Lemonday / Лемондэй

The issue of destiny emerges clearly in some new releases from Russia and Belarus. Over four separate publications, we see the role of "fate" increase. It is first countered with volume - and then met with grim resignation.

These collectives live in varied surroundings, ranging from an Estonian forest to the noisy streets of Moscow. Nonetheless, they all seek alternative, sometimes complex registers to match their disorienting experience.

Pianochocolate and Elochnye Igrushki are two very different ensembles. Nonetheless, their new instrumental albums both show the particular importance of silence in the context of Russian songwriting.

Three months ago, the image above appeared online from DIY outfit Pes i Gruppa. Next to the mock-confrontational air of this photograph was an equally playful promo-text. "We're a group from Saint Petersburg and Krasnoiarsk. We sing about boys from Michigan, dogs in the morning... and so forth....

Until this week, the female duet known as Lemonday had existed in a rather haphazard fashion. Virtually all of their work was in visual forms, uploaded to various corners of YouTube. The films recorded profoundly amateur events, marked by a radical lack of talent or a wealth of witty cynicism, d...