NIKAKOI

Nika Machaidze – best known by his artist’s name Nikakoi and his earlier alias Erast – is a pioneer of Georgian electronic music. Starting in the mid-1990s as a founding member of the influential art collective Goslab, Nika Machaidze developed a distinctive sound that blends IDM, glitch, breakbeats, and melancholic melodies rooted in Georgian folk and film music.

A classically trained animator and director (Tbilisi State Theatre Institute, ’92 & ’97), Nika has composed scores for film, theater, fashion shows, and television. His interdisciplinary background and emotional sensibility are core to his sonic signature.

His debut album, Sestrichka (2002, WMF Records), released in Berlin, marked a major milestone in post-Soviet IDM. Over the years, he released numerous albums under both aliases—Nikakoi and Erast—receiving international recognition for his emotionally immersive and texturally rich soundscapes.

The 2003 album შენтыmental (Shentimental) was reissued on vinyl in 2024 by Georgian Music Legacy Collection, reaffirming its status as a foundational work in post-Soviet electronic music. From the same album Nika Machaidze has released a rework of uuusmine in September 2025.