Igor Bardo is a Russian musician and sound artist. He is best known as the mastermind of Bardoseneticcube, which is one of the leading experimental/post-industrial groups from Russia. He describes his music as Surrealism:
“Pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express, either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations.” (André Breton)
My Sweet Nightmare is Igor Bardo’s debut solo album, containing about one hour of first class psychedelic electronic listening music. The surrealist soundscapes will be instantly embraced by fans of Bardoseneticcube, yet the artist manages to conquer heaps of new ground at the same time. Free from the burden of expectation related to the fame of his main band, My Sweet Nightmare has mr. Bardo take us on an adventurous journey deep down into the rabbit hole. Themes such as religion, psychedelia, sleep paralysis etc. are explored with eerie atmospheres, bliss-inducing frequencies and cutting edge studio experiments.
Igor Bardo formed Bardoseneticcube in 1998. The group have released dozens of albums on various labels throughout the world, and their powerful audiovisual live performances have gathered fame in Russia, Europe and Scandinavia. Igor Bardo has also collaborated live and on record with numerous Russian experimental artists.
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Reviews
Some Place Else is a label based in Finland. My Sweet Nightmare is the debutalbum of the Russian soundartist and musician Igor Bardo. He is member of Bardoseneticcube, an experimental/post-industrial group from Russia and is formed in 1998. This band released a lot of albums all over the world and they are wellknown as a powerful audiovisual live-performance act. The band ended in 2010. Bardo describes his album My Sweet Nightmare as a surrealistic album.
The album is well composed and most compositions have a mix of recognizable sounds of musical structures like jazzy drums, religions chants or militaristic marches. He combines lots of different elements of music and sounds. Some tracks have an ambient noise style. The mixing between highly electronic sounds and fresh field-recordings and natural sound is well chosen. Old recordings of folk songs are mixed with ongoing electronic soundwaves and he creates a new old world. “The end of the end” is a track with the shouting voice of Adolf Hitler. He samples his terrifying voice who evokes to destroy all Jews in the great German Reich with bombastic beats and chords. The song becomes more and more abstract and personal. But for me this song has nothing to do with a sweet nightmare. The track grabs my by the throat and my stomach starts turning. Real physical music, no more, no less. Highly recommended and real surprise for experimental ears and people with a strong stomach. (Vital Weekly)
My Sweet Nightmare is a solo album by Igor Bardo from Russia, more known for his project Bardoneseneticcube. The albums released on finnish artist Niko Skorpio’s Some Place Else label.
It’s not easy to categorize this release given the variety it contains, and perhaps the safest way to do it is just to identify it as “experimental music”. As vague as this term can be, I think it very much fits the sounds of My Sweet Nightmare which range with ease from: dark ambient, to weird synth tones, and from mean martial marches with Hitler samples, to liquid beats and electronically destroyed vocals- it really seems that Mr. Bardo is experimenting in all possible directions, just letting his mind roam free in order to find the right balance.
My Sweet Nightmare is a quite long album and Igor Bardo’s mission doesn’t always succeed of course, but there are certainly some excellent moments where all the blocks fall in the right place. I would have preferred a more narrowed sonic working though, with a more precise selection of the best bits and a more congruous approach, as it often seems that the sounds aimlessly fail to go anywhere and that their purpose is lost. I understand that this wide and free experimentation is probably part of the concept, but still I think that a bit of more order would have contributed to the success of this album.
In conclusion it’s clear that My Sweet Nightmare is the work of somebody who tweaks a lot with his compositions and knows how to do it. While some tracks are weaker than others, all of them are at least interesting and well designed. Recommended to fans of electronic and experimental music in the broader sense of the terms. I’m sure that everybody will find something to like in this record. (Musique Machine)
Kahdentoista raidan mittainen My Sweet Nightmare on nimensä mukainen tutkimusmatka ihanien painajaisten öiseen maailmaan, joka on jokaiselle meistä hyvin yksilöllinen paikka. Bardo rakentelee raitoja pienistä äänipalasista, joita yhdistellään, muokataan, käännetään ja väännetään vapaasti. Äänentaso ei nouse juuri missään vaiheessa kovaksi, sillä Bardon filosofiassa vähemmän on selvästi enemmän. Välillä taustalla kuuluu vain matalaa huminaa, jota väritetään satunnaisilla narahduksilla ja valittavilla äänillä. Äänimaisema onkin monesti aivan kuin David Lynchin viimeisistä töistä tai Andrei Tarkovskyn Stalker-elokuvasta. Öisiin painajaisiin hiipivät vuorollaan myös niin fasismi (“The End of the End”), kuin esimerkiksi uskonto (“Religion”). “Your Best Friend” -kappaleessa painostuksen keskus syntyy kasvavasta puheesta, joka peittää lopulta kaiken ja saa puristumaan sanojen loputtoman jyrän alle. Bardon albumi on kollaasimainen kerrosteos, jonka sisään voi päästä vain ajalla ja ajatuksella, ja joka ei missään nimessä sovellu jokaiseen tilanteeseen. My Sweet Nightmare kannattaakin pistää soittimeen vasta auringon laskettua, eikä näitä painajaisia tarvitse edes pelätä. (Noise.fi)