From the classics of Russian dance music, the legendary «New Composers,» to «phantom» albums blending post-punk, industrial, «Madchester,» acid house, and techno in varying proportions. We are discussing ten essential Russian electronic albums from the 90s.
The turbulent, vibrant, and profoundly contradictory 1990s were a difficult time for the Russian-speaking music scene, particularly the non-commercial sector. By the start of the decade, the golden age of Russian rock music had already ended; New Russian pop had staged a total comeback, the screen was filled alternating between re-energized late-Soviet stars and gangster girlfriends with dog-like names, and Mikhail Shufutinsky dominated sales across all formats.
The situation was grim for any worthy artist—they fundamentally lacked an audience capable of understanding them, and more crucially, an audience willing to support them financially. Even cutting-edge performers often sounded lackluster (in the sense of sonic quality)—something that is especially evident today, when almost any average artist, even a newcomer, possesses a more professional sound than many famous 90s groups. Not to mention electronic music, set against the backdrop of the genre’s unprecedented flourishing in the West during those years, while also factoring in the critical importance of technological aspects within the genre.
Pioneers of sampling in Russia—figures worthy of biopics and dissertations—who have remained undervalued in our country. Back in the mid-1980s, in the remote, strictly classified military-scientific town of Chelyabinsk-70 (now Snezhinsk), Gosha Shaposhnikov and Vova Sinyi, along with friends and relatives (clearly irradiated by either mundane radiation or extraterrestrial intelligence), were cutting and splicing magnetic tape before the sampler was even invented. What’s astonishing is that this unique electro-punk sound, born from the incredible Soviet wilderness, was broadcast on the BBC—thanks, naturally, to the famous radio host Seva Novgorodtsev. This specific album compiles classic songs by the collective, re-recorded between 1989 and 1994 in Moscow alongside newly acquired kindred spirits from groups such as «Vidy Ryb, ” „Nikolai Copernicus, ” and Spinglett. The recording features the most striking of the many alternative versions of the band’s main underground hit, „Belamorakanal, ” set to the accelerated tempo of the electronic hardcore craze of the time.
Absolute classics of Russian dance music from St. Petersburg. Much like the Ural gemstones «Brothers of Reason, ” Valery Alakhov and Igor Verichev experimented with sound collage starting in 1983. They were supported by Timur Novikov, the head of „New Academy“; Sergei Kurekhin collaborated with them, and Brian Eno recorded and befriended them. „New Composers“ have gone through all stages of electronic music evolution and continue to work today. It is strange, however, that with such a rich background, Valery and Igor remain relatively unknown figures in their homeland. From the extensive discography of „New Composers”—a body of work steeped in cosmic romanticism—I chose the compilation titled „Sputnik.“ It gathered tracks from 1990–1994, primarily because it includes both mixes of their single „Sputnik Of Life, ” which was recorded and released in England in 1990—a quintessential acid-house anthem of the revolution.