Eastern European Chart Music

Domestic CDs appear to be pretty much dead in Russia. I asked a girl in Soyuz how many Russian new releases they stock per month and she said, "maybe one or two". Everyone's clearing as much stock a they can and you can feel the dust on your fingers as you flick through the racks. It's the same situation in Ukraine, unfortunately. Five years ago you'd have had at least a dozen new chart CDs every couple of weeks.

I don't have access to Muz.TV at the moment, only MTV, which is never the best guide, but they're still playing stuff from 2010 on regular rotation. So much of the new stuff around is internet / radio only.

iza lach has a mixtape and 5-album deal with snoop dogg

http://izalach.bandcamp.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QkLx9v90w8

(zycieboli, just curious - anyone I can recognize from twitter?)

yeah, just came here to check if Iza's been already mentioned and it's so nice to see she has! here's my fav off of her summer mixtape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lvoHxKWuFU

and a choice cut from Krzyk (ShariVari - I remember you including the album on your 2011 ballot!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl2Gew1XExQ

keep an eye for her incoming album, as far as I know a few great tunes are to be included on the tracklist, gonna be great

on balance i'm going for brodka > iza lach but all of this is just <3

just one more thing - don't want to go all Iza stan at once, but I've got to mention the vast collection of non-album songs (mostly sung in English) she uploads on her Soundcloud, from old stuff like Million (one of her best songs IMO) to newer ones (for instance, Lemon) they're all worth a listen!

wow, "million" is something else

Really pleased the last Nyusha single got a good reception on The Singles Jukebox (7.67!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMdvYgW-0cI

Have been listening to Eva Polna's Ya Tebya Tozhe Nyet a lot too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UEcXOnDCPw

I think AATW has picked up Serebro's Gun for a UK release after it was a huge hit in Italy.

find their english grating and thought (admittedly on just one listen) that "Gun" was a poor "Mama Lover" xerox, so didn't bother checking their english album... should i?

I quite like Gun but it's not a great album. Most of the songs are English versions of Russian singles (Sladko, etc) so it doesn't really bring much of value.

I'll be visiting the Empik in Wroclaw next week. Any essential Polish pop from 2012 that I might have missed?

Looking forward to seeing Alina Orlova in Hoxton tomorrow night.

just fyi "Head Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen and part-time model" is my dream life

Have you seen Most Popular Girls In School?

no but something tells me i should

Yes! It's on YouTube.

got my vinyl of "LAX" a few days ago. did you get any interesting finds in wrocław, sharivari?

To be honest, no. I got the Kamp! album but appear to have mislaid it. Empik's new CD selection wasn't great.

Alina Orlova was very good tonight. Played to an absolutely packed (mostly Lithuanian) crowd. Not sure the Regina Spektor comparisons quite do her justice.

that's a shame. i'm not familiar with the kamp! lp but the remix of "dancing shoes" on LAX is fun. i'll be empik-bound next week so any heads-up on interesting things is always appreciated!

New Maria Peszek is really good, too, btw

Excellent! I'll have to check that out.

Kamp! are playing at Birthdays in Dalston on the 24th of February. Still haven't really heard enough by them to come to a definitive judgement but will probably go.

yeah, still not made up my mind about them either. currently i'm trying to organise my life around brodka on the 3rd march in łódź.

OMG she's playing The Great Escape!

ha, not only got my tickets for brodka sorted but also noted that iza lach will be at łódź kaliska the following week. amazing!

Brodka! Jazz Cafe Camden! 15th May!

nice! bought mine today!

thanks for the heads-up, sharivari!

just grabbed a ticket for maria peszek next week. notice also that she'll be at the scala a few days after brodka.

Fantastic. Where is she playing next week?

she'll be at klub wytwórnia in łódź. there are a few other polish dates, too. wrocław tonight, then a couple of nights in kraków next week.

Great. Let me know how she is. I'll probably catch her London show.

so, she was basically great, catching her show very much advised, especially if overt and theatrical acts of blasphemy + polish-language freestyle covers of "sabotage" are anywhere near your thing.

Will book my ticket immediately.

Rats! Just realised I can't make it. Thanks though!

brodka! tonight! so excited!

She was great!

yes, she was! "granda" was crazy from where i was standing.

I think that got the biggest response of the night. I brought a friend who had never heard anything by her before and he was hugely impressed. Hopefully she'll draw a good crowd at The Great Escape.

i suppose that was always guaranteed. i also brought a friend who said it was the most fun he'd had at a gig for a long time. i'd like to know a bit more about the two songs she played in the middle of the set that i didn't recognise... she played them before in łódź, too, but they aren't familiar to me. covers? new songs?

One of them was a cover of My Girlfriend's Boyfriend by Her Space Holiday. Not sure about the other one.

My Girlfriend's Boyfriend was her debut single in Poland (Dziewczyna Mojego Chłopaka, iirc.

ah, interesting, thanks! i'm not totally familiar with her pre-granda material. hopefully the other one will be something new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7EUnomoM00

New Ivan Dorn.

nice! very skeletal, reminds me of something from late eighties/early nineties house music but can't quite put my finger on it.

Have been listening to Mela Koteluk quite a lot recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO_lA6hV1Ag

Not quite in the same class as Brodka / Lach / Peszek but the album has a lot going for it.

Also picked up Kari Amarian's Daddy Says I'm Special this week. It isn't hugely original and is a little too twee in places but it's growing on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK220gJvt5k

i'm back! sorry for being away for a bit.

koteluk passed me by, i saw posters for a gig last week but didn't go. see what you mean about the track... nice enough, but isn't really grabbing me immediately. i'll check out the lp. haven't really heard much new/exciting going on lately.... brodka has gone all but awol, i'm hoping against hope for iza to ditch the snoop dogg thing and go back to making "kszyk 2", and peszek's still touring so nothing much new happening there. in terms of new artists, it's all a bit flat, too :/

I have come to the conclusion that Fabrika's Ne Rodis' Krasivoi is my favourite single of 2013.

http://youtu.be/HuSf1UcFRq0

Some good albums in Afisha's run-down of the best Russian records of the year, though most aren't particularly poppy:

http://volna.afisha.ru/sounds/25-luchshih-russkih-albomov-goda/

The Tesla Boy record is OK but i was much more impressed with Chikiss, Alpha-Beta, Lemondey and Ishome.

oh my, that Fabrika is seriously lovely

belatedly jammin 2 dis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzcf91BVOTM