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From the standpoint of Russia's European residents, the city of Orenburg is a markedly distant location. It was, after all, founded in the 18th century as Russia began expanding towards Central Asia - and that position on a national periphery led, logically enough, to various clashes with ungrateful neighbors. Consequently, much of the country associates Orenburg with the edge of law and order - at least historically speaking. Most famously, the region was witness to the Pugachev rebellion of the 1770s, which destroyed a considerable amount of local property... Real estate values plummeted.
As future decades led to greater chutzpah, though, Russia would once again head south; that second wave of expansion began the gradual establishment of Orenburg as a major center for both trade and transport in the form of railway networks. And so we reach an eventual air of nineteenth-century stability that fostered the architecture seen above, symbolic both of far-reaching European connections and busy trade.
This same address, perched today on the edge of modern Kazakhstan, is home to a young musician who goes by the name of JGorsh. Time spent rummaging through Russian social networks will produce a couple more names, both relating to the same person. One of these is Alex Miles, and the other - employed by friends and family - is Aleksey Gorshkov. Whatever the designation, he is the proud author of a new album of instrumentals, perched between ambient and hip-hop traditions: "Dreams."
The theme of reverie is underscored in several ways. The album's nine tracks, with a combined running time of almost 24 minutes, are given only the briefest of titles, some of which are a mere, lonely syllable. Following the title track, for example, we're offered "Dre." Language is reduced to an absolute minimum in order to foreground the other, thoughtful emphases we find elsewhere.
Moving beyond the idyllic greenery of the album's artwork, we might stumble across the only picture that's currently available from Mr. Gorshkov. It shows him walking away from us - out of focus, through a poorly-cut frame, and (back) into the same lush surroundings, far from garrulous company. Noise is once more downplayed in the name of introspection and dreamscapes.
If some kind of concrete textual framework were needed for these gentle melodies, it would come courtesy of Twitter. Gorshkov's telegraphic observations in Russian at least provide a little insight into the daily activities behind "Dreams". He shows a special enthusiasm for the work of Grieg, linking natural phenomena and folk traditions to a proud sense of place, if not patriotism. Nature thus begins to serve a specific purpose. Yet we also hear that he's an avid reader of verse by Joseph Brodsky, much of whose poetry was dedicated to issues of space in a metaphysical context. Nations and locations became raw material for philosophical musings upon the nature of space per se.
Thus we have another reason, perhaps, for these unfocused snapshots - of nowhere in particular.
Thanks to those tiny touchstones we can see how JGorsh nudges his instrumentals towards romantic emphases, turning the physical - isolated - location of Orenburg into a more wistful and positive contemplation of desired solitude. Huge physical distances morph into an erasure of concrete geography altogether, leading to a direct - and famous - quotation JGorsh takes from Freud: "Dreams are a royal road to the unconscious." Such roads are better built away from noisy locales.
Certain sounds and mental states help to ease Gorshkov's passage down that same highway to slumber. A recent and very revealing tweet recently went out to friends and neighbors across southern Russia: "Nighttime. Frank Sinatra. Peace..." The setting was perfect.
Nighttime. Frank Sinatra. Peace...
Here we turn - for the second time - to an appealing new label from St Petersburg, Morning Records. The project aims to transform fractured, broken beats into what participants call a "national style!" "We record, publish, and advance the kind of music we consider interesting for today's audience. We support a style that can help the growth of musical culture - both in Russia and Russian-speaking territories."
In ways not dissimilar to JGorsh, the musicians behind Morning Records see within lyricism - and private expression - a hope for some new, nationwide emphases. Broader social connections can be spun from a kinder -and quieter - worldview. They emerge from moments of romantic reverie, begun long ago (and under the sheets). Hence the wide-eyed, happy look of wonder.
Bruce & Ritmo: "Simple Things"
JGorsh discerns a related hope in nature and the strains of romantic symphonies from a prior century; the staff of Morning Records find it within an emphasis upon what two of their artists call "Simple Things." Those musicians go by the name of Bruce and Ritmo. They have recently dedicated a couple of rap/ hip-hop outings to a collaborative consideration of the most important things in life.
The first of those albums - shown above - was framed with a small Russian text that helps to explain both the title and the outlook of Morning Records as a whole. Simple things are indeed celebrated.
Even now, I'm the same youngster who'd stomp through puddles with such joy...
"Like it or not, life is made from countless tiny details. Childhood memories turn, over time, into grown-up love. Looking into a mirror, we try and see ourselves [and those processes] from within. What kind of light is that... over there, on the other side? [Despite those questions], I'm still the same tiny boy who once played with toy cars beneath a blanket. Even now, I'm the same youngster who'd stomp through puddles with such joy..."
Bruce (Alexander Brius)
These reminiscences become a treasured narrative that starts to look more appealing than present-day experience. Bruce continues: "When you're seven years old, you watch how your Dad shaves. You remember that - and other simple things - in order to preserve a sense of warmth in our world." Other recollections begin to snowball: "An old yellow umbrella in the cupboard. The teddy bear called Tyapa, with which my Dad used to wish me 'Good Night'..."
You remember simple things in order to preserve a sense of warmth in our world
These are the social bonds to which adult life does such damage. Simple things are spoiled by pointless, often heartless complexity. We're a very long way here from mainstream US rap, operating as it so often does in the service of urban swagger. This, put differently, is the humble, unassuming and perhaps "national" aesthetic Morning Records hope to cultivate. As time goes on, the retrospection simply increases - because actuality is incapable of matching pre-adult magic.
The second, newer version of "Simple Things" also comes with a small, introductory text. "Six months have passed. The numbers and people have changed in our phone books - our heads are full of different thoughts, too. We've become different people." At this point Bruce (Alexander Brius) suggests one response to changing - and worsening - developments.
The oldschool, overexposed Polaroid artwork below - starring a little boy and a haystack - gives us a very big clue. From a distant time and place.
Bruce & Ritmo: "Simple Things 2"
"In order to find some answers to life's questions [since our last album], I moved out of the city. My new songs [with Ritmo] are full of good-natured memories and attempts to lessen the breakneck speed of modern life. This new album is therefore one of various musings, [an erstwhile] freedom, sadness... and happiness, too."
In order to find some answers to life's questions, I moved out of the city...
Another of the Morning Records artists - known as Mind - has dedicated his most recent instrumentals to the theme of "Fata Morgana." These are the legendary mirages that would appear to sailors as distant castles on the horizon. Ships would turn towards them - and thus move closer to disaster. If the recordings of Bruce are designed to cherish the simplicity of childhood experience, then Mind's output speaks with little hope of the future. His most recent graphic work, shown below, is similar in both structure and sentiment to that of JGorsh. Both depict a bittersweet departure from the here and now.
A related kinship between two of the Morning Records artists also makes particular sense when, after some online archeology, we might discover that Mind is, in fact, Artem Brius - brother of Bruce. What links these young rappers, therefore, is not a trial of urban fire... but the mere fact they grew up together. They're linked by safety and security.
Mind: "Fata Morgana"
Here, in a recent interview, is how Bruce/ Alexander explains that shared, familial heritage. The dirty, dangerous context of stereotypical rap is still a million miles away.
Bruce: "I was a little boy and had a really cool red bike. Sure, it had four wheels... but it was my first bike and I loved it, too. When summer came along, I'd ride around from dusk till dawn. A little later I got my first sledge with metal runners... not that plastic nonsense that kids have today! I loved the winter, too, and would go sledging on the hill near our home. I was proud to ride that thing"
Eventually, when I was twelve, I first heard hip-hop. Father Christmas gave me a boombox...
These family memories are directly tied to those of music: "Eventually, when I was twelve, I first heard hip-hop. Father Christmas gave me a boombox, plus some cassettes and CDs. Some time later, I got a whole hi-fi system. When I was sixteen, my brother [Artem/ Mind] and I decided to make our first recordings..." No matter how far we delve into these flashbacks, scattered across various websites, blogs and interviews, it's evident that these rap compositions hope to escape any urban posturing and reconstruct a sense of security that fades over time. Subversion and rebellion are nowhere in sight.
Below we see a modern schoolyard in Orenburg. It's the kind of place - 1,500km from Moscow - that symbolizes a fading sense of security, especially when empty. The new recordings of JGorsh, Bruce, and Ritmo are all dedicated to dreams of resurrecting its "sense of warmth." And, as mentioned, that's precisely the same "simple" experience Morning Records would like to elevate to a national principle.
In which case, a lot of parade grounds should be replaced with sandboxes.
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