20 years ago, Marc Almond collaborated with musicians in St. Petersburg and recorded a magnificent album of Russian chanson. It’s as good as you would expect. The gems of the album include the title track and Gosudaryunia, penned by Russian rock legend Boris Grebenshchikov. A fine reissue, and I thank my friend Charles for being so kind as to point it out to me.
Båul have managed to release an album which travels the world while residing in the beautiful state of Colorado. They mix Arabic, Russian, Hebrew and other music together into a cohesive, energetic album. Really fun listening.
Vedan Kolod are a troupe based in Moscow, Russia, who do sterling work interpreting medieval Russian folkloric music, especially Siberian tunes, with a modern twist. The label, CPL, is run by my friend and colleague, Christian Pliefke, whose taste in artists is impeccable, and every release he’s curated for his imprint has been solid listening. From the promo onesheet: With their release, Gorodische, Russian folk ensemble Vedan Kolod strive to make traditional folk songs from very different parts of their country accessible to a wider public. The vast majority of the songs are going back several centuries and have…