Anton Zap

Since he first surfaced sometime around 2007, Anton Zap, real name Anton Barbashov, has been toiling away from his home in Moscow, homing in on a style of house that's more than deep—it's soothing. He debuted on Underground Quality with a self-titled EP that was beautifully dubbed out and, in a way that's hard to describe, weirdly reassuring. It's one of the best records that label has ever released, and it set the tone for future EPs on Uzuri, Millions Of Moments and his own (fittingly titled) Ethereal Sound, with Zap's style becoming more ambient and introspective as time went on. Though he's mostly flown under the radar, his records have found a devout following among lovers of wispy club sounds.

Barbashov is a pretty mysterious character (as you can tell from the Q&A below), and RA.378 only deepens the intrigue. The tracklist is an unfamiliar collection of obscurities, most of which came out in the last year or two—Fuewa's "Outa Banks," for instance, appeared last month via Sonic Router on a limited edition cassette. There's hardly any house or techno in sight—in fact, we wouldn't know exactly what to call this stuff, though its glistening atmosphere and poetic mood are, without a doubt, very Anton Zap.