Warm On is a hip-hop community on Moscow's northern edge. The group's members and colleagues operate in a wide number of Russian or Ukrainian cities. They all share a common philosophy.
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.
The Tallinn Music Week 2013 has just wrapped up, offering a valuable showcase to many young performers. Here we examine eight of them from a predominantly acoustic realm.
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.
Three inherently acoustic traditions are subjected to a process of change. The more those variations come to light, the more they aid self-expression. The broader one's vista, the more subjectivity benefits.
Two new St. Petersburg recordings romanticize the homeless, aimless experience of cosmonauts. Even in Moscow, a related desire is audible, even among the most goal-driven musicians.
Four recordings from Russian and Estonian bands consider the relationship of language to their location. Does it matter whether one sings in a native tongue? If not, then why choose English?
From a range of Russian cities, new hip-hop recordings transpire. They speak either to the value of collaboration - or simply to the importance of an audience. Friends help to foster courage.
St. Petersburg's Podsnezhnik Festival is about to take place, interweaving the heritage of Slavic folk with distant reggae. Those two traditions come together for important, enduring reasons.
The Sochi Winter Music Conference has just concluded on the shores of the Black Sea. It's clear that the SWMC's happy and trusting environment has some direct consequences for national business.
