Vákoum

The Deli LA Premieres: Vákoum unveils ethereal new track “Breathing Through A Straw"
Traces of haunting synths, dreamy vocals, and an overall cosmic build, wrap up the electronic slow jam “Breathing Through A Straw” from San Diego via New York City duo Vákoum. Comprised of multi-instrumentalists Natalia Padilla and Kelli Rudick, the stargaze artists continue their sensory projection through loops and sonic deconstruction with their latest single. Setting the scene with a hypnotic introduction, Vákoum’s persistent long build creates a lightweight and abstract quality to the track’s tone. As the spacy sounds begin to unravel, a fuller electronic pulse is heard, providing a stable platform for a flow of vocals. Naturally teaming from Padilla and Rudick’s fusion of analog and digital qualities, “Breathing Through A Straw” becomes the duo’s most refined track yet.
Vákoum is set to release their debut album, Home to Home, on February 15th. Catch them on February 7th at The Hideout in San Diego. - Janette Ayub - The Deli Magazine LA

It's easy to get lost in "Home for Home," the debut EP from San Diego "nu stargaze" experimentalists Vákoum. Unhindered by generic formats and formulaic pop constraints, the group oozes originality.

Comprised of multi-instrumentalists/producers Kelli Rudick and Natalia Padilla (who initially met in New York City and began playing together in 2013), the duo's first proper release is the stuff that legendary careers are established on. While I don't want to get lost in hyperbole, it's not difficult to see the promise in "Home for Home."

Each song is mind-scrambling complex -- featuring electronic accoutrements over razor-sharp live drums, plinking pianos, spacial synthesizers, bone-dry electric guitar, and the pair's angelic vocals (which are occasionally sampled into strange glitches and often harmonized together).

While Rudick and Padilla count Cocteau Twins and Massive Attack as influences, they're called upon only remotely here. Tracks like "Still Ready" and "ICE" may head into atmospheric territories plotted by those iconic groups but Vákoum sidestep the easy pitfall of simply modeling their own music after their heroes -- instead, they swerve into stranger arrangements with even more eclectic instrumentation and increasingly odd time signatures. That's a tricky move for any artist, and it makes this EP all the more fascinating: "Home for Home" seems designed with precision accuracy (if you've seen the group live, that's very obvious) but at the same time, it's wholly propelled by true experimentalism -- like all four tracks were results of spontaneous mistakes that were somehow perfected into something new and glorious.

What a breath of fresh air. - NBC San Diego

“Vakoum makes electronic pop music that is ethereal, experimental, complex and engaging. I think they have the best live show in San Diego at the moment. It seems strange that they landed here instead of Los Angeles or San Francisco, but we are very lucky to have them.” - SD City Beat

A week ago Craig, from The Verigolds, messaged me on Facebook asking if I was interested in premiering a track called ‘Still Ready’ from his friends project, Vákoum. I sighed, because I’m an asshole and accents in band names make me do that, but plugged my phone into the speakers anyway, pressed play and stepped outside for a cigarette.

It was a rainy day and as the first, circular seconds of ‘Still Ready’ tinkled from the speakers I watched the drops collide with my concrete patio, creating an ever changing landscape of wet. I took a drag and thought about dinner, rent, and the fucking parking ticket I’d gotten the day before. I’d let the last one I’d gotten double and promised myself I wouldn’t do that again (I did).

I found myself tapping my foot, and craning my neck, and, in my relentlessly stony fashion, thinking ‘Who the fuck is this? Bjork with Alt-J? A more intricate Grimes?’ There were siren-esque vocals and delicate melody’s, weaving in and out of an intricate and lush arrangement of guitar and mbira loops and ?/? drumming, and by the time the rhythm dropped out and hung on the female duo gently crooning ‘Frozen worlds melt in our mouth’ in harmony I was floored. Then it hit me. Holy shit, I WAS ASKED TO PREMIERE THIS.

I scrambled back inside (pressed repeat) and clicked back to Vákoum’s SoundCloud to listen to everything they’d previously released aaaaaaand…spoiler alert, there’s only one other song. Spoiler alert #2, it absolutely does not disappoint. ‘Dagger’, a drastic re-imagining of the Slowdive track, is a reverb and synth soaked magic carpet ride through a Miyazaki-esque dreamland, and the perfect compliment to ‘Still Ready’s masterfully subtle complexity.

The duo, consisting of Israeli/American composer Kelli Rudick (drums, mbira, vocals, guitar, live looping and synth) and Mexican composer Natalia Padilla (guitar, synths, live looping, sampling and vocals), met in New York City in 2013, where they immediately bonded over influences like Cocteau Twins, Blonde Redhead and Massive Attack. They began collaborating shortly thereafter, and although they mine these influences they maintain an incredibly fresh, timely and unique voice all the while.Vákoum are self releasing their stellar debut EP, ‘Home for Home’ on February 15th, and play a Radio Halloran Presents show at The Merrow on January 24th with Of Ennui and Brain Ghost. - Listen SD