As we write, the national drum & bass tour "Pirate Station" (Piratskaia stantsiia) is winding down. The images in this post were taken from a wide range of Russian cities over the first three months of 2010; these concerts have grown steadily from a show on Radio Rekord that was begun by D&a...
In the world of Russian dance music, some genres are considered more "provincial" than others. Trance, rightly or wrongly, is often assumed to be one of the styles most likely to fill lop-sided village halls in distant locations. Comedy shows and parodic cinema will certainly make use of trance...
It would be reasonable to say that Sochi is Russia's most famous summer resort. Made popular by Stalin and his own holiday preferences, the town was recently given a major boost when it won the right to host the Winter Olympics in 2014. This victory came hand in hand with then-President Puti...
The new album by vocal drum & bass duo Stim Axel has just been released: "On the Radio Waves" (Na radiovolnakh). The outfit consists of female vocalist Loona and her male colleague on keyboards or programming, Telly. Stim Axel promote themselves as Russia's leading vocal D&B outfit, wh...
Drum & bass has never enjoyed much love or respect from primetime radio in the West: its slightly feistier, antagonistic overtones sit awkwardly with advertisers' remits. Selling cars is difficult if someone's slapping your ears at 180bpm. In Russia the style has played an enormously importa...
