An artist from V-ROX 2013 got signed to the label of DJ Tiesto!

Japanese electronic musician Takafumi Sakurai known as EMUFUCKA, got signed to the label of famous DJ TIESTO. His brand Black Hole Recordings works with talented producers around the world.

Vladivostok heard music of EMUFUCKA at the first V-ROX Festival, when he played his sets at “Street Bar” and at the Red Bull Music Academy and How2Make Records stages.

Takafumi Sakurai is a real genius of electronic music. Just in a few years, EMUFUCKA took a route from a barely known Japanese experimental musician to a solid “combat unit”, representing Japan around the world. Being released at different European labels he had an opportunity to work with artists such as DZA, Submerse, Quarta330, Coco Bryce, My Dry Wet Mess, Djemba Djemba and many others.

International music festival V-ROX congratulates EMUFUCKA with this new achievement in the world’s electronic arena!

V-ROX wishes а Happy Lunar New Year 2014! (VIDEO)

International music festival Vladivostok Rocks (V-ROX) wishes a Happy Lunar New Year to all musicians, managers, DJs, promoters and producers, with whom together we took an important step in the history of bringing Russian and Asian Pacific modern music together!

This spring we are planning to bring V-ROX roadshows to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Ulan-Bator. We hope to expand V-ROX geography by winning the hearts and love of new admirers, who will find out about the new hot spot on the Pacific that really Rocks! – Vladivostok!

Let the New Year be your fresh start in your music career, the year of new album releases and amazing songs.

We wait for you this summer in Vladivostok! Happy New Year, friends!

V-ROX 2014 — 7 months until the Festival

First music festival V-ROX (Vladivostok Rocks) took place in August 2013 in Vladivostok. As a fact, from that point, began a new period in music life in Primorskiy Krai’s capital, when over 250 musicians, music industry professionals and journalists from central Russia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa and USA, came to the event.

After the festival, many participants , producers and partners of V-ROX decided not to stop on their already achieved success. Electronic musician Mujuice (Roman Litvinov) participated in Culture Collide festival, that took place in Los Angeles in October 2013. Vladivostok’s band S?W ( So What?) performed in Seoul at Zandari Festa and played shows at the night clubs with South Korean bands No Brain, Apollo 18 and Goonamguayeoridingstella. V-ROX production team visited Culture Collide (Los Angeles) clip link and Clockenflap (Hong Kong).

V-ROX 2014 Festival will take place the last weekend of August in Vladivostok and will keep the previous conception: hybrid of open airs, city festival, music business-conference and creative Workshops and Master classes. V-Rox 2014 will concentrate on the development of the cultural vector of the Far East region, as well as integration into the structure of international music market and modern cultural tendencies where the priority is to break modern Russian artists into the concert venues of rapidly developing countries of APR (Asian Pacific Region) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa).

Many branches of the festival will get additional developments. There are plans to turn lectures and master-classes into a summer school of arts. A library-and-literature branch will be opened. An open-air summer movie theatre will screen documentary and feature films of already known as well as young and independent filmmakers about lives of musicians.

There still will be several festival and music venues and stages and one of them is considered to be a “floating stage” on the territory of city bay. All leading nightclubs and new and unexpected venues will participate in evening and night music events.

The festival will expand its geography: besides countries of Asian Pacific Region (APR), it received a large interest from country representatives of post-soviet area and western Europe.

Selection rounds for V-ROX 2014 will start in April.

Vladivostok Rocks – 2013. Afterword

22-25 of August became a new period in Vladivostok music life because of the international showcase festival/conference Vladivostok Rocks. Thanks to the support of festival’s partner S7 Airlines, Primorsky Region’s capital hosted over 250 artists, music industry professionals and journalists from central Russia, Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa and USA. All the participants were accommodated at the Far East Federal University campus which is considered to be one of the best in Russia and in the world.

There were over 70 concerts in four days in different locations from Sports Embankment (Sportivnaya Naberezhnaya) and central square to bars and night clubs of Vladivostok. Vladivostok has never been filled with so much of different music.

Headliners of the festival were No Brain (South Korea), Ego Wrappin’ (Japan), P.K.14 (China), Julien-K (USA) and Mumiy Troll which presented a concert version of their new album “SOS Matrosu”. Thanks to the internet broadcasting done by Rostelecom, the big concert held on the 24th of August could be seen worldwide. During the gala concert more that 30 000 people felt the whole range of seaside climate starting with heavy rain and finishing with double rainbow above the main stage of the festival. Music celebration ended up with a favorite song of Vladivostok people. “Vladivostok-2000″ by Mumiy Trol has truly become an unofficial anthem of Vladivostok.

Igor Pushkaryev, Vladivostok’s head greeted everyone from the stage of V-ROX: “Vladivostok is a city of new achievements and records. We are ready to realize great and unique projects such as international festival Vladivostok Rocks. Rock is a loud sound, drive and energy! I believe that festival like this will become a good tradition. Thanks to all the participants for this feast of rock and for the attention to Vladivostok and for you positive emotions!”

V-ROX hasn’t forget about electro artists – russian and asian dj’s and producers performed in Street Bar at the Red Bull Music Academy Stage. A curator of the electro stage was a local person Sasha Kholenko, founder of how2make records indie label.

For four days there were educational events going on i.e. lectures, workshops and panel discussions. World experts were explaining to regional artists about how to make their own label, how to promote it and what is going on with music festivals around the world, what is the music critics’ task what crowdfunding is.

In the frames of V-Rox there was an exhibition in Art-etage museum and gallery held by belgian artists Leroy Brothers whose art project became a basis for the cover of the new album “SOS Matrosu” by Mumiy Troll. Vladivostok people can see top 10 art objects till the 5th of September. Paintings will be donated to Vladivostok after that.

Federal and world media made reports about Vladivostok Rocks i.e. Filter Magazine (USA), The New York Times (USA), First Chanel, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Afisha Magazine, Russkiy Reporter, Rolling Stone, Kommersant newspaper, Bloomberg TV (USA), Friday TV, Colta.ru project and Kroogi.com project etc. Active support was done by international project Russia Beyond the Headlines, Europe Plus radio, Asia to Go agency, Magagazeta and Geometria.ru. Regional press was watching V-Rox attentively – major news agencies and federal TV channels made their reports on what was going on, as well as Novaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda, OTV, PTR and NHK (Japan) TV channels.

Ilya Lagutenko, curator and founder of V-ROX:

“Hurray! The first of V-ROX is done! We’ve come to realize that the aim was to present Vladivostok as an international center of music culture and we could work it out just fine. I want to give thanks to all the participants, city authorities and city’s head, Far Eastern Federal University, festival organizers, all of our partners and volunteers. We weren’t many but trusted to the idea of the festival and our empathy help us to feel the moment of creation. We’ve came up with a new cultural layer of Vladivostok and there are lots of interesting happenings and meetings and victories ahead. I’m almost over with my speech and i’m getting ready to V-ROX 2014!”