Australian Estonian electronic music pioneer Olev Muska back with new album
In 1985, Olev Muska released his groundbreaking debut album "Old Estonian Waltzes" — widely considered the first Estonian electronic dance album. Now, 40 years later, the Australian-born artist is back with its sequel, "New Estonian Waltzes."
"New Estonian Waltzes" features 16 tracks recorded between 1980 and 2025, including both Muska's original compositions and arrangements of Estonian folk songs, as well as works by composer Veljo Tormis.
"Based on my knowledge, but equally as an artist, I intuitively feel the essence of Estonian music," he said, commenting on the new release. "Therefore, some of the songs here can be identified as strongly Estonian, while others have only a fragmentary reference to such familiarity — and some lack any reference at all."
Muska, who first began recording unique arrangements of Estonian folk songs in his home studio in 1979, using innovative electronic instruments not available in Soviet-occupied Estonia at the time. He first gained recognition with his 1980 single "Tuljak" and, five years later, his debut album "Old Estonian Waltzes," which made him the first electronic folk artist in Estonian music history.
His work was rediscovered several times in Estonia in the 2010s.
In 2015, Mortimer Snerd Records released several of his tracks on "Esto-Muusika: Ulgu-Eesti Leviplaadid 1958–1988," a three-disc compilation curated by Vaiko Eplik and featuring music from the post-World War II Estonian diaspora of the latter half of the 20th century.
In 2018, Frotee released Muska's album "Laulik-elektroonik," which included recordings from 1979–1983, and earlier this year, Glitch Please released his previously unpublished track "Tere" on their March compilation of the same name.
Muska will be showcasing his new album at several festivals, including KiKuMu, I Land Sound, Kõu and Dark Side of the Moon, with a total of 17 gigs scheduled across Estonia and one additional show in Latvia.
"Familiar tracks reimagined, new pieces born from the same folklore-glitch alchemy," reads a description on Muska's Bandcamp page. "It's nostalgia spiked with voltage — Estonian tradition filtered through decades of circuit-bending, tape hiss and outsider futurism. The past dances again, but the beat is even stranger now."
"New Estonian Waltzes" is being released by the Estonian record label Glitch Please.
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Editor: Kaspar Viilup, Aili Vahtla
