Andrei Makarevich / Андрей Макаревич

A snapshot of new electronic work from St. Petersburg and Chelyabinsk shows some enduring problems. Artists move from one city to another, only to encounter indifference or haughtiness en route.

In order to make sense of the new album by Andrei Makarevich, we need a picture like this. The CD's title, "Shtander," is a term from the '60s and '70s in the Soviet Union. Few people know it today. This image, from 1967, shows Soviet kids playing shtander, which - in its many forms - involves a s...