Segrey Lazarev: Lazerboy!

Generally speaking, Russia tends to lag behind American cultural trends by a couple of years. So this video I'm about to show you, which premiered last fall, is a weird combination of late-90s hip-hop style ("Mo Money Mo Problems," anyone?) and traditional Russian cheesiness. It features my one true love Sergei Lazarev (Сергей Лазарев - the hot hot HOTTIE above) and Timati (Тимати), who has recently had some very successful collaborations with American superstars like P. Diddy and Snoop Dogg. Please enjoy, and pay special attention to the amazing special effects near the end.




( Unrelated sidebar: searching for hot Sergey photos I stumbled upon one of him in a bath, with the hilarious user comment: "What is it about Sergey always posing with some clothes off. Frankly, it's offensive and very un-Christian. I wish someone would put a stop to this, immediately." Is this person for real? Shirtless Sergey is a gift from the heavens and you know it!!!)

Russia does Reggae

I discovered the reggae band С.О.К (Сьешь Оба Куска) today. They have a concert tomorrow, here in St Petersburg, and I may check it out. In the states I would not be inclined to do this as it is not my favorite scene, but I like their philosophy about Reggae. They want to bring the worm, sunny, light-hearted emotions of the genre to the cold dark north. They don't worry about the image so much as the message. It is all about feeling the warmth of the rhythms.

Here is their song "Love."

And a video, in Russian, about who they are.

New KACTA

This is their best yet.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The best in Russian Hip Hop.

"Радиосигналы" - Каста

Katya

OK I may be jumping into my favorites a little bit soon here, but I just can't resist. The lovely Katya, born Katya Chekhova (Катя Чехова), is my absolute all-time favorite contemporary Russian artist. She's signed to the Russian label Uplifto, which is reponsible for a lot of the most exciting dance music coming out of Russia right now.

She started making music in 2005, and her first release, I - Robot (Я-Робот) is OFF THE HOOK.  When I was studying abroad in 2006 my best friend and co-author of this blog Megan found her CD in a tiny music store in Vladimir, Russia and bought it because of the robot on the cover.  It ended up being my favorite purchase either of us ever made that whole time.

Here is a remix of her song "I - Robot," my favorite off her first album - I'll post more recent tracks later, but this is a great introduction to her work.    

Katya - Ya Robot (Sound Shocking and Zoomer Megamix)

Make sure you visit her website here, where you can download all of her albums - that is, if you can figure out where to find them.

Tatyana Bulanova

Let's start this blog off with a bang, in the form of the ridiculously delicious Tatyana Bulanova (Татьяна Буланова), a St. Petersburg native who's been creating sweet jams since 1990. She was in a band called Letni Sad from 1990-1996, before branching out into the ever-popular (and get ready for lots of music like this) Russian techno genre. This is my favorite of her stuff, Leto Zima (Лето Зима), a deeply melodic minor-key tribute to the Russian winter. Enjoy, and don't forget to check out Tatyana's official website here.

Tatyana Bulanova: Leto Zima