some interesting collaborations with other musicians and will try to incorporate ‘’old school’’ instruments into our work. Maybe invite some dancers to come and play with us. As long as there is passion for music and curiosity, we will continue creating.  

 

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Interviewed by Anja Korošec