Natalie Beridze
Natalie "Tusia" Beridze (born March 28, 1979, Tbilisi) is a Georgian experimental electronic composer, songwriter, and producer. She is also known under the name TBA known.
Beridze is a member of the open artist collective Monika Workshop by Gudrun Gut and the Georgian creative lab Goslab. She teaches songwriting and music production at the Creative Education Studio-CES.
She began her artistic career in the early 2000s with short films and music videos. Her video for Nikakoi's song Game (2001) won second prize at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.
In 2002, her first solo tracks appeared on the compilation "New Georgian Aesthetics – A Collection Of Georgian Electronic Music." That same year, she sang in a duo with Nikakoi on his debut album Sestrichka and on the "City Lights" EP, released by Berlin label WMFREC.
From 2002 to 2008, Beridze lived and worked in Cologne. After a record deal with Thomas Brinkmann's label Max Ernst, she took the alias TBA a play on the Georgian word for "lake" (ტბა) and the English abbreviation "to be announced." Their debut album as TBA, Georgia Is Like Spiritual Tokyo, published in 2003.
In 2005 she was on the compilation 4 Women No Cry Vol. 1 Monika Enterprise and was hailed by the independent press as the first Georgian electronic musician to receive European recognition. She also released four more albums on Max Ernst – including Stupid Rotation (as TBA_Empty) and the concept album trilogy Size and Tears as well as The Other (2007), inspired by “Alice in Wonderland”.
After her return to Tbilisi, the album was released Pending (Laboratory Instinct). Her first Monika Enterprise album followed in 2011 ForgetfulnessBeridze collaborated with renowned artists such as Thomas Brinkmann, AGF, Gudrun Gut, Greie Gut Fraktion, Wechsel Garland, Marcus Schmickler, Nikakoi, Gacha Bakradze, Post Industrial Boys, T.Raumschmiere and Ryuichi SakamotoShe was involved in Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Chain Music" project and wrote soundtracks for films such as "Trigger Tiger", "Dima" and "A Fold of my Blanket".
To date, Natalie Beridze has released 14 albums, including on the Australian label Room40 (Of Which One Knows, In Front of You, If We Could Hear) as well as on CES Records (Spines).
Nika Machaidze
Nika Machaidze, known under the stage names Nikakoi and Erast, is a pioneer of Georgian electronic music.
Since the mid-1990s, he has shaped the scene as a founding member of the Goslab collective. His style combines IDM, glitch, breakbeats, and melancholic melodies, often influenced by Georgian folklore and film music.
Machaidze studied animation and directing at the Tbilisi State Theatre School and composed music for film, theatre, fashion shows, and television. His interdisciplinary influences and emotional depth are hallmarks of his soundscapes.
His debut album Sestrichka (2002, WMF Records, Berlin) marked a milestone in post-Soviet IDM. Over the years, he released numerous albums as Nikakoi and Erast, which received international acclaim for their dense, soulful sound.
The album released in 2003 შენთიmental (Shentimental) was re-released on vinyl in 2024 and is now considered a cornerstone of the Georgian electronic sound of the post-Soviet era.
