FPM

Hey folks! Sorry for the latency. The New Year's preparations have taken all my time. However...

I was really glad to find this tune on YouTube. I already wrote here about my first meeting with Japanese indie through Pizzicato Five, Boredoms, Melt Banana and Boom Boom Satellites videos. So when I finally found the Bungalow Records' compilation "Readymade Records, Tokyo - The Remixes", I was listening to it all the time. This was the first cassette to include Pizzicato Five and Fantastic Plastic Machine music. And it introduced me to the "pop" side of the genre so much provided by late 90's Ninja Tune artists. And this remix was definitely one of my first favorite groove tunes. And I think it's a nice tune to post on the New Year's Eve - just to help you get in the holiday mood. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY! :)

Hefner

When I first heard this tune by the future jazz artist Hefner (not the indie rock band) on "Radio Styl", I had no idea yet that search for this tune will bring me into the whole world of downtempo/electronic jazz music and a few years later - into broken beat scene. Later, in August 1999, when I was listening to Gaya Live (one of the first streaming web radio-stations to deal entirely with electronic music), I heard Hefner's music again. But this is an entire huge story to tell about. Let's be consistent...

It will take me about a year to find the Inertia Records compilation, where this tune was included. And another couple of years until I first find his tunes through AudioGalaxyy, and then - his entire album through SoulSeek. But still, this opening tune, alongside Clifford Gilberto and DJ Vadim's "London Mind State", will always remind me of my last spring in Minsk.

Clifford Gilberto

Today's tune is another Ninja Tune classic that followed me from spring till autumn of 1999. It was a perfect soundtrack for both - the first sunny spring days in Minsk, that I was often spending walking around downtown, and the first cooler days of autumn in Jerusalem, that I was spending in ulpan. Indeed, oddly enough, each time I hear this tune, there are two different sights that come up in my memory at once: banks of Svisloch river, covered with snow, melting in the sun; and the road from Kav-Tet be-November street all the way down to Emek Refaim.

New Forms

Yes, it took me a while before I finally bought this album. But after all this was one of the albums that made up the soundtrack of my first months in Jerusalem. And this particular tune very much reflected the way I saw this city, when I first got here - full of tension and mytery.

White Town

Time for a weekly tune! Something that I was thinking about for quite a while lately.

On the wave of new disco-inspired hits, like "Sexy Boy", "Lovefool", "Da Funk" and "Music Sounds Better with You", another memorable hit was "Your Woman" by White Town. Around the same time there was an article about the artist behind this name in "MG", from which I've learned that this song was recorded at home studio by British-Indian Jyoti Mishra and he's built his studio from the equipment that he found in the streets. Indeed, as I'm thinking about it right now, back then a lot of old electronic instruments seemed so useless that people were getting rid of them for ridiculously small money.

When we arrived in Israel, one of the first places that me and my sister visited was the "Picadilly" store on Shatz street, that was already running a closing sale, so a lot of CD's were extremely cheap and we bought a few after 2 hours of digging through shelves. One of which was White Town's album, because my sis loved "Your Woman". Back home we were amazed by the fact that the rest of the album sounds way different from the hit. And actually, all the other songs were much better! Like this one:

Jyoti Mishra is an original "bedroom producer". You may even call him and original hipster, if you wish. Despite his past major success, he continues recording and releasing his music independently to this day. He was one of the first artists I knew that were managing their website and even a sort of blog (it was still 1999, remember). Here it is - really worth checking out!

Hooter (Carl Craig Remix)

There were a few tunes that I forgot to mention in my previous posts, so I'll be posting them from time to time.

This video was actually on the same tape, that back in early 1997 introduced me to a lot of my favorite alternative artists as well as electronic ones, like FSOL and The Orb. This was my first introduction to techno - different from what I used to know by then (euro-dance and happy hardcore). I guess, this was the tune that opened the doors for me into this genre, and a few years later - led me to my first underground techno parties in Jerusalem.

Back then I couldn't imagine that this clip was actually 8 minutes long. It didn't feel like that.

Welcome to "Tales from the Crates"

Hello everyone!

I am Markey Funk and this is my new blog dedicated to the long forgotten music that I used to listen to as a child (and a bit after that). Behind every song there is a story of people and music, hidden in the records grooves. Behind every favorite song there is a listener's personal story and memories. When I brought up the title "Tales from the Crates", I wanted to explore the stories behind the music that I'm collecting. Now, I'd like to use this title to tell my personal stories, that I recall, while looking through my cassette boxes.

After running a 3-month daily song project in my Facebook profile, I realized how much music can one person listen to while growing up and how much can a person tell about almost every tune that he remembers. Of course, Facebook timeline format is not perfect for such storytelling project, so I've decided to create a blog that will collect all these musical memories. It will not be updated daily (3 months is fine, but we all have lives), but instead I'll be posting a song every Saturday.

But before we go on further, you're welcome to scroll backwards, read and listen to all the music that I've been posting during last 3 months.

Enjoy! :)

So Long

In winter I bought a tape of LTJ Bukem's "Logical Progression". In the middle of the mix there was this amazing tune. Each time I heard it, I was thinking about the day, when a plane will take us from Minsk. I was trying to imagine what I will see from my window seat... the noon sky, maybe the sea, maybe only the sea of clouds...

On July 18, 1999 it all became a reality: me on a plain going from one world to another, from one life to another... with no return ticket. I didn't realize yet, that this day will be the separation line between my life in Minsk and my life in Jerusalem. In 5 years, all this will be just memories. There will be music to bring those memories back, but there will be nothing to connect them to my new life here.

This wasn't the end of everything - this was only the end of the beginning.

Erica America

June 1999. I was counting days backwards to our flight, going downtown almost every evening and listening to this ultimate summertime album.

I remember this moment vividly:
Warm summer evening, me running by Palace of the Republic, turning behind the corner and here it is - city's new huge central square, filled with sunset light, this song playing in my headphones, and excitement filling every cell of my body. As if the whole world was smiling at me: the sun, the river, squares and parks, trees, buildings, buses, trams and cars - this whole city, giving me it's farewell cheers.

This is the Minsk that I'll always remember.

150 Milliardov Shagov

Late May 1999: After Kirill and me went to "Radio Styl" with our music as Observer, I was involved with 10GLAZ. While the project was still in working, I went to a hip hop festival organized by local alternative nightclub. There Kindut first presented one of the tunes we recorded together.

Around the same time the new Tequilajazzz album dropped out. I couldn't wait to buy it - this time on an original CD. Unlike anything else, this album was in sync with my confused feelings about these last months that I had in Minsk. I've learned to enjoy every little second of my life to the fullest, but I knew that soon I'm leaving into the new uncertain future, and all these things that I was enjoying so much will stay behind.

GROOVE DAY - PART 1

Of course, thanks to "Radio Styl", I was discovering not only hip hop, but it came alongside acid jazz, breakbeat, jungle... one night there was even a Reinforced Records special, from which I first learned about the early pre-"Timeless" sound... but let's be consistent.

Thanks to the promoters and DJ's that often came to the radio, I could not only discover separate tunes, but hear part of mixtapes by famous DJ's. One night they played various parts of the Cut Chemist/Shortkut "Future Primitive Session", which, of course, hooked me even more on scratching and DJ'ing. The other they played some parts from DJ Vadim/Primecuts mixtape, with some great and rare funk breaks.

But it was discovering segments from this amazing mixtape that a) turned me finally on Cut Chemist and drove me closer to discovering Jurassic 5, whom I will hear a couple of years later; b) showed me that you can spin any music with a beat in a DJ-set - not necessarily new; c) put my focus on what funk really is.

I guess, this was the first moment, when I thought - this is my groove, this is what I want to play as a DJ, these are the real roots of hip hop - this is where I want to dig. And all this "breakout" started with hearing these sounds:

GROOVE DAY - PART 2

One of the first real soul-funk tunes I heard on "Radio Styl" was introduced as a release from Acid Jazz Records. I wish I knew the truth back then and wouldn't mess with this genre too much, while looking for this song.

This was 100 times better than any Jamiroquai song I knew.

 

GROOVE DAY - PART 3

I heard this tune on the same night I heard the previous one and it just exploded in my mind. I just didn't know where to look for the stuff like this, but this was the essence of groove for me - wild like punk-rock, uncompromising like hardcore, tight like jungle and soulful at the same time.

I didn't know yet, that it was a cover, but after the years, with all my love to Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger, their version doesn't get any closer to this one.

GROOVE DAY - PART 4

This tune was the perfect evening tune of May 1999. Unrelated to the spoken content, it reflects the atmosphere of warm spring evenings in Minsk.

GROOVE DAY - PART 5

I'm closing this day with this tune. I've discovered it on a pirate compilation called "Porno Jazz", that included mostly modern lounge artists, like Dimitri from Paris, Kid Loco and selected tunes from "Suck It and See" compilation (like the previous one, for example). This way I also learned, what else can I sample and what can I make out of these samples... ahem... yes.

For the 16-year old virgin hooked on music this thing was even cooler than watching all the Emmanuelle movies and late night Playboy channel segments combined. No need to explain more on that, I think. :)

HIP HOP DAY - PART 1

Admit, you've been waiting for it! :)

Yes, through Portishead, DJ Shadow, DJ Cam, Beastie Boys and Ninja Tune I came to hip hop. Big time - not just rap, but all the aspects of the culture. This was the rise of internet, though we were still mostly reaching it at the internet cafes. Through what DJ guests on "Radio Styl" were explaining, I was learning more and more about the whole culture and then was spending hours at the cafe, searching for more information on the topic. Soon I've found myself hanging out with rappers downtown and even managed to meet some of the key figures on the Belorussian hip hop scene and even working with one of them. But let's take it from the start.

Early spring of 1999. Almost every evening I was tuning to "Radio Styl" to hear more and more new stuff that I've never heard. In the array of Ninja Tune artists I suddenly heard this song. And that was it - this was my essence of rap. The rhymes, the flow, the beat (which was also produced by DJ Shadow!), the vibe - it all was so different from the mid-to-late 90's stuff I saw on TV and sounded so true, so essential.

I think, if I wouldn't discover this EP, I'd never really get into hip hop the way I did. This was and still remains my "Can I Kick It", "California Love" and "Bring tha Ruckus" - all in one. Everything else was after this tune.

HIP HOP DAY - PART 2

There was a long line of inspiration in sampling for me. Ninja Tune stuff inspired me to dig through my dad's jazz records - even the most avant garde ones. DJ Cam and Shadow inspired me to look for the drum breaks on the same records (which was desperating). DJ Vadim's first album inspired me to look for strange spoken word samples. But this particular album was the last push to look for samples on every record in sight. Lucky for me, we were doing rips of my whole dad's record collection into MP3 format, so I managed to listen to a lot of records on the way.

Like with many others, I've learned about this fourth cornerstone of alternative hip hop long before I had a chance to hear his music. It took more than a year since I read about him in "MG", until I've finally heard his stuff on the radio. But the real discovery was when I finally managed to get his legendary album on CD. And this particular tune - calm, deep, dark and melancholic - it was in perfect sync with my mood that same spring.

HIP HOP DAY - PART 3

It wasn't the PE, it wasn't the Run-DMC, it wasn't the Grandmaster Flash or Herbie's "Rockit", it wasn't Wu-Tang and it wasn't Dr. Dre, it wasn't Tribe and it wasn't Gang Starr, no Pharcyde, no Cypress Hill and no Biggie Smalls... And even as much as I loved Beastie Boys, it wasn't yet them, because, despite my love of "Hello Nasty", it didn't have the impact that "Ill Communication" had on me, but all this was later on...

It was THIS tune that got me into classic hip hop. And the glasses I have for last 3 years were my dream since that time. This tune put me in the baggies and military jackets for another 3 years. This tune guided my eye through the city walls in search for graffiti art, it also put a notebook and a pen in my hands to start drawing my own first sketches. This tune brought me to Sugar Hill Records, early Def Jam, "Buffalo Gals", "Rockit", "Planet Rock", "The Message" and "South Bronx". It brought me to beat juggling, it brought me to funk, it brought me to deep funk. This tune brought me to meet Kindut - legendary MC and rap journalist - and start my first collective hip-hop-acid-jazz project, called "10GLAZ" ("10EYES").

It was all thanks to this single tune.

HIP HOP DAY - PART 4

Actually, I wouldn't have met Kindut without meeting the graffiti artist Shin - one of the most original and artistic in Minsk at that time. Shin was a tall and quiet student with a very deep knowledge in hip hop history. He brought me this tape. And this was my final guide into soulful conscious rap. It also was my real introduction into Black music. I guess, after this album and this particular tune, my way into funk and soul was inevitable.

HIP HOP DAY - PART 5

And so, I was infected by the hip hop virus. But unlike the same rappers that I used to hang out with, I wasn't listening to any of the hardcore, gangsta or boom bap classics. Instead, I was listening to the b-boy style stuff - funky, jazzy, soulful and positive. Not always with MC's, but always groovy.

Gus Gus

We'll step backwards for a moment to another album that reminds me of winter of 1999. And my favorite song from it:

_____________________________________________________________

P. S. Yet another favorite song:

NINJA TUNE DAY - PART 1

And so, 1999 had come, bringing with it a huge stream of new sounds. Many of them I've first discovered in "MG", then heard on "Radio Styl", then copied from my new friends, that I've met on different occasions.

One of the most exciting such discoveries was the legendary UK label Ninja Tune. Many of these tunes made up the sound of the coming spring, starting with this one:

NINJA TUNE DAY - PART 2

I already had Herbaliser's "Blow Your Headphones", when I heard this on the radio. But I could never imagine something as calm, minimalistic and abstract. This is how I've learned about the third cornerstone of instrumental hip hop - DJ Vadim. I could listen to such stuff for days, but didn't know where to find it... yet...

NINJA TUNE DAY - PART 3

A friend of mine brought me the fresh FunKungFusion compilation on two cassettes. It included a lot of Ninja's Golden Era tunes that became my personal classics: Mr Scruff, Kid Koala & Money Mark, Dynamic Syncopation, DJ Food's remix for The Herbaliser, The Irresistible Force, Neotropic, Journeyman's "Spy", twisted drum'n'bass by Override and Wild Palms, Clifford Gilberto, Amon Tobin, Luke Vibert, Funki Porcini, J Swinscoe ... you know the names.

But this particular tune was like: "Fffffuck, I wanna do what they're doing here!" In the movie "Scratch" many DJ's recall Hancock's "Rockit" as their first inspiration in scratching. This tune was my "Rockit". From the moment I heard it, I wanted to be involved with Hip Hop as much as I could. I was trying to scratch my children's records on my dad's record player. This is how I discovered the need of slipmat and a mixer. Later on my B-Boy friend brought me a video-tape of 1998 German ITF championship, where DJ Hype (later - Marc Hype) took the first place and Shortkut and Babu gave a closing showcase. I felt euphoric and miserable, because I couldn't afford any equipment by then. It will take another 2 years until I'll have my first DJ-mixer, but this was just the beginning.

NINJA TUNE DAY - PART 4

This was a perfect rainy day tune. Simple, quiet and beautiful, it perfectly reflected the mood of early spring days in Minsk.

It just me there on one of those rainy days - sitting by the window of my room... or riding on the bus through downtown...

NINJA TUNE DAY - PART 5

And early spring nights felt exactly like this tune:

NINJA TUNE DAY - PART 6

In the same spring of 1999 two of the most interesting DJ's on "Radio Styl" released their mixtape, very much inspired by Ninja Tune's sound and aesthetics.

I remember vividly the moment, when this tune exploded in my ears, and that's how it remained in my memory - sunny afternoon downtown with a great view on the city and the banks of Svisloch river, where I used to walk very often that year...

Better Things

New Year's Eve of 1999. My last real New Year's Eve - with snow (which was actually the first snow in that irregularly warm winter), big celebration with a lot of friends, midnight toast and presents. Even our friends from Germany came for a visit.

That night I've received my first shaving kit and a lesson in using it from my parent's close friend. Later that night I was supposed to take a taxi to the other end of town, where my friends had a party of their own.

I can never forget this moment: Silent night, around 4 AM, snow reflecting the streetlights, me sitting by the table, looking outside of the window at the quiet city, and waiting for my cab to arrive... and this song flowing out of the speakers... perfect for such moment, full of magic and sadness...

This was the moment when I realized that this was actually my last New Year in Minsk. In half a year I'll be in totally different place - far away from here - and will never come back.

Bomb 20

The winter of 1998 has come. My sister left to Israel. Our computer crashed down twice. After the first crash I rescued very few of the old samples taken during the previous year, and decided to move on to SoundForge, using the technique that I've already developed. This way I've made a few tracks and even managed to burn them on CD, before the computer crashed again. This time I decided to try this new software by the same company behind SoundForge. It was called "Acid", it allowed simple multi-track loop-based production and ever since it remained my working environment of choice.

Back from SPb I was going through major changes in my social life: After disappointment with people at HaShomer HaTsair club in Minsk, I was looking for something different. So with the new youth club under Israel Cultural Center I found some better place to be. Many of my friends from school were involved, including my very close friend and musical collaborator - Kirill. This way I've also met many people behind various youth organizations in town. One of these people was Rodion - one of the two most famous playboys in young Jewish community. He was a rapper, so I couldn't expect him to have something like this. He brought me the desirable tape with both - album and an EP by the DHR newcomer - Bomb 20.

This tune was my essence of Digital Hardcore. Now I knew that this is the kind of music that I'd like to try to do myself.

A year later, this cassette and Atari Teenage Riot albums would help me survive my painful involvement with Israeli educational system.

ST. PETERSBURG DAY - PART 1

For my 16th birthday I received two great presents: my first CD-player and a trip to St. Petersburg with my mom and sister.

I fell in love with this city from the first day! Despite the winter cold, I enjoyed every moment we've spent there. While on bus or in metro I was listening to two new CD's that I've bought recently. And that's how I remember them.

I could expect anything from the man behind "Endtroducing.....", but this album was beyond imaginable!

ST. PETERSBURG DAY - PART 2

Another CD that I was constantly listening to, while in SPb was by the band that I ignored for a long time. Just because I didn't like Hip Hop yet. I guess I wouldn't ever get to this band, if I wouldn't be such a fan of Beck's "Odelay". And I wouldn't get into Rap without this album. And the first tune that really caught my ears was not rap at all, but I loved it so much from the first hearing, that I'd hit the "back" button a few times:

ST. PETERSBURG DAY - PART 3

Naturally, the most important place to visit in SPb for me was the place where the original local music was sold. And there I jumped on opportunity to buy the stuff that I've never seen in Minsk.

One of these few cassettes was the new album by the legendary female quartette Kolibri, on which they were backed by Tequilajazzz. These two names combined seemed like something extraordinary, and so it was - the perfect musical memory of Piter and another album that was reflecting my feelings at that time. Especially - this song.

JAPANESE DAY - PART 1

On the same tape with all the videos that I posted yesterday (and many more) there was a segment of four Japanese bands.

I was already familiar with Cibo Matto and Pizzicato Five from the articles in "MG", but I couldn't expect to hear anything like this...

JAPANESE DAY - PART 2

Discovery of this band later introduced me to the whole genre of Japanese post-modern pop. This genre, among others soon drove me closer to exploring the aesthetics of 1960's popular Western lifestyle and fashion - something that was very unfamiliar to a kid born and raised on Soviet history.

JAPANESE DAY - PART 3

I don't know what to tell about this next video. Just as unique as The Residents and as alien as Melt Banana, this thing blew my mind, leaving no chance to find their albums. But, hell yeah, this looked so much fun that I could watch it over and over again.

Damn! As I watched this video again now, I've realized how poor are all the hipster kids of today. As much as they try to make an impression of totally not giving a f@ck - they wouldn't even get close to something like this.

JAPANESE DAY - PART 4

The fourth and the last Japanese band video on that tape was a superb example of breakbeat: heavy, explosive, with distorted bass and guitars - this band could replace Prodigy and Chemical Brothers for me, if only I could find their album back then in Minsk of 1998.

I couldn't find the amazing video for this tune on the web, so just listen:

JAPANESE DAY - BONUS

This is not a video by Japanese artist - it just was on the same tape with all the clips that I posted yesterday and today and had an equally strong impact on me.

I already knew Squarepusher by then and I was often listening to his "Hard Normal Daddy", that I had on cassette, but this tune and the whole EP that it's from forever remained my favorite recording by this artist.

This is also the fine example of symbiosis between sound and visuals, when you already not sure, what was created first and what serves what - the tune or the video.

VIDEO DAY - PART 1

Like I said before, there will be some days, when I'll be posting a few tunes, connected by common topic. So, today (and tomorrow) I'll be talking about the last tape with video-clips that my sister's friend brought me.


It was autumn of 1998, and my sister was getting ready to leave to Israel ahead of us. Unlike with earlier videos I had (like it was with many electronic and alternative artists, that I first saw on the TV-screen), only very few of those songs actually led me to follow the bands that I've discovered. But these visuals are part of my experience of those last months of 1998.

VIDEO DAY - PART 2

VIDEO DAY - PART 3

VIDEO DAY - PART 4

Yes-yes! This one too! :) I've heard about this band from many people and didn't know what exactly to expect. But I think, as much as it's not representative enough, this tune and a clip are still very nice to be a person's first introduction to such a cult musical phenomenon. :)

VIDEO DAY - PART 5

This song was a favorite for both me and my sister. She even bought their album, when she came to Israel.

I think this was another early step towards funk and hip hop for me. Pretty soon this song represented the groove that I was deep into.

Atari Teenage Riot

Ever since I'd read about this band in "MG" in summer 1997, I was looking for anything by them. Later, in another issue, there was a whole page with reviews of the albums from their legendary label. From that moment, the magic words "Digital Hardcore" sounded most exciting and intriguing to me. I was looking for a music that would reflect vividly all my feelings about the regime that me and people around me were caught under. I was looking for the sound that was the real "electronic punk", but when I finally got to hear the "Spawn" soundtrack, this was above all my expectations. Now I had it - the ultimate, uncompromising sound of revolution, the prefect music to destroy the government with.

SaturnzReturn

It was one of the early autumn evenings of 1998 I was sitting at home and listening again to "Radio Styl". They didn't do too much announcements, but they had two most regular persons on air - Tim Karamyslov and Mister Kvakin, who were playing all the cool music there. This time Tim decided to dedicate a whole show to the new epic release by Goldie, that just dropped out. All of the tunes Tim played were amazing, but this particular one was a revelation to me: A whole story, a journey put in a 16-minute soulful Jazz-Funk-Jungle piece. Not "Timeless", but this piece finally stated that Drum'n'Bass is not just a genre of dance-floor music, but a new original artform, that was taking Black music and music in general to some new level.

Oddly enough, I found this piece only split in two parts, so here are two videos:

Before we move on to the next tune, there's one announcement:

Because it's only 2 weeks before the end of my song project (or at least - the way it was originally meant to be) and the phase I'll be talking about, includes a lot of single tunes that I feel important to mention, I'll be making exceptions to post a few tunes in a day under one common topic. Not particularly today, but pretty soon.

Round & Round

Obviously, due to my condition and the immune depressants I was taking, I couldn't go to the summer camp on 1998. I only came there for a one day visit, together with Ilya Aronov. This was my farewell visit there and, actually, I hardly remember what I was doing there. I remember that this was a real fun, but I don't remember a single scene.

And I remember that this song, that I've recorded from "Radio Styl" was spinning in my head over and over again.

Fish

The devastating 3 months in hospital were over, in the middle of this period I was allowed to come out to the middle school graduation ceremony. I didn't know yet, that this will be my last day at school in Minsk. Doctors prescribed me a year course of immune depressant medicine, and this didn't allow me to be in the class daily. At the same moment doctor's advise was to move to the hotter and dryer area in order to recover. And so the decision was made - we started preparing for aliyah.

At the same time there was a great good thing happening: The new radio-station "Radio Styl" ("Radio Style") was broadcasting from 16:00 till 2:00 every day, with a lot of brand new music. Everyone had mixed up feelings about it: on one hand, since it was aimed at a young auditory, there were only young broadcasters and the accent was made on the music that appeals to the young: alternative rock, hip hop, electronica and other trendy stuff; on the other hand, this station was curated by the Belorussian Youth Union, which was a state youth organization, which was often called "Luka Jugend". Many of the same youngsters that loved alternative music, didn't appreciate the Luksahenko's rising dictatorship too much.

However, many of us hip kids were tuning to 101.2 FM almost daily for the new portion of fresh music from abroad. I still have about 10 tapes of songs recorded from there, but the first amazing discovery was this funny tune, that became the first real hit at the station. People were calling to request this tune almost DAILY!

I think this was nearly the only radio-station in the world that made this tune a number one hit.

Aviatsiya I Arilleriya

It didn't happen suddenly, but by stages: First, I had a strange fever, when I was writing my pre-exam in Belorussian. After staying at home for about a week I came back to school and the excitement about the spring and meeting all the friends was so high, that I didn't think about the allergic consequences of putting wreath of dandelions on my neck. In a few days the nightmare had begun. I didn't know what exactly was happening to my body, but I was feeling worse and worse. Soon I was sent to hospital and after 3 nights in half-delirious state, the verdict was finally stated - glomerulonephritis: my immune system was killing my kidney cells as if they were viruses. Long, heavy and devastating treatment has started.

Parents brought me the small radio-tape that I sometimes used to record stuff and a few cassettes. In the middle of one of the nights I tuned in to the frequency that was promising to become the new radio-station soon - 106.4 FM... and there, in the quiet, I heard this song from the forthcoming Tequilajazzz album, playing as a broadcasting test for the radio-wave that very soon will become my new source of great music...

Drum'n'Bass

Spring of 1998: I was doing my first steps in producing music; Evelina immigrated to USA, leaving me with the whole book of Antoine de Saint-Exupery stories, an Adiemus album and an endless stream of creativity. I was in the 9th grade and spring was the beginning of exams period for the middle school.

Around the same time I discovered new shows on FM radio-stations. One of which was dealing with electronic music. There I caught a DJ-set by DJ Boomer from St. Petersburg. This was the first time I actually heard a DJ mixing Jungle live on the radio. And his set included only brilliant tunes, including this special one!

Maxinquaye

And of course, soon after Massive Attack came this guy's debut album. The first surprise was that "Overcome" is just a version of "Karmacoma". The second was this tune, that felt very close to the vibe of that Velvet Underground & Nico cassette that my sister had.

Risingson

Early 1998: my sister's friend brought us another video-tape full of clips from MTV's "Alternative Nation". This was a nice guide for the new names to look for, and a nice challenge for new sounds to try to produce.

And finally, after reading about them numerous times in "MG", I've heard this band. And it was a nice song to begin from!

Sneaker Pimps

After being blown away by Portishead's second album, I was very interested in following their musical trace.

Around the same time I discovered a fashion show on one of the FM-stations, that was including a lot of new and fresh electronic/underground music. I was listening very closely, waiting to hit the record button, when the next cool tune begins. This way I heard again this band, that I already knew before: I saw their creepy-sexy video on MTV, when I was in Vienna, and I've read an article about them in "MG" in the summer, but it was this song that actually made me want to find their debut album.

DJ Cam

Soon after discovering "Endtroducing....." I've found another cassette. The music on it was coming from a background different to that of DJ Shadow: there was a lot of jazz influence on it. I was also hypnotized by two tunes with Indian vocals.

These two albums encouraged me to go back to my dad's record collection, but this time, I was looking for samples. This was the beginning of my involvement with cut&paste.

I still didn't realize it, but now I was slowly moving towards Hip Hop.

DJ Shadow

1997 was moving towards its end, when I finally put my hands on the album, made by the artist, that I read about in "MG" in the summer. Ever since I'd read this article I was curious to hear his music. Funny enough, at the same time, when I bought it, my sister's friend brought me a compilation from the same label. The album became one of the most influential records in my life, but the compilation contained a long non-album track, based on a drum sample from the song, that back then was one of my favorite. These two tapes were the starting point of my journey into sampling and record digging.

I guess, you understand, what album I'm talking about.

Portishead "Portishead"

The winter of 1997-1998 has come. And with it - one of the most anticipated albums. This is pure winter music for me. There's no such winter in Israel, so I'm not listening to this album so much. But I feel the cold each time I hear it.

I had a strange karma with this album: I was losing copies of it once in a few years: first - on tape, later - on CD's.

It's a nice consequence that I'm posting this tune today. Because I think this was my first introduction to the sound that I love so much in recent years: dark grooves, dirty drums, analogue electronics and cinematic psychedelia. Add to this the fact that this album was mixed entirely on turntables and you've got an image of the ultimate album for me.

Subliminal Sandwich

After Scorn, Orb's "Orblivion" and Lee Perry's "Super Ape Inna Jungle" I was looking for some more "stuff like that", so my tape pusher dropped me a name "Meat Beat Manifesto" and I bought the first cassette I saw with this name.

And I fell in love with this sound, the samples, the overall space-radio-broadcast feel of the album. Ironically, I had no idea that it's a double CD. Slowly but surely the whole album (well, the part of it) grew up on me, but this tune was the first to catch my ear.

Funki Porcini

Ok, with all the excitement about the forthcoming record I still have a song to post. :)

My journey into electronic music was taking me further. I was hungry to hear more and more interesting stuff, so I was listening to every suggestion from my sister's friend. One day he brought me this album. I had no title, no tracklist only the name on the cassette that was stating "Funky Porcini". It was supposed to be "something nice that's very similar to Autechre an Aphex". Well, it did exactly match the description.

What I didn't know yet, that this would become my first introduction to one of my favorite labels.

Scorn

Inspired by Aphex Twin and what I was reading in "MG" about electronica I was looking for some more music in this direction, so my sister's friend brought me this album.

After Portishead's "Dummy", this was probably my second introduction to heavy dirty beats.

Jungle

So yes, "This Is... Jungle" (that years later appeared to be just one of hundreds of Beechwood Music samplers) was my first real guide through Drum'n'Bass sounds, including some of my favorite tunes by 4hero, Goldie, Photek, Wax Doctor, Universal Flava, Jason Mouse, ST Files, as well as first introduction to Alex Reece, Omni Trio, LTJ Bukem, Roni Size, Intense and many others.

For sure, "Dig Your Own Hole" and the long-awaited "The Fat of the Land" were in heavy rotation, but they only resonated with my "teenage spirit", while this new discovered genre was providing a further perspective. Euphoric, atmospheric, soulful, and at the same time heavy, eccentric and unpredictable, Jungle was just too progressive to share with my classmates. And the fast broken beats were just so so so perfect! Yes, they were challenging, but combined with almost ambient patterns and soundscapes this was just a perfect music for me. I think that without Jungle, I'd never get hooked on rhythm aspect in music as much as I am today.

To my surprise, soon I found another cassette entitled "This Is... Jungle": the only familiar name it included was Perfect Combination, which altogether seemed curious and suspicious. "How come there's no big names on the compilation? How can a genre compilation do without the classics?" What I didn't know, is that I'm buying my first mixtape. Or, to be exact - mix-CD put on tape. And it included another tune that became my personal classic:

Inner City Life

Autumn 1997. Time was moving towards my 15th Birthday. I was trying different ways of making my own music. From overdubbing myself on the tape via microphone, I moved to trying things on our computer. With Windows Sound Editor alone (Win 95 users, anyone?) I managed to manipulate sounds that I exported from Warcraft II and Shattered Steel in order to create some primitive tracks. Soon, a friend of mine brought me some other program, which was still pretty primitive sound editor. Like any PC user of that time I didn't have too much space, so I was creating tracks in an awful 8 bit/11.025 kHz quality and recording them on tape, before erasing the original.

Like I already said, from the few tunes I've heard so far, I was looking for the "Jungle" thing. "Super Ape Inna Jungle" by Lee Perry and Mad Professor was nice, but I wanted more, so I've bought two cassettes with a simple title "This is... Jungle". These two tapes became my real introduction to the genre. And this is how I finally heard this name again - Goldie.

Treasure

So, yes, to a surprise for my long-haired classmates, my 9th grade began with moving in a new creative direction.

For the Rosh HaShana we've made a weird decoration project in our class: one of the boys brought a bunch of vinyl records from home and we were drawing on them with gouache. Ahem, yes, back then I still wasn't a record collector and my heart wasn't breaking at the sight of a record that will no longer be played. The result was impressive but a bit scary. After the holidays I brought home the major part of painted records and pasted them on the walls around my room.

A few weeks later, while listening to another tape that I copied from Ilya Aronov, I started drawing on the wallpaper around one of the records. Now, another journey had begun: the journey towards turning my room into an ever-developing art object.

Super Ape Inna Jungle

So, my journey into electronic music was going full-speed further: I knew that I'm about to copy a lot of cassettes, so I just bought 2 boxes of tapes (10 in each one), that were intended specially for the music that my sister's friend will bring me.

I desperately was looking for some Jungle stuff, so he brought me something very extraordinary:

P. S. And one more:

Lamb

The summer of 1997 was coming to an end. But behind the euphoria of summer camps I felt caught up inside the image I created for myself. People became too used to an eccentric freak they knew and they rarely expected something deeper and more serious from me. I wanted to change it, but didn't know how.

One morning I went for a shopping round with my sister and suddenly she said: "Why don't you cut your hair? You've gotten too used to the long one, and you still can always grow it back, if you want".

We just went to the next barbershop and in 30 minutes it was over. I never felt such release! I was touching my head, like this was some brand new tactile sensation that my fingers never experienced. None of our friends that we were meeting the same day recognized me. And I liked this effect. I felt new, I felt that I finally declared the change that I was going through.

And new music was taking over my ears.

Trinovox

Alongside electronica, I was seeking music that could reflect my feelings. Outside I was an eccentric wild freak, but inside I still a shy romantic boy in love.

In my sister's collection I've found a cassette, that only had a band name written on it - Trinovox. A whole album, arranged and performed by 3 voices. Emotional, beautiful and pure. This album could be the best to tell what inner struggle I was facing.

Unfortunately, I could find only this song, although it's not representative enough.

Antichrist Superstar

Get the contrast: With all the electronics I was getting into, one of my favorite albums in 1997 was Marilyn Manson's "Antichrist Superstar". As a teenage kid that was living in a country slowly falling into a dictatorship, this was something that I could strongly relate to. My rebel spirit needed a release of negative energy and this album was giving this release perfectly - from the very first song.

Aphex Twin

Around the same moment with FSOL's "Dead Cities" another album arrived in my collection. This was the most sensational combination of industrial sounds and ambient patterns. Fast heavy rhythms coated in calm hypnotic melodies and pads.

Funny enough, it was this album after Goldie's "Angel" and David Bowie's "Little Wonder" that was driving me closer to Jungle. But still, most extraordinary and outstanding tune on the album was the last one - with no beat, no annoying heavy sounds, symphonic and moody.

Dead Cities

Don't be confused by the tunes I posted recently. Back in summer 1997 I was still mostly listening to heavy music, but, like I already said, this was the time of coming change.

I left the band, so I was looking for a way of self-expression. I discovered industrial and electronic music, and inspired by the articles in "MG" on music making, as well as, new video and music tapes from my sister's friend, I was experimenting with our new computer, the tape recorder and every object that was making sounds in our house. My sister's stereo-system had a "mixing mic" input, which allowed me to overdub recordings, while copying them from one tape to another. I could also do that, when copying them at a double speed, so I was just experimenting all the way through, combining AM radio noises, acoustic guitar (that I was awfully playing), sounds, produced on some parts of my sports corner. In general, for the next two years, my room became a studio, a musical instrument, and a canvas.
And I was constantly discovering more and more music that was taking me further into the brave new world of sound.

Barrel of a Gun (Underworld Soft Mix)

It was at HaShomer Hatzair summer camp in 1997. One of the evenings we were sitting a room - Ilya Aronov, his best friend Anton (a huge Depeche Mode fan) and me. A tune was flowing out of the speakers. I knew the vocals - I saw the video on MTV, when I was in Vienna. But this thing was entirely different: calm and peaceful, despite emotional vocals, it was filling the room, the building, the entire space and the listener - me... And it felt as if the time stopped and the whole world had suddenly shrunk to a size of one room, a window, a cool breeze and the darkness outside... In the middle of July, for the first time, I felt that everything is about to change, and this moment, these few days, this summer we all had together, will end and never come back, and we should enjoy every second of it while we can. Something inside of me felt that soon, one by one, we - all the huge company that grew around HaShomer through past 2 years - shall be parting our ways. This wasn't the beginning of the end in no way. This was just a gate into the next phase of our lives. And this tune and that moment was the key that opened this gate for me.

This was one of the first tunes that connected so strongly to the place, the feelings, the people, that each time I hear it, it brings all those memories back very vividly.

Golden Brown

One of the first happy things for the summer of 1997 was our new PC that had a CD-Rom, so it took very little until the first CD's appeared in our house. Mine was a compilation, called "Punk Collection". It included all the usual suspects - Pistols, UK Subs, Exploited, Iggy and the Stooges, as well as some familiar names that my sister didn't have in her collection, and, most important - never before heard names: Stranglers, Knack, New York Dolls, Troggs, Damned, Buzzcocks, Flipper (oh - THAT's the Flipper from Kurt Cobain's t-shirt - not the dolphin from the TV-series!), Morphine and, oh, even Link Wray (I didn't remember his name there - just looked up in the tracklist).

That was pretty much funny, because for a few months this was the ONLY CD in my collection and I could listen to it ONLY on a computer, so that was happening not so often. But there was one song that me and my sister could listen in a loop. It wasn't quite punk, but that didn't matter too much - it was fitting my feelings very well.

Dig Your Own Hole

Summer of 1997 came with a blast. I can't point out the certain reasons for it, but it was the most colourful summer. Love, music, friends, summer camps, freedom, creativity, music again... and again... and again... I finished my piano studies and was looking forward to leave the choir... I had long hair and was dressing like a freak, always carrying a toy mouse, pierced with safety pins all across one ear... then at the camp one of the girls put black polish on my nails... this was the summer of unlimited self-expression... not only mine... something was in the air that year, that summer... a change...

And this song from this album, that brought many different inspirations for me, was one of the hymns of that time.

Nico

I was constantly discovering not only new and current music, but also influential music of the past. After all, growing up surrounded by the songs of Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Queen, left a strong mark on my taste. Music seemed timeless, so for me Beatles or The Doors were not my parents' music, but part of the musical palette of my own generation. So, when one of my sister's friends brought her a cassette, with "Velvet Underground and Nico" written on it, I knew that I must hear it.

For many years this was the only Velvet Underground recording I heard. I liked it a lot, but what a surprise it was to discover a few years ago that it wasn't the actual "banana" album on that tape, but a sort of self-made compilation of songs from Velvets' OTHER albums, separated by selections from Nico's own "Chelsea Girl". And, actually, many of these songs have become my favorite - especially Nico's ones. And this song was actually my first introduction to her shivering and magnifying voice:

Dead Man

In spring 1997 I saw one of my favorite movies of all time - Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man". It was a deep meditative trip through death, poetry, philosophy, references to ancient Greek and Indian mythologies. This is also nearly the only good, if not the best role by Johnny Depp.

And a hypnotizing soundtrack remains the only record by Neil Young that I like. Oddly enough, the soundtrack that I had was taking entire both sides of a 90-something-minute TDK cassette (remember those ones?) - WITHOUT REPEATING TUNES...

I can't post a single tune out of it. Just like the movie itself, the whole soundtrack is a continuous experience.

Odelay

More or less about the same time I discovered FSOL, Orbital and other electronic legends, I've heard this song, or to be exact - I've heard and saw this song. Everything about it magnified me - the incredible collage of images and sounds from different musical eras living organically together in one music video.

"Odelay" for me was before "Endtroducing", and stood as a perfect example of diverse sampling. I guess this was also the album that lead me to Beastie Boys later on. No wonder that "Odelay" and "Paul's Boutique" are my favorite albums by the artists who made them. Thanks to amazing job by Dust Brothers, both albums are entire encyclopedias of rare music. Layers upon layers of samples from a wide variety of genres. And I still can't point out ALL of the samples used on this album!

Trainspotting

And, of course, it's (almost) impossible to be a teenager in the 90's without watching "Trainspotting". In my case, I knew the soundtrack by heart long before I saw the movie itself (which was already closer to 1998).

I'd say that my relation to drugs was very much defined by the book that my sister bought me, when she came back from Israel. It's called, obviously, "Drugs and Poisons". You know how it goes: "read this, so that you won't have to make my mistakes"... Actually, I've never reached the second part of the book, that was dedicated to poisons. My interest in knowledge about drugs was so high, that I'd read the first half a few times, giving most attention to the chapter, dedicated to psychedelics.

The "Trainspotting" soundtrack arrived in my hands right about time, when I discovered the wondrous world of electronica. And the title tune by Primal Scream was just a perfect fit for me. I remember long evening in my room, doing homework or just drawing, and listening to this tune over and over again. Rewinding to the beginning each time it was over.

Honestly, I was pretty much disappointed, when I discovered in which scene it's playing. Such a deep, trippy and aquatic tune, in my opinion, wasn't used wisely. But on the other hand, there's just no scene in the movie that could fit it well enough.

Guesch Patti

Today's tune is also from my first video-tape. And again, I don't have too much to tell about it. Only that about a year later I discovered that it was included in Peter Greenaway's "Pillowbook" - a movie that I liked very much.

2Wicky

Yet another memorable clip for my first video-tape.

Not too many memories were connected to this. I just liked the tune very much. Funnily enough, each time I hear the opening part of Isaac Hayes' "Walk On By", I automatically sing the lyrics of this song. :)

In Sides

Like I said before, I was very romantic and shy boy. I was falling in love but my shyness didn't allow me to make the first steps, or it was just too late to make them. One of the girls that totally blew my mind was Evelina, an eleventh grader and madriha at HaShomer youth club - the most creative, loving, caring and nice person in the whole company. A close friend of Ilya's and a muse for every kid that was in her group at the camp.

I don't know why, but in spring 1997, when I hopelessly fell in love with her, each our conversation remains in my memories like a psychedelic experience. I felt like walking on the air and the world around looked brighter and more colourful than ever.

The first hearing of this tune in 1997 for me was like Albert Hoffman's legendary bicycle ride. I just didn't know what to expect and allowed music to take me on a trip. And that's how I felt in those days - "Just go with the flow and see what's happening"... This was my personal age of discoveries.

The Future Sound of London

David Bowie, eh?... ;)

So, I came back from Vienna with the seed of electronic influence on one hand and tons of paper with lyrics for my band on the other.

The band lasted for 6 months without a drummer and with a bassist who was a huge Metal fan. We gave 1.5 live performances. 1.5 because the first was at the local talent show and the second one happened spontaneously at my place to the audience of 4 people.

I was growing up, my voice was changing, I've finished my piano studies and refused the offer of staying for another year and prepare for musical college. From this fact you may understand that I still wasn't sure then that music will be my future. I left the choir in autumn 1997, when I couldn't sing properly anymore and got pretty much tired of all the inner policies. But, until then there was still spring and summer, which were full of great experiences.

However, it was still spring, I was reading "MG" from the first page to the last, swallowing all the names (especially the relevant ones) and learning about the music that I'd like to hear.

It came from three sources simultaneously: I've read articles about ambient and The Future Sound of London, my sister's friend brought us more videos, that included a segment their clips from "Lifeforms" era, I recorded from Belorussian TV an hour of clips, that included a few other FSOL clips from the "ISDN" era. I was astonished: Where are these sounds coming from? What do these visuals mean? Who is this girl, that appears in every video? Who is this Asian man?...

Soon, from the same sister's friend I discovered Orb, Orbital and Aphex Twin... that's how I entered the world of electronica, while still singing in an alternative rock band.

Today's tune is not the very first FSOL video I saw (oddly enough, later my first FSOL cassette was "Dead Cities", while "Lifeforms" and "ISDN" were absolutely impossible to find). But when I heard it again today, I realized what a phat beat it is! And it's recorded live in 1994! Just listen to it: Dabrye? Ras G? Flying Lotus?... ?!

Little Wonder

The day is still not over, so here comes the tune and a bit long story.

So, I was singing in the Jewish Agency's Children Choir. And in early spring of 1997 we were invited to perform in Vienna at the annual Keren Hayesod members' convention. Instead of hotel, we were sent to the families of the same KH members, where each kid was staying. I don't know what conditions other kids had. I had my own room with one very special object in it - a TV-set, connected to cable channels... and instead of sleeping I was spending my nights doing one thing - watching MTV: Alternative Nation, Chill-Out Zone and other stuff... there was a show that combined alternative artists' live performances with fashion shows by the hottest couturieres. I remember that The Prodigy/Vivien Westwood combination was crazy and I remember that the other show was with Tricky... and there was this one video by David Bowie in heavy rotation: it was from his upcoming album, and, despite being a total cross-over, it drove me even closer to electronica... and especially - my future great love - Jungle...

Momus

Yet another my favorite love song, that followed me through my romantic years... from the same video-tape...

Sugarcubes

Very soon after I discovered Bjork that very same sister's friend brought us a tape of the band she used to sing in before. I don't know why noone of us did copy it, since we both liked it very much, but at least later on we had the video of our favorite song alongside all the 4AD artists and some others that I'll be posting further on... that video-tape was indeed a treasure chest of discoveries...

 

Einsturzende Neubauten

Today's tune is from an album that was brought to my sister by the same friend that discovered for us Portishead a few months earlier...

"They're actually playing every metal or stone object in sight?!"... "Hold on, this guy is... from Nick Cave's Bad Seeds!"... "This is heavy as hell and there's almost no rock instruments used!..."

This was my introduction to industrial as well as the exciting world of new musical sounds. I also think that this record on behalf of the series of articles in "MG" about electronic music production, was the main inspiration to my first electronic experiments, which were very much based on sounds, taken from computer games - "Warcraft II" and "Shattered Steel"... But all that was a bit later...

All the while, in the middle of a 45-minute side of the cassette with the heaviest and darkest music I've ever heard, I discovered this incredibly beautiful ballad - one of my favorite love songs of all time:

Kristin Hersh

January 1997, the winter vacation and the winter camp were the beginning of an exciting period and a mind-blowing year in my life. Previous two years seemed like a rehearsal for the serious turn in my life.

I was falling in love with special girls that I met around, but was too shy to talk about my feelings. Those love affairs pushed my creativity to incredible levels, which later turned into music, visual arts and attempts at poetry. The first girl to blow my mind and make my heart bloom was Katya Volkova from Vitebsk. Her eyes had different colours, she was always around Ilya, a huge fan of The Doors, she called him Jim. And I called her Kate Bowie. Eccentric and loving flower child, she constantly spread euphoric atmosphere around her. Later, when I saw this video amongst other 4AD artists, the singer's face reminded Kate's so strongly that I was thinking of her each time I saw this video.

Note: The only place, where I could find this video, is some Bulgarian website, which is a bit slow. So, be patient and give it a time to load. :)

Dead Can Dance

And, of course, the song following Cocteau Twins was this one. It very much connected me back to the chamber music that my dad used to listen to and the classical music that I was playing on piano.

Cocteau Twins

Alongside The Breeders on the same video-tape there was an array of clips by other artists from the same label. That's how I discovered 4AD an a whole bunch of my new favorite names:

The Breeders

Something else from our video-tapes of early 1997. At the same time I was making my first failing attempts at songwriting with the band that still had no name... Funny enough that this particular video was one of the first to push me towards sound experimentation... "HEY! That's an acoustic guitar plugged into distortion! Why wouldn't WE try it?"

Blur

I must admit that sometimes I'm not exactly sure that I'm tracking the chronology correctly... so maybe I should put it aside at times and just concentrate on the songs themselves...

No so much can I tell about the next band, except that back then I knew that they were Oasis' biggest competitors, just as assholes as them, pretentious and, unlike Oasis, pretty snobbish followers of The Beatles' musical tradition. However, they somehow sounded more interesting to me than Oasis. Much more interesting. The cassette with their eponymous album could have remained in my collection to this day, if I wouldn't have lost it. But my very first meeting with the band was again through my sister's video-tapes:

Sex and Violence

I don't know what to tell about today's song, except that Ilya discovered it for me from my sister's collection. Well, you know... back then if you saw a skull or a cemetery on the cover you wouldn't think that it's a punk record... more of a metal one... :)

Tequilajazzz

Today's late evening tune is from an album that I've discovered in the very same issue of "MG", where I found the "Evil Empire" review.

Despite all the western alternative music that I was so driven by, I was still in Minsk, Belarus, ex-USSR and I was very aware of the music coming from the ex-Sovied territory. Russia, mostly, of course. Since I was studying at the Jewish school in European country, I had one tiny privilege over kids from regular schools - free Saturday. Well, I always had a piano class this day, but that was the ONLY school activity for that day. So Saturday morning was beginning with TV and weekend morning shows. So on Saturdays fro a few years there was a quite odd morning show that was sort of an absurd collage of animation, live in-studio performances of local rock bands and interviews with them between the songs, later they included episodes from Monty Python's Flying Circus, then they were replaced with episodes from a Spanish show "Gomaespuma"... Sssso... the first time I saw this show, they hosted this cool hardcore band from St.-Petersburg.

Back then, with Ilya's help I was very much getting hooked on hardcore, but looking for a band that sounded less metal (like Biohazard or "King for a Day..."'s Faith No More) and more "pure" hardcore (which I didn't exactly know how it's supposed to sound, but i guess RATM was the answer, after all). And this SPB band was just exactly what I needed. They have become the only contemporary Russian band that I followed with dedication, buying every album and listening to it hundreds of times. Their sound was changing with every new record (every year!) and still, it only reflected what my musical search was demanding.

It is possible, that many of you won't be as impressed by this song as I am, for the lyrics in Russian rock were always a very strong element. You'll just have to trust me then... :)

Evil Empire

One of the first album reviews I read in "MG" pretty quickly led me to buying the cassette. This album brought me closer to hip hop as well as protest music. As Belarus was slowly rolling down into dictatorship, I was slowly moving towards anarchism.

Oddly enough, until about 2000 I didn't know that there was one more song before this one on the album. For me this hymn was and always remains... no, not the opener - the door-smasher of this album!

Prodigy

One day among MTV clips I saw this weird guy shouting to a rave beat with heavy rock guitars. He had a reverse mohawk, phat eyeliner and piercing in his nose. But the music wasn't sounding like those Thunderdome compilations - it was more like a rock song, performed on electronics. The TV-host said that Prodigy ("that's the name of the guy?") have released a new song. In a few months, at the Jewish Agency's winter camp, I heard this name again. I can't remember from whom copied the tape, but this album soon led me to my second "break out", now - into the world of electronic music.

Babylon Zoo

Oh! I've just remembered another long lost band that I discovered from TV back in 1996. And I had their album for quite some time! Well... until I couldn't listen to it anymore... :)

Batman

Although I had two great sources of great underground music, my update on new music was still mostly from the small bits I saw on TV. This song drove my attention to U2 and Batman movies. But after years it and their "War" album, that my sister had, remained the only thing I like about this band. Just because "War" was still more of a post-punk album that wasn't pretending to teach the world anything, and this song just had a great chorus. And I guess this was one of the first songs to actually drive my attention to movie soundtracks as the source of exclusive material that was never released on artists' full albums. I'll get back to it further on.

Did I ever manage to watch "Batman Forever" because of loving this song? No, - I stopped after "Batman Returns". :)

Hippy Hippy Shake

Now, this was also my turn on the video: My first video-tape was beginning with Nirvana of course - a legendary collage "Live! Tonight! Sold Out!" and "In Utero"-time MTV concert. Then, on Belorussian TV-channel there was a show, dedicated to the news of cinema and home video. They were often opening and ending the show with some rare music clips and once in a while they were doing an all-music-video special. I've recorded the first one almost entirely. There were many clips by the bands that I've never heard before. Like this, for example:

Marigold

Like I said, coming back to school in fall 1996 was a whole new experience: Hours of new music flowing through my ears and a close friend that encouraged me to start creating my own. But what kind of song can a boy with 7 years of classic piano write? I didn't know how to play guitar... I couldn't even tune it... but I had ideas in my mind...

So, when I discovered that one of the new kids in our class - Kostya - was a guitar player, I didn't hesitate much to offer him to form a band. He brought in his friend - also a guitar player. Kostya was a fan of Guns'N'Roses, but open enough for the grungy stuff. Even before our first rehearsal ever, he brought me an issue of a newspaper that I've never seen before. Its title was simply "Musical Newspaper" (translated from Russian) or as we were used to call it later - "Muzykalka" or "MG" (this is how I'll be calling it in further posts, so don't be confused). This issue had a huge article about rare and unreleased Nirvana material. This is where I've read about the b-sides that I've never heard yet, and this is where I've learned about the forthcoming compilation "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah". I've read some other articles and reviews, and was so amazed by the variety of genres and very dedicated writing that the next week I bought a copy for myself... and the week after too... and then again... From the late 1996 till July of 1999, every week I was taking a hit of musical knowledge from this newspaper. But back in late 1996 the explosion was just about to begin.

Citizen Fish

While copying Operation Ivy, I liked the ska-punk combination that I've heard there, so I immediately asked for something else. The "something else" was from the UK this time.

Operation Ivy

Despite Bjork, Kris Kross, Portishead, Happy Hardcore and my sister's collection of David Bowie videos, most music that I was listening to was still punk and grunge. And Ilya Aronov was the best source for such music.

"Green Day sucks! Check these guys out - they do some REAL positive punk. And also they combine it with ska, which only makes it beter, and they have a message."

Kris Kross

I can't remember exactly how and why, but together with Bjork's "Post" from the same girl from the school I took a rap cassette. I don't know how was it in the other places, but back in the mi-90s in Belarus the dividing line between youth group was defined by the musical style and it was VERY thick. You couldn't have a long hear and listen to rap or "rave". You couldn't wear baggies and likes alternative music. Everyone was jealous for their style. And, no matter what group you belonged to, only one enemy was worse than the others - skinheads, because they would beat you without any relation to your musical taste - in their eyes it all was alien and not patriotic.

However, they're not the case here. I'm talking about rap. So, yes, I've copied this cassette and for another year it remained the only hip hop album in my collection. I absolutely not ashamed by the fact that this is actually the first hip hop album in my collection. It most possibly turned me on a certain kind of vibe in rap and that's why I never liked the gangsta stuff since. The more funky and positive it was - the better.

But it took another couple of years for the whole hip hop thing to begin for me more seriously.

Post

So, yeah, I discovered Bjork at the age of 14 - "Post" and "Debut" simultaneously. And with the time her music was only growing on me more and more. The more details I was hearing in her music, the more lyrics I was understanding, the deeper her influence was growing. I even think that she was one of the main motivations for me to start writing poetry.

Bjork

Alright, moving on: summer of 1996 was over and I was back to school. With a lot of new music and a few new buddies from the higher grades, who were already regulars at the Sokhnut and HaShomer summer (and winter) camps, as well as the growing up HaShomer youth club downtown.

These were the people with whom I could exchange music. And one of the first artists that such exchange drove my attention to was actually already in my sister's collection as well. But despite the expressive looking girl on the cover (of a licensed Israeli cassette), I still didn't give it enough attention. Or maybe I just wasn't prepared yet to hear the voice and the words that will soon become a recorded equivalent of my feelings. I've heard both of her first albums almost at the same time. I will not be posting the hit songs, but instead - those that deeply touched me, those that I could quote in many situations I've had in life.

Here's one of them: