Four young jazz/R&B artistes, based in Moscow, consider both their biography and chosen styles. In a realm where hard work and hope often guarantee little, this music is seen in terms of precious consolation.
Four singers from Moscow embody a particular attitude towards their catalog. In the spirit of a time-honored tradition, they view the performance or "stagecraft" of lyricism as a counterweight to grey actuality.
New big-beat and abstract hip-hop recordings from three artists ponder the benefits of anonymity. Only through loss or absence can new meanings come into being. One of these musicians likens that process to alchemy.
Non Cadenza are a jazz-funk ensemble from St. Petersburg; Sevara Nazarkhan is an Uzbek chanteuse with success in the Russian crossover market. For all involved, though, the role of tradition remains vital.
The ensembles here come from radically different surroundings: the industrial streets of Zaporozhe and the chic salons of Moscow. The romance evident within their music is colored by those same, juxtaposed contexts.
New hip-hop recordings from Samara and St Petersburg show a high degree of faith in sentiment and stargazing. An equally recent project from Moscow, though, implies that optimism and escapist fantasies will slowly fade away...
Three female voices from Moscow's jazz scene illustrate an important tendency within lyrical performance. All these singers come from other, distant towns, yet the force and conviction of their performance actually grows as a result.
From Orenburg, close to the Kazakhstan border, comes a collection of instrumental hip-hop from JGorsh. That spatial distance is then viewed in biographical terms by St Petersburg's Morning Records. Childhood memories are cherished...
Yesterday saw the release of our double album, "Antique/Astral," dedicated to the work of thirty young beatmakers. Here we offer a little context to their careers and current efforts.
New recordings from the ancient towns of Moscow's periphery draw upon the retro-instruments of Soviet fantasy films. The tools once used to orchestrate science fiction are now applied to today's social challenges
