The Medeo Ensemble were a jazz-fusion band out of Almaty, Kazakhstan (then a part of the USSR). As far as I can tell, this is the only album they ever released, but it holds up nicely.
USSR
[Music] Сезон Дождей / Rainy Season – Возвращение / Return
Сезон Дождей (Rainy Season) were a Lithuanian avant-progressive band from around 1992. The first time I had come across their music was while working at Aron’s Records in Los Angeles. It came in as a promo, but as I had no Internet access, I was unable to find any information on the band. Thankfully, through the wonders of Youtube, we have information on this album at least:
Artist: Сезон Дождей / Rainy Season
Album: Возвращение / Return
Year: 1992
Genre: Progressive Rock, Space Rock, Ambient
Country: Lithuania
Label / Catalogue: Lituanus / RGM 7006
Line-up:
Максим Пшеничный / Maxim Pshenichny – guitar, bass, voice, Yamaha DX100 & Korg M1 synthesizers
Алексей Петров / Alexei Petrov – percussion, drums, wood box, glockenspiel, triangle
+
Алексей Зубарев / Alexei Zubarev – flute (A1), slide guitar (A2), pizzicato (track B1a), rhythm guitar (A1, A2 & B1b)
Максим Кузнецов / Maxim Kuznetsov – lead guitar (B1b)
Ринальда / Rinalda – voice (B1a)
Tracklist:
A1 Запахи Леcа / Scents Of A Forest 0:00
A2 К чиcтой воде / Towards A Clear Water 7:00
B1 Красная ночь / Red Night 21:19
– a) Часть 1 / Part 1
– b) Часть 2 / Part 2
[Music] Makhfirat Hamroqulova & Gulshan / Махфират Ҳамроқулова & Гульшан – Дилро Бубин
There isn’t a lot of information on wild psych music coming out of places like Tajikistan, but this isn’t a bad slice of Central Asian arabesque disco-prog, courtesy of Makhfirat Hamroqulova & Gulshan. Hamroqulova is not only a famous singer in the country, but an actress of note as well.
[Music] Rock in the USSR – New photos of the Leningrad underground during perestroika
Victor Tsoi
The Calvert Journal has a great blog post full of photos from the 80s and 90s underground rock scene in what was then Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia.
[Music] Melodiya Ensemble – Vashi Lyubimye Pesni Igraet
Funky Jazz from the house band of the Soviet state record label, the Melodiya Ensemble. There’s almost no info on the band, but there is an article on Soviet Funk, so enjoy.
[Music] Boris Tihomirov – Elektronnyi Budilnik (Electronic Alarm-Clock)
There’s something incredibly cheesy about this track, but it has the same charm that ‘Popcorn’ did in its heyday. As usual with these artists, there’s nothing I can find in English on Boris Tihomirov. Any information about him, of course, would be wonderful.
[Video] Sevil – Sevil (1971, Azerbaijan, USSR)
Outside of Vagif Mustafa-Zade, who has been featured here before on this blog, there’s not a lot of information on music from Azerbaijan. Sevil is a band who played a type of jazz-funk which was popular throughout the Soviet Bloc. Really solid music.
If any of my friends from the region could point me to some biographical data about the band, I’d be most thankful.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 