Four projects from three cities (Minsk, Moscow, and St. Petersburg) have new material to offer. In each case, a quiet register is the result of considerable humility before the past and/or inspiration itself.
For some electroacoustic artists this week, the role of material experience is twofold. It is seen both as lumpen tedium and as the world of leaden instruments - playing a better tune.
The importance of folkloric narratives and a premodern ethos endure for some Russian and Estonian performers. In each case, the allure of yesterday is imagined as some vaguely perceived source of light.
The theme of transience appears in some new recordings from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vladimir, and Yekaterinburg. Somewhat strangely, a fleeting existence becomes synonymous with great beauty and potential.
A recording from Leonid Fedorov and Vladimir Volkov examines how St. Petersburg's cityscape changes over time. The baroque trajectories of music outdo the linear passage of urban "progress."
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.
The Tallinn label Seksound offers another fine example of Baltic dream-pop, on this occasion from Picnic. Kindred fantasies are equally audible in three simultaneous publications from Russia.
A handful of ambient instrumentals from Yekaterinburg this month are inspired by a particular motif: the timidity of Russian foxes. That same symbol gradually moves far from its quiet point of origin.
The well-respected MP3 blog Motherland has been asked to compile regular playlists by Moscow's Afisha magazine. Even among the first artists, a collective worldview starts to take shape.
Some recent, ambient instrumentals from Watu (Minsk) led to angry debates over the finer points of post-Soviet geography. Over time, however, the importance of a concrete address fades away, no matter its name.
