Dza

.....As the head of a Moscow-based label called How2Make, DZA is very much at the center of a movement that has been rummaging around in multiple genres to create something that takes a step forward in the post-Dilla-- or even post-FlyLo-- world. This vast network of producers, some of whom are excellently documented in a recent download compilation from the Russian music blog Gimme 5 called Fly Russia, is part of a unique generation of Russians: born during the Soviet Union, they were teenagers during the turbulent 90s-- when the country buckled under the weight of capitalism ingested too quickly-- but they've become adults in 21st-century Russia, a place far more complex. Moscow, the nation's capital, is something else entirely, a shape-shifting metropolis that most of its residents will quickly describe to you as "neudobno," or "uncomfortable." And now it finally has an appropriate soundtrack.....
- Pitchfork

Fresh off the London Red Bull Music Academy Moscow-based beat elevator DZA is about to make a lot of faces fall in 2010. DZA is central to the How2make crew which ties the loose ends of bass music in Moscow, organises parties and pushes Russian talents. He is the networking type with his hands and heads in different projects at the same time.
So is the graphical identity of DZA , so is his music. Quick, dirty and raw. His 16-track beat tape Five-Finger Discount hijacks you into his kinderzimmer wherein sticker-laden efx pedals render homage to the MPC and DZA is lost behind the screen of his macbook. This tape has detailed textures and beats full of minutiae as well as the heavy bangers.
Five-Finger Discount gives you an idea what DZA is capable of. Take cover, and don't sleep!
- error-broadcast

DZA must've hacked into an old orbiting Sputnik or drifting Soviet satellite to get the sounds he uses to make his atmospheric beats. Since he set up his Myspace page only a few months ago, he's already been collaborating with Aloe Blacc, Shadow Huntaz, Om'Mas Keith of Sa-Ra Creative Partners, and fellow 2010 participant Mujuice (As Cut2Kill). Meanwhile, taking his live show to MIDEM earlier this year has brought him plenty of new fans from overseas. Finding that elusive balance between heavy beats and weightless ambience, DZA is ready to snap necks and leave a zilla-sized footprint on Red Square.
Participant of RBMA, London, 2010
- RBMA

Sasha Kholenko is DZA, a Russian beat-maker and producer at the forefront of the scene in Russia and quickly invading the rest of the world with his unique electronic hip-hop creations. At the beginning of 2010, Jus Like Music made contact with DZA and then met with him at the Red Bull Music Academy in London where he was a participant. DZA submitted his track, Shifty, to the Oscillations compilation released last year by Jus Like Music Records. Since then, DZA has gone on to create releases for Error Broadcast and Black Acre Records, but now he is back with his Supershark EP.
A joint release between Jus Like Music Records and Project Mooncircle, the Supershark EP, is a hectic array of electronic mayhem with synths, bleeps and heavy beats. This release stands apart from the crowd with its exceptional layering of anarchic sounds over strong, unwavering, hip-hop-influenced beats and breaks. DZA’s ability to weave electronic sounds to create atmosphere and feeling is nothing short of astounding. 16 minutes of pure inspiration that will make even the most seasoned heads look up and take note.

- A&R Gavin Handley & Gordon Gieseking.