In the early 1980s, a electro/funk single was released by Afrika Bambaataa (and colleagues) called "Renegades of Funk." Thanks to the bold production work of Arthur Baker, it would go on to become not only a major dancefloor hit, but also an enduring social statement. The track, in short, suggests...
It bears mentioning at the outset of this article that the Moscow jazz musicians under consideration here have nothing to do with this man. With all possible confusion now out of the way, we can say with confidence that the members of Venger Collective do have a lot to do with the following indi...
The Moscow ensemble Jasny-Svetly (i.e., Iasnyi-Svetlyi) take their name from a couple of Russian adjectives that, one might argue, evoke a folkloric air of brilliant clarity. Literally these two terms mean "bright" and "radiant." In the modern context of the web and the band's website, that bril...
Two days ago, Moscow idm netlabel Add Noise released a 69-minute album by Alexander Welsh (below) aka hip-hop outfit 5:40am, and founding member of the TruType "advanced music" concern. Welsh, in fact, also works as a gifted concert photographer; some modest detective work online around the Russ...
A couple of hip-hop and downtempo netlabels overlapped this week in an interesting way, one from the Baltic and the other being a joint venture from a number of Russian/Ukrainian cities. The former is Monday Jazz; the latter is Drugoi Hip-Hop ("Different Hip-Hop"). They dovetailed briefly becaus...
In an interview this summer, Russian journalist and DJ Artemii Troitskii was asked for his views on TV presenter - and now politician - Masha Malinovskaia, shown above. This topic was presumed to be of interest because Malinovskaia began her career in the field of music television, and Troitsk...
D-Pulse categorize themselves as a "house-quartet, originally from Izhevsk." The reason for making such an observation is that the town of Izhevsk, located in Central Russia, is often associated with grim industrial electronica in the minds of many young Russians. Older music fans will remark t...
Knara is a 28-year old R&B singer, originally from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but currently based in Moscow. We mentioned her a few months ago in the context of a compilation album from Monolit Records, but now the singer has released her second full-fledged solo CD. Entitled "In Your Arms" (V tv...
Most historians of Russian ska will agree that its domestic influence began in the early '80s with Strannye igry (Strange Games), after which it would gain greater and longer-lasting influence in the crossover format of ska-punk. Cabernet Deneuve are a band that embody a similar interface of s...
In some well-financed quarters, vinyl is starting to outsell CDs; the allegedly "warmer" sound of vinyl, the huggable dimensions of a 12" record, and the endurance of club culture have all helped to stave off the extinction of black, brittle discs.
The excellent jazz-funk outfit Uniquetun...
