Akvarium / Аквариум

RU

Adult contemporary, Aor, Celtic Rock, Classic rock, Grunge, Indie rock, Post-punk, Prog, Reggae, Rock, Shoegazing, Ska, Thrash

http://www.aquarium-web.com/
http://www.aquarium.ru/
http://aquarium.kroogi.com/?locale=en
http://ru-aquarium.livejournal.com/
http://vkontakte.ru/club1889

Softer than Soft: Zimavsegda, Malinen, Kapus, and KrisMirror

A number of quiet, introspective recordings this week toy with the boundaries of chillwave and soft rock. As simultaneous releases ponder a greater degree of confidence, other poets and traditions are drawn upon. Such as funk-rock!

Byzantine Songs for Every Season: The Aquarium Anniversary Tribute

Two Russian web projects have combined resources to celebrate the (ongoing) career of Aquarium, arguably the nation's greatest rock band. The cover versions submitted thus far span a wide range of years and places.

Some Social Reflections: Nevidimki, Htrspltn, Plastelinbeats, and Corona

Four recordings from Yekaterinburg, Ulan-Ude, Moscow, and Riga have different attitudes towards the social spheres they're hoping to impress. We offer two pessimists - and a couple of stubborn optimists.

Distant Signs: Shipovnik, Best Pessimist, WTTC, and Atlantida Saves

Four ensembles from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm, and Odessa employ the imagery of classic exploration. Maritime tales of distant, maybe mythical goals lead to the interweaving of desire and despair.

US New Wave + Soviet Disco: Pompeya, Barto, Gidropony, and Kinree

The traditions of '80s pop and rock have enduring appeal in Russia and Ukraine - but for very different reasons. Drawing upon antique popular music of the West and/or East, these artists create disparate outlooks.

Akvarium's "Arkhangelsk": Nine Pensive Tales of Illogical Endurance

A new CD has appeared from St. Petersburg's "Aquarium," arguably Russia's most important rock group of the last few decades. Given the length of that career, there is a certain logic to these songs of faith and fidelity.

In Praise of Occasional Heartache: Zimavsegda, Ifwe, and Andrey Nailer

The St Petersburg quartet Zimavsegda is now publishing a new album. The ten songs therein contain a great deal of ambient noise and even silence. What role do those external soundscapes play in the compositional process?

New from Akvarium's Archives: "Our Life as Seen by the Trees"

A long-lost 1987 recording by St Petersburg legends Akvarium has just been published, revealing a unique chapter in Russia's music history

Ventilation: "Various Forms of Rambling, Set to Beautiful Music"

Ventilation (in the original: Вентиляция) are a foursome from St Petersburg. They happily operate under the varied influences of Husker Du, The Buzzcocks, The Pixies, and Neil Young, together with local legends such as the defunct Khimera, Grazhdanskaia oborona, the delightfully named...

Aquarium: "Day of Joy." Fifteen Compositions for Road-Weary Centaurs

Working with remarkable speed, Boris Grebenshchikov and Akvarium have just released (another) live album, "Den' radosti" (Day of Joy). As with their last recording, "White Horse" (Loshad' belaia), it can be downloaded at the Kroogi portal for a fee to be determined by your conscience and/or pers...

Hellawes: The Enduring Relevance of Some Celtic Traditions

The album under consideration here, although quiet, wholly acoustic, and markedly introspective, results directly from the Russian folk-rock tradition. More explicitly, Hellawes is the stage-name or alter-ego of Natal'ia Nikolaeva, frontwoman of Mel'nitsa, arguably one of the most influential fo...

Zemfira: "Live2." The Disconcerting Demands of Online Audiences

In the best traditions of Malevich, perhaps, the creative team behind Zemfira's website has currently replaced that entire resource with nothing more than a black home page. Across the screen are three words in Russian, which in translation would simply read "Happy New Year." If, expecting sligh...

Grim Determination amid the Changing Fates of Trance and Trip-Hop

Several days ago we documented the recent work of Max Tau (above), conducted in support of burgeoning Russian trip-hop. Part and parcel of his efforts over the last few years have been the appealing and well-informed podcasts known as “Vrashchenie” (i.e., “Rotation/Revolution”), designed...

Akvarium: "10, Pushkin Street." Twenty Years in the Same House.

First things first: the title. 10, Pushkin Street is an address in St. Petersburg; it refers to an art center that was founded in 1989, making good use of a then-abandoned property. During the last couple of years of the Soviet Union, it became a key gathering place for so-called "independent" o...

Aquarium: "White Horse"

Yesterday we received a copy of the brand new album by Aquarium - "White Horse" (Loshad' belaia), graced by a most attractive cover. Although it's way too early for anything resembling a proper review (save here!), admiring comments on the artwork can be found around several Russian blogs....

Zemfira: The Green Theater Concert

This new documentary about Zemfira, directed by Renata Litvinova (below), is being touted as Russia's first full-length feature based upon a single concert. It's also being advertised as a "touching portrait of Russia's most important artiste for the last ten years. Over and above the filigree o...