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Making sounds akin to the Aphex Twin collaborating with Boards Of Canada, Skoud is someone creating music that’s both chilling and mesmerising. SYSTEMS AND DRAFTS is an album of subdued beats and the kind of abstract minimalism you'd associate with Harold Budd or Brian Eno - sounds that drift in and out, less a collection of songs as a collage of ideas and soundscapes, a dreamlike collision of the strange and the beautiful.
A track like SYSTEM 25 might dip its toe in the murky waters of techno, but its a tentative step - the sampled blips and beeps acting as a counterpoint to the deft beats and gentle bass lines. MAIDA VALE is a densely atmospheric affair, deep bass rumbles conveying a sense of tension and distant menace - the aural equivalent of a David Lynch movie, dark and sinister, but with a fearless beauty beating at its heart. SYSTEM 20 LIVE EDIT throws in a delicate guitar line to add some texture against the subtle wafts of glacial synth effects and skittery beats - and its a move that proves effective, the track maintaining focus and drive.
The wash of ambient noise that runs through LYSTANDRIGE is like taking a bath in gentle soundwaves, soothing yet at the same time sinister - the twisted samples only adding to a slight feeling of paranoia and menace in the air.
SYSTEMS AND DRAFTS is a record that’s atmospheric and dreamlike, the sounds within acting as ambient mood pieces rather than coming as instant satisfaction. Like a haunting soundtrack to late night comedowns or the companion piece to abstract art, this is music that suits those slower moments in life - at times cold and clinical, at times menacing and paranoid, but on the whole beautiful and sublime. Closing with the haunting piano piece REQUIEM FOR AN ART COLLEGE, its also clear that Skoud is a multi-talented musician - wringing raw emotion from his music with rare grace, whether its neo-classical piano pieces or moody beats and samples. SYSTEMS AND DRAFTS fits in somewhere between The Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada and Kraftwerk - minimalist intelligent dance music that announces Skoud as an artist to reckon with.

So how does a Russian drummer in a Swedish rock band make an album of electronica for a new record label based in Carlisle?
Simon Koudriavtsev was born in St Petersberg, Russia in 1982, to a family of actors, which sparked an early interest in music and the arts. Not able to afford a babysitter, Simon's mother often took him along to her rehearsals and performances - although she often found him playing by himself in the orchestra pit rather than watching the activity on stage.
Aged nine, Simon won an audition to join a local dancing and singing group. From there his interest in music really developed, the result of being surrounded by musicians and instruments, both in performance and in the recording studio, on a regular basis. Eventually, tired of singing, he left the group but given the financial hardships that affected his family, he was unable to pursue his own interests in music at that time.
In 1995, Simon and his mother moved to Sweden in the hope of a better life and greater opportunity. For several years, he saved money and finally bought his own drum kit. Having always been fascinated by the nature of rhythm in all its many forms, it was a natural progression and he taught himself to play in the family's living room. It wasn't too long before his parents forced him to sell the kit and restore some peace and quiet to the home.
Looking for other ways to make music, Simon became very interested in computers and programming, which developed into his first music project. Condensing his name, he became Skoud and recorded his first demo, released in a limited run in 2000. Eleven tracks long, it won him his first gig at a local club and a positive review at www.tjuvlyssna.com.
The following year a second demo, Music FM appeared, and shortly afterward Skoud was contacted by Matthias Lindberg (aka Fakepilot), a well-known web designer, who was after some music for his new site. The resulting feedback for Skoud's music on Fakepilot's website from all around the world led to more music being posted at www.fakepilot.com, including in its entirety Skoud's third demo, prophetically titled My Last CDR.
In September 2003, Simon moved to Carlisle in England to study at the Cumbrian Institute of the Arts. As well as studying, he also recorded many new tracks, including SYSTEM 19 which appeared on the ground-breaking compilation album motivesounds.co.uk - the first comprehensive overview of the Cumbria and Borders music scene. It seemed only right that Skoud should appear as track one, disc one of this album, which led to coverage on a nationwide scale on radio and in print.
Now, Skoud is releasing his first proper album, a collection of miniature electronic pieces that fuse the delicate melodies of Mum with the lush soundscapes of Boards Of Canada, underpinned with a rhythmic inventiveness which benefits from his background as a drummer. Every track has its own character from the frenetic energy of MAIDA VALE to the gorgeous solitude of the closing REQUIEM FOR THE ART COLLEGE. An album that impresses on first listen, and will subsequently become a soundtrack to your existence.
Skoud currently divides his time recording more Skoud music and drumming in Swedish band Molia Falls who regularly tour the UK and the rest of Europe.

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