Roman Vyacheslavovich Belavkin, also known as Solar X, was born on January 9, 1971, in Moscow, and is a Russian and British electronic musician, scientist, and wushu master. He first experimented with music during rehabilitation after a 1992 car crash that ended his competitive wushu career. Using a synthesizer his father gave him, he recorded early tracks "Polivoks" and "Ritm‑2". In 1994, he released his debut cassette album Outre X Mer and the 1995 EP of the same name on Defective Records, earning record of the week from German Frontpage. He founded Art‑Tek Records in 1997, the first Russian IDM‑focused label, and issued X‑Rated that year, which appeared in The Wire and De:Bug. Later releases included Little Pretty Automatic (1999), the single "Koroleva" with Artemy Troitsky, and Chanel N° 303 (2001). After a hiatus devoted to academia, he returned with Divergent Sequences in 2025, a 75‑minute exploration of mathematical motifs that topped Nick Zavriev’s 2025 best‑album list.
