• Music

    Yury Markin – On a Large Scale

    I have to give full credit to legendary multi-instrumentalist Arkady Shilkloper for making mention of Yury Markin’s album on his Facebook feed on which he appears.  I’m familiar with how solid the Russian jazz/experimental record label Fancy Music is, and this latest release does not disappoint. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Yury Markin is one of the leading Russian composers and jazz pianists, a student of the famous composer Rodion Shchedrin. The double album, coming out in the year of the 75th anniversary of the master, is truly historic. It presents large pieces, displaying the work of Yury Markin in…

  • Music

    Mikhail Chekalin – Special Selected Works

    Mikhail Chekalin is one of the elder statesmen of Soviet electronic music.  This is a collection of more orchestral works, and the remastering work is very well done.  There are elements of Berlin School electronica and dark ambient which will appeal to a wide range of listeners.

  • Music

    Shopworn – How Could Children Disturb Internet Dialogu​è​?

    I haven’t heard anyone do an album in a plunderphonics style in some time now.  Stanislav Aladev, who composes under the name Shopworn, is a Russian musician who has released one of the most charmingly weird albums I’ve heard this year. From Stanislav, regarding his work: “I thought for a long time how and from what to create this album. In 2015, I came across an article about the philosophical current Metamordenism, which was supposed to serve as the beginning of a new era and the end of the old postmodern pleasures. I have always looked at music and other…

  • Music

    Ayanga Ensemble – Erkhuu Khoto: Songs of Buryats from Irkutsk

    Antonovka Records produced one of my favorite records of 2022, covering music from the region of Buryatia in Russia.  From the label’s Bandcamp page: “”Erkhuu Khoto” is the Buryat name of the Irkutsk city, where “Khoto” means “City”. Buryats are the indigenous people of this area. The ensemble “Ayanga” (“Melody” in Buryat) was founded in 1998, the leader is Tsybigmit Damdinzhapova. The band performs mainly songs of the Irkutsk Buryats, some of which were directly inherited from their ancestors. For example, Evgenia Baldynova learned song 4 from her grandfather. And song 5 was passed on to Petr Saganov from his…

  • Music - Spotify

    Yggdrasil & Vera Kondratieva — Timint Areh

    Yggdrasil are a Faroese project led by multi-instrumentalist Kristian Blak (whom I had the pleasure, many years ago, of meeting in Varna, Bulgaria) and a host of local musicians along with singer Vera Kondratieva from Siberia.  You would expect to hear a melding of Scandinavian and traditional Siberian music on Timent Areh, but this also adds elements of jazz, rock and maybe just a touch of post-punk.  It’s a fun album, not too terribly dark, sung beautifully and supplemented by a rather tight backing band.  Tutl Records, the record label Blak has run since the 1970s, has released another gem. …

  • Music

    Gleb Kolyadin – The Outland

    Gleb Kolyadin is the pianist of Russian progressive rock band iamthemorning, but in this release, he has no problem mixing prog rock with jazz fusion.  The album is full of guests, but perhaps the biggest one is King Crimson’s legendary bassist and Chapman stick player Tony Levin playing upright bass.  Solid.

  • Music

    Ясный — Svetly – Project 0

    Our friends at the ever-brilliant Russian record label, internet radio station and magazine Meticulous Midgets continue to work with interesting bands within the country and (now) internationally. Ясный — Svetly are a Moscow-based band which has a very forward-looking sound, yet the music they produce sound incredibly nostalgic, with wisps of Berlin School electronics, NDW industrial elements and post-punk beats which makes this sound like a marriage between Suicide and Tangerine Dream.  A brilliant release.  

  • Music

    Mikael Tariverdiev – Visions in Black & White

    Mikael Tariverdiev was a Russian cinema and TV composer of Armenian extraction but raised Tbilisi, Georgia, a true man of the Soviet world.  Though he was quoted as not particularly liking jazz, he was as good an improviser that Russia ever produced. From the release’s Bandcamp page: “Visions in Black and White is a collection of rare jazz and improvised themes by one of the greatest Russian film composers Mikael Tariverdiev (1931-1996). Transferred from the original tapes and beautifully remastered, these recordings manage to retain their original ambience and capture a master at work. Originally composed for cinema and TV movies…