Well, my favorite Russian band remains Otava Yo, with NeuroMonakh Feofan in 2nd place. But VIRUS is a pleasure to listen to, and certainly very danceable.
I appreciate your suggestion about learning the language by singing along, but I learn best, initially, by seeing things written down. Is there a source for the lyrics of Olga's songs that you could point me toward?
Searching the band name + song + песни текст often works.
Otava Yo is one of the groups I'll be featuring. Another is Серебряная Свадьба (Silver Wedding) from Belarus. Similar whimsical style but more cabaret oriented.
Love her voice. She invites singing along as you say.
I'm more of a rock/metal fan but my extremely limited awareness of the Soviet synth wave scene was heralded by this fabulous 80's moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6wl-EyhXl0
I was mesmerized by the gothic song and his formal singing, but equally by their bizarre presentation to the somnolent audience. The bouncy dance beat only evoked a few restrained gestures from a few listeners. The majority were lost in a silent dream. It felt like "This is teenage life behind the Iron Curtain, unspeakably repressed."
Yes, the song was mesmerizing but that audience was really quite something to behold. Like seminary students waiting for the Bishop's lecture on hell and eternal damnation to begin.
Let's take into account the setting: a studio TV taping where they're already seated and the sound isn't likely live either. To quote Talking Heads in Life During Wartime " This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around." They're offering teenage prayers for the end of communism. Recall it's just before the Wall falls.
That song sounds familiar. Is it a cover? The audience in rapt attention was pretty funny.
I'll be playing some rock and metal along with a lot of other stuff, including Kazakh, Tajik and Uzbek. My aim is to cover lesser known artists along with some of the popular groups that aren't well known in the west. Pretty much all genres will be represented.
A friend of mine was the go-to guy for western music at his high school in Yekaterinburg back in the 70's. His uncle was a diplomat who made regular trips to W Germany and brought back albums from Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix etc. in a diplomatic pouch. Sergui would record them onto cassette and sell them to his classmates. A lot of cover bands and copy cats sprang up between then and 1990, so while interesting as a cultural phenomena, it wasn't what I'd call a revolution except in the sense that it annoyed the authorities. The 90's were pretty much a dead zone as far as I can tell. People had other things on their mind than making music, like trying to put food on the table. Things really didn't get going until the late 90's and then really started to pick up in the 2000's and on. That's the period I'm interested in because that's when the break with western music really began and artists started writing and singing in Russian for a Russian audience, as opposed to trying to break out in Europe and America by singing in English. One of my feature singers talks about this is an interview I'll eventually be posting.
Thanks for the comment BTW. Day one and I had no idea what to expect.
Thanks for that biographical breakdown. I'm sure others would like to be similarly informed going forward.
I think the song I posted was original, written by the stocky guy w/ sunglasses and mustache. Maybe the singer wrote the lyrics.
I'm looking forward to hearing those new sounds from the 'stans and the mother country as well. I know Alkonost. There have been a few Mongolian metal bands that I've heard and liked. What's great about them is their throat singing is more resonant than western growling which I despise as a gimmick and a dumbing down of entire metal genres so the audience has no expectations for actual singing ability w/ human expressiveness.
I'll check it out. Many thanks!
Well, my favorite Russian band remains Otava Yo, with NeuroMonakh Feofan in 2nd place. But VIRUS is a pleasure to listen to, and certainly very danceable.
I appreciate your suggestion about learning the language by singing along, but I learn best, initially, by seeing things written down. Is there a source for the lyrics of Olga's songs that you could point me toward?
https://www.flashlyrics.com/lyrics/вирус
Searching the band name + song + песни текст often works.
Otava Yo is one of the groups I'll be featuring. Another is Серебряная Свадьба (Silver Wedding) from Belarus. Similar whimsical style but more cabaret oriented.
Love her voice. She invites singing along as you say.
I'm more of a rock/metal fan but my extremely limited awareness of the Soviet synth wave scene was heralded by this fabulous 80's moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6wl-EyhXl0
I was mesmerized by the gothic song and his formal singing, but equally by their bizarre presentation to the somnolent audience. The bouncy dance beat only evoked a few restrained gestures from a few listeners. The majority were lost in a silent dream. It felt like "This is teenage life behind the Iron Curtain, unspeakably repressed."
Yes, the song was mesmerizing but that audience was really quite something to behold. Like seminary students waiting for the Bishop's lecture on hell and eternal damnation to begin.
Let's take into account the setting: a studio TV taping where they're already seated and the sound isn't likely live either. To quote Talking Heads in Life During Wartime " This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around." They're offering teenage prayers for the end of communism. Recall it's just before the Wall falls.
Meant to add that if you search on YT for "sovietwave" you'll find a whole bunch of compilations that people have put up.
That song sounds familiar. Is it a cover? The audience in rapt attention was pretty funny.
I'll be playing some rock and metal along with a lot of other stuff, including Kazakh, Tajik and Uzbek. My aim is to cover lesser known artists along with some of the popular groups that aren't well known in the west. Pretty much all genres will be represented.
A friend of mine was the go-to guy for western music at his high school in Yekaterinburg back in the 70's. His uncle was a diplomat who made regular trips to W Germany and brought back albums from Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix etc. in a diplomatic pouch. Sergui would record them onto cassette and sell them to his classmates. A lot of cover bands and copy cats sprang up between then and 1990, so while interesting as a cultural phenomena, it wasn't what I'd call a revolution except in the sense that it annoyed the authorities. The 90's were pretty much a dead zone as far as I can tell. People had other things on their mind than making music, like trying to put food on the table. Things really didn't get going until the late 90's and then really started to pick up in the 2000's and on. That's the period I'm interested in because that's when the break with western music really began and artists started writing and singing in Russian for a Russian audience, as opposed to trying to break out in Europe and America by singing in English. One of my feature singers talks about this is an interview I'll eventually be posting.
Thanks for the comment BTW. Day one and I had no idea what to expect.
Thanks for that biographical breakdown. I'm sure others would like to be similarly informed going forward.
I think the song I posted was original, written by the stocky guy w/ sunglasses and mustache. Maybe the singer wrote the lyrics.
I'm looking forward to hearing those new sounds from the 'stans and the mother country as well. I know Alkonost. There have been a few Mongolian metal bands that I've heard and liked. What's great about them is their throat singing is more resonant than western growling which I despise as a gimmick and a dumbing down of entire metal genres so the audience has no expectations for actual singing ability w/ human expressiveness.