Nina Karlsson, a singer and model from the city of St Petersburg, releases her debut album this week. We spoke to her and her fellow composer, bassist Viktor Sankov about the project // Nina Karlsson - "явление особенное. Она могла бы петь для поэтов Серебряного века..." Мы спросили у питерской артистки и ее композитора Виктора Санкова о том, как прошла работа над первым альбомом
Galia Chikiss, one of Russia's finest singer-songwriters, speaks about various challenges and pressures in her recent material, be they financial, familial - or the fault of Mother Nature // Галя Чикис - автор "трепетных петербургских песен." А как вообще работать, даже в северной столице, когда погода балует только непрекращающейся жарой..?
Петербургский ансамбль Кубикмагги утверждает, что "наш коллектив затрудняется назвать даты и не дружит с хронологией..." Как существует такой романтизм во время кирзиса? // The St Petersburg outfit Kubikmaggi are famous for their intricate games with classical, free jazz, and rock traditions. Has such artful whimsy been affected by the crude concerns of Russia's economic downturn?
When grumpy individuals in Russia bemoan the lowly standards of songwriting today, their primary target is often a combination of money and morality. Put simply: two decades of profiteering since 1991 have encouraged a shameful avoidance of ethical norms. Cash has ruined a noble tradition. What ex...
Two days ago in Lithuania, singer-songwriter Alina Orlova released her second album, "Mutabor." Supposedly the recording is scheduled for a September launch in Russia, which makes yesterday's speedy reaction from Moscow magazine "Afisha" especially praiseworthy. Once step ahead of the Vilnius PR m...
At a time when Russian music is increasingly divorced from hard media and instead floats aimlessly through the ether - to scant financial benefit - some performers still insist upon tying their work to vinyl or CDs. The former practice persists, for understandable reasons, in the realm of dance...
Whenever the subject arises of which Russian, Slavic, or Baltic performers might enjoy success overseas - outside of emigre communities - certain names always float to the surface, i.e., the names of those artists who do not "translate" well. These individuals might find themselves cataloged as...
Three months ago, the image above appeared online from DIY outfit Pes i Gruppa. Next to the mock-confrontational air of this photograph was an equally playful promo-text. "We're a group from Saint Petersburg and Krasnoiarsk. We sing about boys from Michigan, dogs in the morning... and so forth....
Until this week, the female duet known as Lemonday had existed in a rather haphazard fashion. Virtually all of their work was in visual forms, uploaded to various corners of YouTube. The films recorded profoundly amateur events, marked by a radical lack of talent or a wealth of witty cynicism, d...
The first time we investigated the work of Kharkov's Pur:Pur was just over a year ago. Most of what the trio had to say for themselves at that time contextualized both their acoustic minimalism and a related decision to sing in English. The tiny scale of the band's songs - made of one petite voi...
