Andrey Pushkarev (DJ)

Andrey Pushkarev (Russian: Андрей Пушкарёв, born March 2, 1981) is a Russian techno DJ, electronic music musician and founder of Luck of Access music label. He has been playing deep house and deep techno sets at clubs and festivals in more than 55 countries around the world since 1996. He first came to public prominence in 2006 as a resident DJ of the DeepMix.ru Internet radio, which broadcast to 6000 monthly listeners from 53 countries. He is also known for portraying the protagonist of the 2013 documentary feature Kvadrat (film), a film that explores the realities of techno DJing while touring in 5 countries.solvdmag – Andrey Pushkarev: "I always re-discover records which I might have forgotten"
==Life and career==
Pushkarev was born in 1981 in Votkinsk, a small industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia. He started DJing at the age of 15 without any prior musical education, first at his high-school's radio and later at the town's only nightclub.
In 2000, Pushkarev dropped out of college, where he studied finance and taxation, and moved to Moscow. At night, he would perform as a DJ at the Russian capital's nascent techno clubs. By day, he worked for the Russian branch of the German music distribution company Traum Baum Records. For 3 years he was overseeing exclusive import of vinyl records and DJ gear into Russia, which allowed him to assemble a collection of 4000 rare records (which later #Performance technology, style and inspiration).
In 2006, Pushkarev became a resident DJ of the DeepMix.ru Internet radio station headquartered in Moscow that was Streaming media|broadcasting non-commercial techno music mixes — for free and without any advertising — to 6000 monthly listeners from 53 countries till the end of summer 2011. While at DeepMix.ru, Pushkarev recorded 113 solo 1+ hour sets for the radio, available for download, which contributed to his worldwide renown.
Pushkarev's unusual, deep, melodic and uncompromising techno broadcasts on DeepMix.ru resulted in invitations from club promoters and owners to perform live DJ sets for the public outside of Russia. After the first performance in Paris, France, he has continued with regular tours in Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Asia, interrupted only by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2021, Pushkarev has been repeatedly playing DJ sets in some of the most prestigious techno clubs of more than 55 countries (Watergate, Fuse, Rex, Frieda's Büxe, Ibiza Underground, A38, Midi, StereoBar, Propaganda...)
In 2008, he joined the Cyclic Talent agent in Bucharest for events in Romania, followed by French record label Circus Company, where he released his #Discography|first album of tracks composed in-between gigs. The French Talent agent Lumières La Nuit helped represent Pushkarev from 2014 onwards and later. In 2015, Lessizmore Bookings joined the effort from Berlin.
In 2011, while in Paris, he was approached by then Geneva-based photographer and film director Anatoli Ivanov (director), with a proposal to feature Pushkarev as the main character of a feature documentary Kvadrat (film). An experimental cinema project that would explore deep techno music and the less glamorous realities of the techno DJ's profession. The film crew followed Pushkarev's DJ performances in Switzerland, France, Hungary, Romania and Russia. A gruesome year of track selection and post-production stretched Pushkarev's skills beyond pure DJing. Released in 2013, the resultant hybrid between a road-movie and a music video is, to this day, re-watched and praised by the public and film critics for its color cinematography, sparse dialogue and sophisticated sound design, featuring 35 tracks played by Pushkarev, representing various artists and subgenres of techno music, ranging from deep house to dub techno through minimal techno and Electro (music)|electro.
In 2016, Pushkarev moved to Berlin, Germany, the de facto world-capital of electronic music.
In 2017, Pushkarev founded the Luck of Access vinyl record label, based in Russia. As of 2021, the label has released 5 EP albums, personally curated by Pushkarev, of such internationally recognized deep techno artists as Havantepe and Octal Industries.
==Performance technology, style and inspiration==
Pushkarev is an ardent proponent of recording and playing music on Phonograph record|vinyl discs. He is often interviewed about his extensive collection of 8000 vinyl records (as of 2019), also shown in the Kvadrat (film). A music library that allows him to play extensive DJ mix sets during “all-night-long” events that last for more than 9 hours.
However, Pushkarev's fondness for vinyl media and constant touring with one or two 22+ kg DJ bags filled with 65 to 120 records combined with sleep deprivation and poor eating on the go for over 20 years does put a toll on his health.
Stylistically, Pushkarev's DJ sets through the decades have retained a melodic (although mostly vocal-less), sometimes melancholic, atmospheric and organic assemblage of deep house, deep techno, dub techno, electro (music) sometimes Drum and bass|drum & bass and Ambient music tracks, with an always-shifting mood, lending it an eclectic, unsettled feel.
Pushkarev explains his DJing approach as his “sincere, professional” method to match the venue's public and then guide their musical experience to new discoveries, his main goal always remaining to “make people you don’t know, dance.”
For his own musical pieces, he finds inspiration in nature, far from city life.
==Discography==
===Albums===
* Photograph (2017) — Luck of Access —12" / 33 ⅓ RPM, 45 RPM
* Three Roads (2014) — Circus Company — 12" / 33 ⅓ RPM, 45 RPM
* Before the End (2013)— Endless — 12" / 45 RPM
* Gingo Biloba (2013) — Circus Company — 12" / 33 ⅓ RPM, 45 RPM
===Compilations===
* 10 Years Lessizmore (2016) — LesIzmo:r — 23 digital files’ compilation
==Filmography==
* Kvadrat (film) (2013)
Category:1981 births
Category:Electronic dance music DJs
Category:Russian DJs
Category:Russian record producers