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