“We Want to Take Soviet Boom Bap International!”: Probing the Roots of the Russian Beat Scene
Ведущее подпольное музыкальное шоу, транслирующее живые выступления из секретных локаций на оба полушария земного шара.Выросшее как наследие британских пиратских станций и изначально являющееся локальным сайд проектом интернет-издания Platform, оно, по мнению редакции Timeout London, переросло в самую успешную клубную историю прошедшего года, стирая грань между онлайн-вечеринкой и радио-шоу.
It took Boiler Room a while to get to Russia to do a show: our first was in July last year. But the moment we got out there we were hooked, with two more broadcasts in 2014, an outrageously great Upfront mix from the Gost Zvuk collective earlier this year, and a short documentary about our discoveries there.So when it came to deciding on the next stop in our Stay True Journeys with Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky, it didn’t take much discussion to decide on a return trip. Off-kilter hip hop beats have always been a big driver of Boiler Room shows, and there’s something about the staggered syncopation and building-filling bass of the abstract beat scene that has had strange resonances in the ex-Soviet territories.
That’s why we’re taking two legends of connoisseur’s hip hop – the daddy of jazz-sampling, ultra-finessed rhythm production DJ Premier, and the masked one-man cryptic crossword DOOM – out to meet, perform and collaborate with some of the hottest, oddest talent in Russia.
To set the tone for our trip, we asked our Russian participants to explain their passions for beats, and give us some musical coordinates for what’s to come. Below, St Petersburg grime, ambient and footworking fanatic Raumskaya, and Muscovites Kovsh Beats, Lapti and the boogie-inflected St. Petersburg resident BMB Spacekid explain the meaning of Eastern Bloc-rocking beats.