• Music

    Romowe Rikoito – UKA

    This is the latest from Prussian/Russian neofolk band Romowe Rikoito.  The music is heavy, based on the neofolk paradigm, of course, but what sets this apart is the reconstructed Old Prussian lyrics, something the band is passionate about transmitting.

  • Music

    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 and meaning of the Latin psalms of the canonical Requiem. As for people who are knowledgeable, for example by virtue of belonging to the Catholic Church of the Latin rite, even for them, I am sure, these texts are devoid of the burning apocalyptic meaning with which they were filled…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Antonovka Records: Made in Davlekanovo: Russian and Chuvash Songs from Bashkortostan

    The brilliant folks at Antonovka Records continue to amaze and delight with their travelogues across Russia, Moldova and the Balkans.  This particular recording covers an area I have ready plenty about, but have not yet passed through.  From the label’s Bandcamp site for this release: “The album features Russian folk songs in stage arrangements, as well as a couple of Chuvash ones (tracks 5-7). These are performed by musicians from the Davlekanovsky district of Bashkortostan, a republic in the southern Urals within Russian Federation. Some of the songs (for example, 3) are traditional of local origin, some are Cossack ones…

  • Music

    Divertissement Сhamber Orchestra, Sergey Kuryokhin – Re:SEASONS

    Sergey Kuryokhin was as fine a composer as he was an improvisor.  The Divertissement Orchestra, led by violinist Ilya Ioff, reinterprets one of Kuryokhin’s finest compositions from his album The Sparrow Oratorium.  Well-played, indeed. Alisa Ten: vocals [1, 2, 4] Vera Chekanova: vocals [2, 3, 4] Lidia Kovalenko: violin [1], viola [2, 3] Mikhail Blekher: honky-tonk [1], celeste [2], piano [3, 4], harpsichord [4] Vladimir Volkov: double bass [4] Ivan Chernobaev: percussion Ilya Ioff: violin [1, 3, 4], drums programming [3]

  • Music

    Disen Gage, Alexei Borisov, Misha ‘MOX’ Salnikov, Eugene Voronovsky – Bionika

    Russian experimental band Disen Gage have collaborated with some of the country’s most notorious experimental musicians.  Alexei Borisov, for instance, has been featured on these pages before.  MOX and Voronovsky are new names.  The music is an impressive mix of early-era Tuxedomoon-influenced music supported by a avant-prog bass, drums and guitar.  Experimental enough to be weird, but structured enough to be familiar to the ears.

  • Music

    Cristina Godoroja – Ciob​ă​naș Cu Oile: Songs From Moldova and Romania

    Antonovka Records, once based in Russia but now ensconced in Moldova, continues to release some of the most seminal music to ever come out of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and their reach seems to keep expanding.  This album covers the work of traditional singer Cristina Godoroja, an ethnomusicologist and singer based in Moldova’s capital, Chișinău.  The works hail from Bessarabia and also feature Romanian-language songs.  A worthy addition to any world music collection.

  • Music

    Oleg Karpachev – Sputnik (Dir. Egor Abramenko) O​.​S​.​T.

    I have never heard of Oleg Karpachev, a Israeli soundtrack composer, but thanks to the fine folks at the legendary Cold Spring Records, I can spend this day blown away by this soundtrack which melds together Hans Zimmer and In Slaughter Natives in some fashion.  From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Released for the first time on any format, we proudly present the soundtrack to the 2020 sci-fi horror film ‘Sputnik’ (directed by Egor Abramenko). The bleak and hauntingly atmospheric film is accompanied by an impressively heavy soundtrack from Oleg Karpachev, who uses bombastic percussion, stirring strings, and otherworldly synths to…