Given the challenges facing young Russian musicians today, the theme of risk often arises. The unknown - be it financial or geographic - both unnerves and intrigues.
Various electronic recordings this week from Kiev, Ulan-Ude, Ekaterinburg, and Gomel speak less of free creation than of the search for verity. Local experience, however, does not always help.
A new garage and idm compilation from Moscow reemploys some motifs from classic science fiction. Both the music and its literary inspiration juxtapose private dreams and public reality.
From Kaunas in Lithuania, a couple of young producers use music as a form of immaterial, even ideal experience. Sound grants a sense of location and membership far from the material hassles of DIY enterprise.
A number of Russian electronic producers announce fresh material that finds surprising inspiration in dowdy locations. A shabby address is, it seems, no real obstacle for zealous dreamers.
Four electronic recordings from Slavic towns this week express growing appreciation for the philosophical benefits of peace and quiet. Some worries about noisy, avaricious passion also transpire.
As a young musician from Krasnodar does much to hide his/her gender and location online, some other electronic artists find equal appeal in vague, distant realms. "Somewhere else" looks better than home.
Over the course of several electronic recordings from Perm, Krasnodar, Tula, and St. Petersburg, a fondness emerges for the lo-fi technology of the 1990s. Bad machinery recalls happy times.
The Origami Sound label has announced a celebratory compilation LP, gathering one hundred tracks from two years of work. Among the Russian contributors, a collective worldview takes shape.
The Mad-Hop label has released an international collection of trap and juke recordings, involving a number of Slavic artists. Together they embody a philosophy that develops very close to home.
