Georgiy Potopalskiy (aka Ujif_notfound) — Postulate (I Shall Sing Until My Land is Free)
The 2014 poem “Headphones” by Ukrainian poet Serhiy Zhadan (1974 – ) tells of a quiet and disengaged man, Sasha, who wanders the bombed-out remains of a Ukrainian city in the Donbas war zone.
Surprised when the shelling started,
he turned on the news, then quit watching.
He roams the city, never removing his headphones,
listening to “golden oldies”,
he runs into burnt out cars,
and dismembered bodies.
The poem makes it clear that war is not a metaphor. It is very much a reality, and many are currently living it. Here we are offered a glimpse into the ongoing horrors of the Russian assault upon Ukrainian life. Within the poem, Zhadan lets music become Sasha’s last forms of solace and, understandably, Sasha disengages and retreats inward as the hellscape of war encroaches. On one hand, yes, Zhadan’s poem conveys the traumatic realities of despair for many Ukrainians at the hands of Russian colonialist expansion. And on the other hand, Zhadan keeps music alive within Sasha reminding us of the importance of the preservation of humanity, art and music, even while under siege.
Georgiy Potopalskiy’s (also known by his artistic alias, Ujif_notfound)’s Postulate is an unfiltered work of blasted soundscapes, hyperkinetic breaks and bristling guitar noise that responds to the continuing conflict in Ukraine.
In addition to being a consummate work of industrial electronic music, Postulate is also a living, musical history documenting the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. In Potopalskiy’s own words:
"Silence no longer exists: it’s been replaced by this music —music of collapse, music of warning. Every step, every breath — an echo of the explosion. Glass becomes sound. Sound becomes memory. Memory does not forgive."
Within the album itself, the the guitar makes a powerful yet controlled entrance in the album’s third track, “Promova.” While still at this point adjunct to the high-energy electronic beats that have been accelerating the album’s beginning, the guitar feels anthemic and hopeful.
In “Kordon,” Potopalskiy pivots away from heavy industrial electronic music and loops and samples what sounds like the movement of a camera’s shutter fused with a panicked heartbeat. Potopalskiy turns headphones into an almost-stethoscope, enabling listeners to listen to the sounds of the body while hearing the camera’s imperative to document. Potopalskiy calls his project/artist alias ujif_notfound an attempt to explore the “volatile dynamics between man and machine - particularly the relationship between user and interface.” The connection between sound, the body, the camera and living through this conflict is evident in this track specifically, and the album more generally.
In “Kashtone,” Potopalskiy blends bristling guitar noise with more hard-edged rhythmic beats that are easy to sit and rest into. This track and others such as “Coda Shturm” feel unexpectedly short which I’m sure is by design. By the time I can lean comfortably into any of the tracks, it’s another hard pivot and we’re on to what comes next. No doubt a feeling well known by Potopalskiy and others living through crisis.
We need not let ourselves and our neighbors get to the point where we are isolated and dejected like Zhadan’s Sasha who opened this writing. We can, instead, organize around our shared humanity and love of art and music to show up for our brothers and sisters both across the street and across the globe. We’re in this together.
Postulate soundtracks a shattered life, mixed and strewn beneath your feet. The album vibrates with menace, as if every track were cut from the same glass that explodes outward in the poem accompanying it. “To your fear, another is added — the fear of windows. / Your transparent, imagined shield has become a weapon of entropy, / tense and ready to kill, / piercing your fragile flesh with a…
Kyiv-based Georgiy Potopalskiy is the creative vision and driving force behind Ujif_notfound — a multimedia systems project exploring the algorithms of the kinetic relationship between man and program. A consummate artist whose creative portfolio spans electronic music, media art, and visual arts, Potopalskiy/Ujif_notfound is widely known in his native Ukraine. He has exhibited works at the invitation of major Ukrainian institutions, including the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Mystetskyi Arsenal, and CSM/Foundation Center for Contemporary Art.
In 2025, he released his latest album, Postulate which was reviewed by Dusted Magazine. In his review of the album, Evan Mitchell Schares describes the release as “a living, musical history documenting the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.” Here, in this Listed, Potopalskiy/Ujif_notfound shares with us a list of things that influenced him.
Pirated VHS Tapes
The first thing that truly struck me in childhood was the sound of pirated VHS tapes. In the 1990s, we watched films with underground voiceovers — a single guy, sitting in his room, layering his voice over the original soundtrack. And there was this strange sonic effect: when the dialogue in the movie went quiet, the room noise around the voice actor would rise, growing louder and louder until it drowned out the film itself.
That noise was oddly multidimensional — the mechanical hum of the VCR adding its own distortions — a strange, raw texture unlike anything else I’d ever heard. And then, the moment someone spoke in the film and the voice actor jumped back in, that noise would cut off abruptly, like being doused with a sudden splash of cold water. A jarring return to reality — or maybe an escape from it.
Twin Peaks
I believe that people of my generation are divided into two groups: those who watched Twin Peaks and… the “normal” ones. And those who saw it as kids had their consciousness changed forever.
I was seven. The Soviet Union had just collapsed, and finally, something other than the dull, party-approved lies started appearing on TV. And then *this* appeared. Every week, our whole family would gather around the screen: Laura’s body, the floor painted with zigzags, the red curtains, the woman with the log, and Bob rising from behind the chair.
Who was I after that?
Radiohead — “Climbing Up the Walls”
Returning to history with the voice on VHS, I felt a similar emotion listening to Radiohead’s Climbing Up the Walls. There’s that moment when the distortion on the voice slowly fades, and it suddenly feels like the voice is right next to you—whispering into your ear. Try to find this moment. It’s chilling, as if you’re being pulled from something otherworldly back into reality.
And overall, I still think this track is one of their most brilliantly crafted pieces—one of my favorites to this day.
Hermann Hesse — The Glass Bead Game
The Glass Bead Game left a profound impression on me when I was 18. I’m pretty sure I interpreted the novel differently from what the author intended. For me, it was a kind of game that tied everything together — the entire history of humanity — and at the same time, a subtle mockery of how we perceive human happiness. This resonated deeply within me when I started experimenting with patches in Max / MSP. Many of my projects are rooted in the interpretation and fusion of things that might seem incompatible at first glance. It’s a game I’ve been playing for many years.
Korn — “My Gift to You”
This still has the most genius guitar riff, vocals, and drums for me. It is one of their most avant-garde experiments, blurring the line between metal, industrial, and sound design. Built around an almost one-note minimal riff, the track creates a hypnotic, oppressive atmosphere where texture and dynamics matter more than melody. Its layers of noise, mechanical rhythms, and warped vocal effects feel closer to industrial music or dark electronic music.
Pan Sonic — Vakio
Back then, I discovered the world of minimalism and artifactual sound. Listening to this album, I was convinced the world was a matrix — long before the movie came out or I’d read any of the books.
UbuWeb
Since discovering UbuWeb, I’ve immersed myself in a world that changed me and shaped the person I am today. Of course, I was already familiar with many of the artists in the archive, but the moment I discovered UbuWeb marked the beginning of a more systematic exploration and study. Robert Ashley, Mauricio Kagel, John Cage, Ligeti, Nono, Pärt, Xenakis, Stockhausen, Riley…and many many more.
Valerian Pidmohylnyi — Misto (The City)
The novel Misto (The City) by Valerian Pidmohylnyi became significant for me because it revealed the beauty of the Ukrainian language and Kyiv, while telling the tragic story of the destruction of Ukrainian culture by Soviet rule. But no — not by the government itself, rather by the people enforcing it. Because it’s not the authorities that wage wars, commit genocide, and destroy cities, killing civilians — it is people who do these things.
Detali Zvuku Festival
The Detali Zvuku festival was an international festival for experimental electronic music held in Kiev. In the early 2000s, it left the brightest mark on me and set the course for my future path. I dreamed that one day I’d take part in it as an artist. And I did — but by then, it was already a different festival.
Autechre — plyPhon
I guess I can’t avoid mentioning Autechre, as this duo has been with me for more than 25 years and is deeply tied to my fascination with audiovisual art and algorithms. For me, Autechre is inseparably linked to Max / MSP, which has become my main tool for creating music, visuals, and installations. They are a perfect example of how a cold, mathematical, algorithmic electronic language can gain emotion and dramaturgy, transforming into something truly alive — into real music.
