AETC / Amazing Electronic Talking Cave

Any music that invokes the style of late '80s synth-pop will have a special resonance in the Russian context. Put mildly, a lot was happening in the country. That same sense of heady expectation is now handled with mild irony.

Sounds emanating this week from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tambov, and Tapa (Estonia) share a common concern. How does innocence fare over time? And what ominous noises emerge from its failure...?

All three of these projects toy with elements of nostalgia or even tawdry, overtly commercial music-making. Nonetheless, somewhere beneath the irony, self-mockery, and sarcasm, a lyrical sprit endures.

From Ukraine, Estonia, and Lithuania come three new releases, reconsidering the connection of polished pop to actuality. The result is sobering: mistakes, difficulties, and failure are deemed more likely than pop's dream-fulfillment.

A number of new lo-fi, drone, shoegaze, and even witch-house releases paint a picture of faith in modern society. Or its absence. Taken together they suggest that escape is a reasonable option - in physical or chemical forms.