The Mixtape 15: Love Cult

This month’s mixtape comes from underground noise duo Love Cult. Anya Kuts and Ivan Zoloto, hailing originally from Petrozavodsk in Karelia, are proof that the experimental music scene knows no borders. Their hypnotic work with beats, sounds and dark narratives earned them a gig at Sonar Festival this year as well as interest from the likes of London-based NTS Radio, The Wire and a few influential music labels. The mixtape they created especially for The Calvert Journal is called “Teach Me, O God, to Love”. “It was inspired by the terrifyingly simple and dogmatic views of Russian Orthodox Church on love and sexuality,” explained Kuts and Zoloto. “In fact, in the Russia of 2014, which is ecstatic about the annexation of Crimea, we can find no love at all, and sexuality is a bit of a caricature. Love Cult in general is our worries and fears, and in this mixtape — about something in particular. The mixtape includes tracks from musicians we like from different times, including some bits from our Russian brothers and sisters. We also included fragments of our musical diaries: at the moment we are in the middle of Statement, a project celebrating five years of the band — every day we make a track and post it online; we've already uploaded over 100.”