Crazy Compass – High Day

Our dear friends at Meticulous Midgets in Russia offer a new compilation, concentrating this time on women and poetry.  Post-industrial music and soundscapes are blended with the spoken word, and the listening is incredible despite that dark, somewhat oppressive vibe of the music herein.

OpensoundOrchestra – String Quartets

Today, we have some fine contemporary classical music coming out of Russia.  Fancy Music usually deliver consistently good albums, and this one is no exception.  The Opensoundorchestra interpret the works of newer composers such as Nastasya Khrushcheva, Elmir Nizamov, Anatoly Palaev, Vladimir Kobekin, Vladimir Martynov and zhokhowski

Ilia Belorukov & Marina Džukljev – Everything Changes, Nothing Disappears

Ilia Belorukov is a multi-instrumentalist who hails from Russia, but since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he has been a resident of Novi Sad Serbia and will probably be for awhile.  He is making wonderful use of his time by collaborating with local talent.  Marina Džukljev is a pianst and first-rate improvisor, Continue Reading

Liudmila Knyazeva (Людмила Князева) – Русская классическая хоровая музыка 19-20 в. (Russian Classical Choral Music of the 19th-20th Centuries)

My friend, the Russian composer Liudmila Knyazeva, has composed an album of Eastern Orthodox choral music.  It’s a wonderful venture with the vaunted hymns the Church is known for.  This is an especially nice thing to hear as we as Orthodox prepare for the Marian Fast, as well as for Continue Reading

Oidopuaa Vladimir Oiun – Divine Music From Jail

A snippet from Oidopuaa Vladimir Oiun’s outsider release at his Bandcamp site: “Oidupaa spent 33 years of his 55 years of life in prison – in fact, this album was recorded in prison. Oidupaa himself claimed that his conflicts with Soviet legislation were slander, which often happened with other Tuvan Continue Reading

Rare Soviet Oriental Jazz & Groove Mix Compiled and Mixed by Sasha Svistunov

Once upon a time, I had a decent working knowledge (at least for an American expat) of Soviet Jazz.  It keeps popping back into my life, and I still find it a joy to listen to even 30 years down the road.  Thanks to Shasha Svistunov for compiling some real Continue Reading

Novoselie, Questa Musica – Requiem

A sublime, baroque look at the requiem on Fancy Music.  From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Requiem (from Latin requies – “rest”) is a high genre of concert sacred music, a kind of mourning oratorio. Even the above phrase is little understood by the general public, not to mention the names Continue Reading