New electronic recordings from a range of outlying Russian cities draw parallels between their location and local history. A sense of distance transpires, both from cultural centers and the passage of time.
Humility and understatement color a number of Russian instrumental releases. Their audible modesty is prompted by childhood memories, an eco-aesthetic, and disorienting experiences online.
Within a number of Slavic electronic recordings this week, desire is an enduring theme. Alternatives to dull actuality are sought in local forests, on distant shores, or within classic literature of the Nineteenth Century.
Moscow's Anton Maskeliade has a new single that furthers his investigations into improvised performance. The same validation of spontaneity appears in a new Siberian netlabel, Hair Del.
Looking for inspiration, these four new recordings often turn to the sound of prior decades. They also invoke distant places, ranging from the UK, France, or Spain to Romania and South Africa.
Some St. Petersburg electronic recordings discern a happy overlap between the workings of nature and a minimalist soundscape. Civic clamor, however, often sounds louder - and more crudely.
Several new Russian and Ukrainian recordings are framed by talk of professional difficulties. Failings in the outside world are countered with calm acceptance and an emphasis on introspection.
Romantic metaphors inform these new recordings, all borrowed from discussions of open forests, boundless oceans, and "schizoid" thought. Daily life, however, stubbornly refuses to cooperate.
A new compilation of dour electronica appears from the Full of Nothing label near Petrozavodsk. Amid all the stereotypical assumptions of northern misery, an optimistic worldview takes shape.
As Yungchen Lhamo and Anton Batagov promote a collaboration grounded in Tibetan prayers, other Russian artists have a different view of distant places. Hope and horror begin to alternate.
