Dolphin's new album is the shortest of his career, but also his most political one. It must not be easy to live in Putin's Russia and release a song like "520", with its statements against the Crimean invasion.
Compared to his previous work, I think the math rock influence is stronger than ever, whilst the shoegaze component has waned. This is probably due to a new line-up of backing musicians, composed of drummer Vasily Yakovlev and guitar player Igor Babko. In the end, another brilliant album from a legend of Russian alternative music.
Always sided by multi-instrumentalist Pavel Dodonov, Dolphin creates another great, mature art-rock album, where hypnotic rhythms, harsh guitar solos, and tragic melodies intertwine each other. It's without any doubt one of the best Russian albums of this decade.
P.S. If you speak Russian and you wish to translate some of the lyrics, feel free to contribute by posting in the comments section.
Original album title: Звезда Andrey Lysikov, better known as Dolphin, is one of the most important names of current Russian music. From its beginnings in the early Nineties, his career is a tortuous path through rock, rap, and electronic arrangements. Before becoming a solo artist, he was the leader of projects like hip hop trio Malchishnik, alternative band Dubovyy Gaay, and experimental rock duo Mishiny Dolphiny. Anyway, I think that his solo work is the best way to get to know him. "Zvezda" is his fifth album, and it represents the moment when Dolphin discarded rap to fully embrace rock music. It's an exciting record, especially thanks to producer Mewark, who provided lots of creative rhythm patterns and atmospheric electronic sounds, and Pavel Dodonov, a versatile, experimental guitar player. Dolphin himself is the author of both lyrics and melodies. The most popular song is "Vesna", which is regarded as his anthem, but "Sumerki", "Chuzhoy", "Toska", and "Kiberpank" are also powerful examples of this hi-tech music with an epic and melancholic mood.
Original band name: Агата Кристи Original album title: Опиум This is one of the most celebrated Russian albums of the Nineties. A dozen of powerful songs which mixes heavy synths, danceable rhythms, classical music orchestrations, dark atmospheres in the style of the Cure, and grotesque sketches influenced by the local folk tradition. If you liked their previous work, "Pozornaya zvezda", then try this.
Original band name: Агата Кристи Original album title: Позорная звезда Agati Kristi was one of the classic bands of Russian rock music. They were founded in Yekaterinburg in 1987 by brothers Gleb and Vadim Samoylov, both singers and guitar players, and keyboardist Aleksandr Kozlov.
Their first three albums were a mix of post-punk and occasionally kitsch hard rock guitars, I honestly don't like them that much, but from this one onwards, their sound changed into an interesting electronic rock influenced by the Cure and the Madchester scene.
"Pozornaya zvezda" was a huge commercial success, and the romantic anthem "Kak na voyne" is one of the most popular Russian songs of the Nineties.
Original band name: Центр Original album title: Сделано в Париже (aka Центр) Led by singer and songwriter Vasily Shumov, Tsentr is definitely a cult act of the former Soviet Union. The project is stilly active today, after dozens of albums, despite never breaking into the mainstream. Tsentr had already relased thirteen magnetic tape albums in 1989, but their sound quality was not so good, as the band was not allowed to use professional studios. Finally they found a good contact in the person of Maxim Schmitt, a French producer who invited them to Paris, to record their songs with decent equipment. This album is the result of the above mentioned French sessions. It basically contains Shumov's favourite tracks from his previous tapes, re-recorded and finally competitive with the international standards of new wave bands. Ten beautiful songs pumped by frantic guitars, echoes, samples, crystal sounding keyboards, and half spoken half sung vocals. The album was titled "Tsentr" and released in France by Nord Sud Records. After some months it was released in the USSR by state label Melodiya, under the title "Sdelano v Parizhe" (Made in Paris). For Shumov it was the first legal release in his homeland, and despite the lack of any kind of promotion, it was able to sell 40.000 copies in one year.
Original title: Любовь и технология Band: Промышленная Архитектура
Promyshlennaya Arkhitektura was the music project of Dmitry Selivanov, one of the cult figures of the Siberian underground scene. Selivanov was a charismatic singer and a self-taught guitar player. His style was technically raw but quite creative, a mix of power chords and radical improvisation. Apart from some collaborations with Yegor Letov, this is Selivanov's sole album, as he committed suicide one year after it was released. Sharp post-punk sounds, low fidelity production, toy keyboards, and a bunch of grotesque lyrics sung in the most theatrical way possible. That's all these nine songs needed.
Aprelskiy Marsh were one of the many cult bands from the Yekaterinburg rock scene. The project gravitated around two members, keyboard player Igor Grishenkov and poet Yevgeny Kormiltsev. They tried to record a first album in 1986, but the sound quality was so poor that they didn't have the courage to release it at the time. On the contrary, they were lucky enough to gain access to a professional television studio in 1987, where this second studio effort was produced, with satisfying results. Distributed by the band itself at their gigs, the album was a new wave gem, with synthesized sounds, post-punk rhythms, effected guitars, and some striking, threatrical vocal performances by Mikhail Simakov, Natalya Romanova, and Grishenkov himself. The lyrics are strong collages which involve sex, politics, social commentary, and poetry.
Original band name: Мумий Тролль Original album title: Морская "Morskaya" was not only the best selling Russian rock album of 1997, with over one million copies in seven months, but also one of the most critically acclaimed local albums .
Composed by singer Ilya Lagutenko and arranged by multi-instrumentalist Albert Krasnov, these ten songs represent a great answer to the contemporary brit-pop scene. While you can certainly hear the influence of bands such as Blur and Supergrass, the band doesn't hide the Russian background, generating tunes that will stuck in your head after a few listens.
Original band name: Звуки Му Original album title: Простые вещи Zvuki Mu was a band from Moscow, founded in 1981 by singer Pyotr Mamonov. For some years it was just a part-time project, as the band didn't have a professional equipment, nor the possibility to record any song. Anyway, in 1988 their friend Vasily Shumov, leader of the experimental post-punk band Tsentr, offered Mamonov the chance to produce an album, which he obviously accepted. Zvuki Mu recorded around twenty songs during these sessions, most of which were written in the course of the 80s. "Prostye veshchi" lasts over 79 minutes and was released in the black market as a two-tape set. Reissued on CD in 1996, it is a still enjoyable anthology of new wave pieces with huge bass lines, funky guitars, jazz fusion keyboards, and pompous declamations.
Original band name: Николай Коперник Original album title: Родина
Despite never being popular, Nikolay Kopernik was one of the most fascinating bands of Russian new wave.
The line-up of their debut album consists of Yuri Orlov (vocals, guitars), Igor Len (keyboards), Dmitry Tsvetkov (drum machine), Oleg Andreev (bass guitar), and Igor Andreev (saxophone).
Like many other rock acts of their era, they were not allowed to record in a professional studio, and they had to arrange themselves into a small apartment. Tsvetkov opted for a drum machine when he realized there was not enough space for a real set of drums.
You can try to imagine a Soviet answer to David Sylvian's Japan, Bill Nelson, early Adam & the Ants, or even Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but obviously the band had enough personality to sound in its own, peculiar way.
They were excellent and creative instrumentists. Orlov played guitar with a glass thimble, giving it a thin, crystalline sound; Andreev played a fretless bass, filling a lot of spaces with his improvisations; Len added the atmosphere with his electronic layers, often ispired by minimalism and ambient music.
The music was composed by Len, Tsvetkov, and Orlov, while the latter wrote the lyrics, inspired by a book of poems from northern Russia.
Original band name: АукцЫон Original album title: Птица Distributed in less than 4.000 copies at the time, today "Ptiza"is probably the definitive cult classic of Russian indie music, and its fame seems to grow year after year. With "Ptiza" the band completed its transition from post-punk to alternative rock, with jazz fusion and Slavic folk music dominating all around. The production is excellent and every track mixes adventurous tunes and skillful improvisations.
Yegor i Opizdenevshie (Yegor and the Fuckups) is the last project created by Yegor Letov under the Soviet regime. In fact, the line-up is similar to his other bands of the time, with friends such as Konstantin Ryabinov and Igor Zhevtun, both on guitar, bass, and other instruments. If you have ever listened to Grazhdanskaya Oborona, Kommunizm, or Tsyganyata i Ya s Ilyicha, then you know what happens here: psychedelic tunes, folk, noise rock, and a raucous lo-fi production.
Original band name: АукцЫон Original album title:Бодун Auktyon is known for having had two phases. A first one in which they played post-punk songs, marked by a striking theatrical approach, and a second one closer to the alternative rock universe, with strong influences from folk and jazz music. This album can be considered a bridge between these two faces of the band. Its arrangements contain sung and spoken vocals, funky basslines, atmospheric keyboard layers, catchy piano patterns, saxophone assaults, and eleborate guitar parts influenced by Slavic popular tradition.
Original band name: АукцЫон Original album title: Как я стал предателем
Auktyon is an open music project from Saint Petersburg, led by singer and guitar player Leonid Fedorov. Despite never reaching the mainstream audience, they are probably the most celebrated band ever among Russian alternative music listeners and their gigs are still regarded as important events today.
The line-up has changed many times over the years, but there are some stable members who in fact form the creative core of Auktyon, along with Fedorov: saxophonist Nikolay Rubanov, keyboard player Dmitry Ozersky, and singer Oleg Garkusha. The latter is also known for miming and dancing while the band is on stage.
"Kak ya stal predatelem" is their second album, but the first recorded in a professional studio and the first to be officially distributed. It is considered one of the most important Russian rock albums of the Eighties and it contains a collection of experimental pop songs with new wave sounds, nervous funk guitars, melodic saxophone solos, and oblique moments dominated by a hysterical camp vein.
Finding a Western counterpart to this music can be a challenge even to the most expert listener. Perhaps Talking Heads and the early works of Ambitious Lovers have some points in common, but the truth is that Auktyon are on a league of their own.
Ventiljacija is a small cult band founded in Saint Petersbourg by singer and guitar player Fedor Norvegov. This is their third album, the best according to their few followers (it is also the only one I was able to find, albeit I will keep searching). There is not much more information I can give about this band, as they are virtually unknown. If you are a Russian reader, you can write something about them in the comments section, possibly in English. The album is amazing nonetheless, a strong mix of post-punk and noise-rock, with a strange psychedelic and melodic vein, probably reminiscent of the legendary Yegor Letov. Despite the raw sound, every song sounds epic and every tune is easy to remember.
Original artist name: Александр Зацепин Original album title: Тайна третьей планеты One of the things I’ve noticed the first time I’ve watched"Film, Film, Film", an old Russian cartoon, was its strange soundtrack, which mixed rudimental electronic sounds, jazz, pop, and orchestral arrangements. Shortly after I realized its composer Aleksandr Zatsepin, a prolific and appreciated musician who worked for the state-controlled label Melodiya, has written lots of original soundtracks and pop music hits. This is the soundtrack from "Tayna Tretyey Planety", a beautiful science fiction cartoon released in 1981. It is a sort of artistic testament for Zatsepin, as he left Russia in 1982, after some misunderstandings with Soviet supervisors. Never released as an album, it finally came out as a bootleg some years ago, ripped from the DVD audio track of the cartoon. Unfortunately, some sound effects which weren't part of the music can't be removed, but on the other hand, they kinda fit with Zatsepin's work and don't affect the listening that much. This is a wonderful journey through analogic electronic music consisting of Moog solos, Mellotron backgrounds, electric organ and piano patterns, synthesized strings, sequencers, laser noises, and every kind of oddness you can imagine. All to create ethereal, beautiful melodies. This is a mix of funk and alien lounge music, the same that became popular again at the end of the Nineties thanks to Air, or even today, thanks to Daft Punk and Todd Terje's latest albums.
Original artist name: Игорь Лень Original album title: Здесь Until 1991 only the government owned label Melodiya could legally release music albums in the Soviet Union. After the fall of the socialist regime, Melodiya closed down and its entire catalogue went out of print. While the part concerning the most popular artists was reissued by new labels born after 1991, another great part is still buried in the sands of time and nobody seems to care about it. It's really a shame, because we are talking about a huge amount of music. Dozens of folk and ethnic music albums from all around the Soviet Unions are lost somewhere in dusty, forgotten archives, and so are lots of experimental records, including electronic pioneers, modern classical music, soundtracks, and so on. The day a benefactor would systematically reissue the lost Melodiya catalogue will be a great day for music. For the time being, all we can do is enjoy some old vinyl rips. "Zdes'" by Igor Len was one of the last albums released by Melodiya, in 1990. Recorded two years before by Len and his collaborator Dmitriy Tsvetkov, it consists of six tracks that mix melodic ambient music, suggestive liturgical voices, and a wide open space echo. On "Sryv" you can also hear a beautiful acoustic guitar played by Len himself. "Zdes'" had a 250.000 copies distribution at the time, making it one of the most successful ambient music albums of its era. This makes the fact that such a gem is out of print even more sad. P.S. I apologize for the vinyl rip, but I cannot do otherwise. Higher sounds are a bit disturbing, so be careful with the volume.
Original band name: ДК Original album title: Снова любовь поселица This CD was released in 2001, becoming one of DK's most frequently discussed releases, but despite what many think, it doesn't contain the magnetic tape of the same title released in 1984. In fact, it collects tracks from two other tapes of that year, "Vtoroye aprelya" and "Prekrasnyy novyy mir". If compared to DK's other anthology appeared on Soviet Sam, "Lirika", this is more avant-garde oriented. A raw sound quality, repetitive rhythms, crazy noises, spooky jingles, grotesque declamations, and lots of bizarre instrumental solos for guitar, organ, sax, and flute. There are two tracks in particular which I find shockingly ahead of their time. I'm talking about "Staryy sukhodroch", with its incredible proto-trip hop rhythm, and "Poslushay drug", ten apocalyptic minutes with slow, distorted guitars which predate the sludge metal sound in many aspects.
Original title: Хроника пикирующего бомбардировщика
Band: Коммунизм
Kommunizm is one of the many projects led by the genius ofYegor Letov. It is considered his most authentic output, because of its intimate nature. In fact, Kommunizm never performed live, and this brought Letov and his friends to let out their obsessions and ambitions like never before. A great part of Kommunizm's work consists in sound manipulations and collages, often surpassing the song-form which made the fortune of a band such as Grazhdanskaya Oborona. Anyway, this album is pretty approachable. It is the last released under this name, and it collects sessions from a three-year span. Here you can find avantgarde performances ("Povest' o nastoyashchem cheloveke", in which Letov showed once again his love for Sergei Prokofiev), acoustic lullabies ("Nyurkina pesnya", sung by Anna Volkova and Yanka Dyagileva; the American traditional "The Birds of Paradise", sung by Dmitri Selivanov), noise-rock assaults ("Malen'kiy prints vozvrashchalsya domoy", "Ivanovo detstvo"), and spoken word pieces. Some of these tracks were later re-recorded by another of Letov's projects,Yegor i Opizdenevshie.
