ANTON
NIKKILÄ
Anton
Nikkilä (born 1965) is an experimental musician and composer
who lives and works in Helsinki. He started making music with
his group Swissair in the ”post-punk” milieu of the early 80’s
and ran the cassette label Valtavat Ihmesilmälasit Records in
1980–82. Composing electronic music since the mid-80's he
released his first solo album in 1998 on Moscow’s Exotica
label. His duo with the Moscow musician and composer Alexei
Borisov recorded and performed actively on festivals and
smaller club events around Europe between 1998 and 2009.
Starting from 2000 they also ran the label/publication series
N&B Research Digest. In 2011 Nikkilä formed the
improvising group Modern Feelings together with the Helsinki
musician and composer Samuli Tanner. He has also collaborated
with Mika Taanila, Pekka Airaksinen, Jandek, Ari Salonen, Heta
Bilaletdin, Juuso Paaso, Dora Bleu, Olga Nosova, Sergey Letov,
Kamil Tchalaev, Pekka Sassi, and others.
"Experimental
music
is not dependent on institutional definitions; it constitutes
a field, albeit fragmentary, of its own - a no man's land. The
electro-acoustic music of Anton Nikkilä, for example, a
musician with an avant-punk background, neatly defies all
conventional definitions. His minimalist industrial dada is
equally at home in clubs and in concert halls reserved for
classical music." (Tanja Uimonen, Finnish Music Quarterly 3/2007)
”Since
the early 1990’s, the Russian Alexei Borisov and the Finn
Anton Nikkilä have been engaging in a cross-cultural dialogue
invigorated rather than encumbered by the complex and
conflicted political relationship of their native countries.
Their conclusions have mostly been published by their own
N&B Research Digest imprint. Nikkilä states that three
ideas lie behind the label’s mock-institutional facade and
plainspeak notes: conceptualism, experimentalism and archival
work.” (Matthew Wuethrich, The Wire,July 2008)
”You’ve
never heard the cut-up and sample thing done with such
absurdist, insane panache and vigour. (...) Somehow Anton
knows exactly how to control all of his elements – distortion,
programming, unpredictable electronic effects – into a
perfect, constantly mutating chimera of sounds that cannot
possibly exist. It’s like seeing the Tatlin tower remade out
of breadcrumbs and plasticine, spinning around at the top of a
mountain.” (Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector 17, November 2008)
"Finnish
musician, label guy and all-around key man of the North."
(Byron Coley, The Wire, September 2015)
"Through
his
genius, Nikkilä creates imaginary geometric planes that are
rich enough for a man to wander around for days, exploring
this new city through blueprints of the mind. He also captures
and stores real-time events in a strange new way that makes it
possible to replay them, in ways far more imaginative and
meaningful than you’d see in any sci-fi movie about
time-travel or virtual reality." (Ed Pinsent, The Sound
Projector, 10.4. 2018)
Discography
"Kytkentätaulun
valot" (7" EP, Valtavat Records, Finland 1992)
"Formalist"
(CD, Exotica, Russia, 1998)
"White
Nights" (CD, N&B Research Digest,
Finland/Russia, 2002, re-released in download/streaming
formats in 2009)
"New Adult
Contemporary" (cassette/download/streaming,
Guggenhavn Archive, Finland, 2015)
"New Constructivist Moment" (cassette, Ruton Music, download/streaming, Guggenhavn Archive, Finland, 2017)
"New Bandcamp
Compilation" (download/streaming,
antonnikkila.bandcamp.com, Finland, 2017)
Other
projects:
"Serguei Letov -
Alexei Borisov - Anton Nikkila" (CD,
Alexei
Borisov & Anton Nikkilä: "Live@Cafe9"
(CD-R,
Alexei
Borisov
& Anton Nikkilä: "Typical
Human Beings" (CD, N&B Research Digest,
Finland/Russia, 2004, re-released in download/streaming
formats in 2008)
Alexei
Borisov
& Anton Nikkilä: "Where Are
They Now" (CD, N&B Research Digest,
Finland/Russia, 2007, released in download/streaming formats
in 2009)
Alexei
Borisov
& Anton Nikkilä: "Live at
Belly" (download/streaming, N&B Research
Digest, Finland/Russia, 2008)
Swissair:
"Soundtrack from the Film Hermafrodiitit"
(download/streaming, N&B Research Digest, Finland/Russia,
2008)
Swissair:
"15.
joulukuuta 1981" (cassette, Valtavat Records,
Finland, 1982, re-released in download/streaming formats,
N&B Research Digest, Finland/Russia, 2008)
Modern
Feelings: "Live at
Musiikkitalo, 2.9. 2011" (download/streaming,
Finland, 2011)
Astma
& Anton Nikkilä: "Dom Sessions"
(CD/download/streaming, Moozak, Austria, 2014)
Modern
Feelings:
"Modern Feelings"
(LP/download/streaming, Puu/Sähkö Recordings, Finland, 2014)
Mika
Taanila: "Stimulus
Progression" (10" mini-album, Apparent Extent,
Germany, 2014)
Swissair:
"Viimeinen kutsu
1982" (cassette, Ruton Music,
download/streaming, antonnikkila.bandcamp.com, Finland, 2017)
Compilations:
"Decay - An European Compilation" (CD,
Ash International, UK, 1997, re-released in download/streaming
formats in 2017)
"Pilottilasit
- Samples from Helsinki Underground 1981-1987"
(CD-R, N&B Research Digest, Finland/Russia, 2000,
re-released in download/streaming formats in 2008)
"Geologists
and Professional Tourists" (CD-R, N&B
Research Digest, Finland/Russia, 2000)
"Geologists
and Professional Tourists Volume 2" (CD,
N&B Research Digest, Finland/Russia, 2002)
"Avantometric Attachments 2002" (CD,
Avanto Helsinki Media Art Festival,
"Electric
Leak - The North of it" (CD, Office for
Contemporary Art Norway/Ballongmagasinet,
Pekka
Airaksinen:
"Madam
I'm Adam" (remix, 2CD, Love/N&B Research
Digest, Finland/Russia, 2003, re-released in
download/streaming formats, N&B Research Digest, 2008)
Musique
Concrete
Ensemble: "Dissolution Tapes" (remix, CD,
Ilios:
"Encyclopedia-RW"
(remix, CD, Antifrost, Greece/Spain, 2004)
Idroscalo
d'Autore: "Disco Compatto Numero Uno" (CD,
Idroscalo Dischi,
Elliott Sharp: "Tone of Finland" (remix, 2CD, Crystal
Eye,
"Yokomono
02 - 55 Lock Grooves" (12-inch/33 rpm vinyl,
Staalplaat, The Netherlands/Germany, 2005)
"The Wire Tapper 19" (CD, The Wire, UK,
2008)
"Un/Typical - CD
compilation of sound art from eastern Europe"
(CD, CAC Interviu, Lithuania, 2008)
"Sound Canvas: Compilation Of Sound Art, Minimal And
Improvised Music | Part 1" (download, Mikroton,
Russia, 2008)
"Fifteen
Sounds of the War on the Poor, vol. 1"
(download, Ultra-red Public Record Archive, USA, 2008)
World
Bank:
"Rare Vintage Love
Remixes" (remix, download/streaming, Channel
Zero, Finland, 2013)
To
Live
And Shave In LA : "The Grief That
Shrieked To Multiply" (remix,
3CD/download/streaming, Monotype, Poland, 2013)