Auktsyon / Аукцыон

RU

Classic rock, Folk, Folk rock, Free jazz, Jazz, Neofolk, Post-punk, Prog, Rock

http://www.auktyon.ru/
http://www.auktyon.com/
http://www.musicaroundus.com/
http://www.myspace.com/auktyon
http://www.last.fm/music/Auktyon
https://www.facebook.com/auktyon?ref=ts

Three Tales of Indescribable Places: Galun, SLP, and Stoned Boys

Fresh releases from Moscow and Krasnodar toy with the notion of "conceptual" songwriting. Certain stories or trajectories inform these recordings: they develop in various directions - and along different narrative arcs.

The Singular View of Two Generations: Auktsyon and Vstrecha Ryby

Vstrecha Ryby are a young collective from the industrial city of Chelyabinsk. In moving to Moscow, they take inspiration from the well-respected elder statesmen of Russian rock, Auktsyon. Between them all lies a shared worldview.

New Unease from Ancient Towns: ByZero, King Imagine, and Kitty Cat

From the storied streets of Pskov, Kiev, and Moscow come new recordings that begin relatively far from the rock canon. Once, however, these artists start to ponder the outside world, their style moprhs into something much darker...

Tradition as Endless Change: Anna Pingina and the Wild Mint Festival

The Wild Mint Festival, hosted outside Moscow, is arguably the nation's most important folk music event. One of the headliners this year was Anna Pingina, whose view of "traditional" performance is rather unique...

Stubborn Steps Forward: Magnetic Anomaly and Alterday

Magnetic Anomaly are from an industrial town in Western Russia; Alterday are from Moscow. Although they enjoy different professional opportunities, the theme of endurance persists in both their catalogs

Zemfira and Ksenia Fedorova: The Elusive Sound of Perfect Intonation

In the last few days, both Zemfira and Kubikmaggi's Ksenia Fedorova have published live recordings. Тhe works share a great deal in their common approach to music and verse

Leonid Fedorov & Vladimir Volkov: A Musical "Hunger for Space"

Some of the finest Russian music in the last few years has come from collaborations between Leonid Fedorov, Vladimir Volkov, and their overseas colleagues offering additional sounds, such as keyboards from NY – John Medeski - or guitars from New Jersey, thanks to Marc Ribot. Three weeks ago, t...

The OpenSpace "Record v2.0" Project: A Brief Guide to the Entries

The Moscow online culture journal OpenSpace recently launched a competition to find new, talented artists in the field of Russian popular music. One could immediately argue that these contests are a dime a dozen nowadays; the more cynical among us would even counter that any such open-format, in...

Kubikmaggi: Using and Abusing the Traditions of St. Petersburg

Kubikmaggi are a wonderfully skilled, yet shambolic ensemble from St Petersburg. If that brief and contradictory declaration were enough to send you around the world in search of any such "wonder," the most recent opportunity to catch them live in their home town would have been a few weeks ago. H...

Courting Disaster with Dark Humor: Dveri Lohi and I.H.N.A.B.T.B

Dveri Lohi and I.H.N.A.B.T.B. are two Moscow ensembles that have much in common. One of the first similarities an online visitor to their sites might notice is that both have left the "Influences" or "Sounds Like..." sections of their profiles blank. Or, more accurately, the latter band claim...

Leonid Fedorov and Sergei Starostin: Different CDs, Common Outlook

Leonid Fedorov and Sergei Starostin are both well-known in their own right: the former as frontman to rock band Auktsyon and the latter as ethnographer and jazz musician. They have more than seven years experience behind them in collaborative work, too. Both are extremely productive and prone to...

Sansara: "69." The Difficult Journey from Lip Service to $450

Sansara are an increasingly promising outfit from Ekaterinburg whom we've covered on a couple of occasions. The first of these was regarding a spoken-word release, followed in February of this year by the "Bluetooth" EP. Several of those combined tracks have now been incorporated into an alb...

The Logic of Chaos: Light Music, Heavy Tools

One of the oddest - and yet most gratifying experiences - in a running a site like this comes in moments when we stumble across unique talents, only to discover that they have no fans. Suddenly the need to stand up and champion an overlooked ensemble is obvious. We, as a result, gain pleasur...

Kotov, Starostin, Volkov, and Fedorov: "Edifying Songs for Every Day"

Last week, an album was released by two of Russia's leading lights in the world of folk music. In particular these are Sergei Starostin and Andrei Kotov, together with Vladimir Volkov (double bass/viola), and Leonid Fedorov, lead singer of rock staples Auktsyon. The CD is a collection o...

Rivushchie struny: The Peculiar Role of Russian Garage

Earlier this year, the Moscow club IKRA held a small festival entitled "Back to the CBGB" in honor of the NY club (below) that ran from 1973 until 2006. During that time it gave birth to a spectacular generation of musicians, including - among the more famous - The Ramones, Talking Heads, Patt...

Auktsyon: "Girls Sing" Tour Ends in US

Auktsyon (or “Auktyon,” if you like!) just ended a brief promo-tour of America’s major cities on April 1st. Both the concerts and the album that spawned them - "Devushki poiut" - have received very positive press. The band was helped in their travels - and travails - by some impressive US ta...