Several Russian synth-pop releases this week draw upon the traditions of the 1980s - duplicating the lo-fi sound of that same decade. As a result, Western glitz, low-grade tape, and late Soviet society all merge.
A well-respected culture magazine in St. Petersburg has just published a list of the city's most promising electronic projects. We look at four dance-oriented artists on that list and consider their common outlook.
Santi Touch (Vytautas Sarapinas), Bogdan Taran, and Max Lomov operate between the cities of Kaunas, Riga, and London. That list alone is enough to suggest some considerable levels of effort - in the name of entertainment.
Chillout and downtempo electro-pop recordings from around Russia this week all celebrate the benefits of deceleration. They also stress the considerable effort needed in order to find peace and quiet.
New tech-house releases are available this week from a number of Russian and Ukrainian artists - who remain stubbornly reticent. Nonetheless, the few observations they do publish give us an insight into that same silence.
My Favourite Pet is a web-based endeavor that's located in St. Petersburg. Its influence, however, continues to grow further afield, due to a snowballing enthusiasm for old-school house music and childhood memories.
Some tech-house and dubstep recordings, released simultaneously in Kiev, Murmansk, and Tallinn, all give voice to an escapist aesthetic. They speak, however, with varying degrees of confidence.
Grusha (i.e., "Pear") Music is a Moscow house/post-disco enterprise involving various aspects of the capital's mainstream club scene. As a result, Grusha is an accurate barometer of changing fashions - and business life.
All three of these projects toy with elements of nostalgia or even tawdry, overtly commercial music-making. Nonetheless, somewhere beneath the irony, self-mockery, and sarcasm, a lyrical sprit endures.
Continuing our investigation of Highway Records, we look at four of the label's other projects. These Russian musicians have spatial and stylistic connections that do much to advocate Highway's credo of "decentralization."
