King John: Elton against the disease, "Megapolis" in the stream

Elton John has released a new album despite his health problems. The Wu-Tang Clan rappers returned after a long pause, and Megapolis sang a lullaby for the end of the world. April is not inferior to March in terms of the number of bright music releases. Some records have already been released, others are still known to us only from singles. Izvestia chose the most interesting.

John & Brandi Carlile — Who Believes in Angels?

More recently, Elton John shocked fans with revelations about his health: the singer admitted that he was completely blind, lives without a number of important organs and will not return to concert activities. But the sad news was followed by good news. Since 2023, Elton has been working with singer Brandi Carlisle on a new album, and now the record is finally ready. Among the 10 songs, there are three already well-known ones: two singles (the titular Who Believes in Angels? and Swing for the Fences), as well as a number from the soundtrack to the documentary "Elton John: It's Never Too Late" — recall that the artist was nominated for an Oscar this year for the song Never Too Late, although he failed to win a statuette in the end.

And, in general, their sound turned out to be quite indicative of the entire album. Despite the obvious retrofler, the music here is quite cheerful, rock'n'roll and not at all old-fashioned and nostalgic. However, connoisseurs of Elton's vocals should be prepared for the fact that it's not his voice that's in the foreground here, but her voice. Brandy Carlisle dominates, sings the main part, and Sir John just joins in. Is this an admission of defeat in the face of inexorable time, or a creative experiment? Elton's fans can decide for themselves.

Wu-Tang Clan – Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman

In recent years, big rap comebacks have been coming one after another. That's Dr. When Dre decides to return, Will Smith, after a pause of two decades, remembers that he is actually also a hip-hop artist, not just an actor.… Now it's another holiday for connoisseurs of style. The legendary Wu-Tang Clan collective, led by Jim Jarmusch's favorites RZA and GZA, are releasing their first release in seven years, with the producer being Mathematics, who has been friends with the duo since their very first steps and has supervised their recordings since the late 1990s, resulting in The W record. Since then, Wu-Tang and the Mathematician have published five joint works, including The Saga Continues (2017), which remained the last until this month.

It took the band eight years to make 12 tracks. However, musicians used to be noted for their slowness. It remains to be seen how good the fresh material is. The two already released singles Mandingo and Claudine are encouraging. Especially the second one, where expressive female soul vocals are in the foreground. Although connoisseurs of mobile reading and branded flow of RZA and GZA will prefer the former: there, the monotonous beat does not distract from the recitative.

Interestingly, the band will release their work only on vinyl at first. And only some time later will the official digital version appear, and even without the last track. Well, the key word here is "official". If you know what we're talking about.

Megapolis — "With the strength of a thread"

Among the important releases of April, it is impossible not to mention the Russian novelty — the new album "Megapolis". The previous full-length studio recording of the rock band was released in 2020, one might say, in another era. And since then, it seemed that the leader of the group, Oleg Nesterov, paid much more attention to his other projects, for example, a series of books and records dedicated to Soviet film composers. Talking to the musician about one of these works in 2023, Izvestia asked: does this mean that Nesterov, the researcher and Nesterov, the producer, will now stop creating in Megapolis altogether? But the artist reassured us by hinting that the band's story would continue. And at the same time, he explained the principle of his work.: "The Megapolis method is entering the stream. All of our work since 1990 has been about immersion together, when we play the music that flows through us, and then we work with the result in some way. Some of this music comes with lyrics where nothing needs to be edited at all. And sometimes I put other authors' texts in front of me and flip through them while being in the stream.

It feels great on a fresh record. Despite the world events, Megapolis has turned out to be a very bright album filled with inner freedom and guitar sounds flying into the distance, creating the feeling that we are floating in some magical world.

Nesterov looks at the surrounding reality with the calmness of a Buddhist sage. And, it seems, he perceives all his work as a "Lullaby for the end of the world" — this is the name of one of the most soulful songs of the album, sung to the semi-improvisational accompaniment of a guitar solo.

You might have missed it

AY YOLA — Homay

One of the main hits of last month, about the phenomenon of which Izvestia wrote material, but it would be useful to recall it here. Bashkir folk band AY YOLA repeated the success of the Krasnoyarsk band Otyken and thus confirmed the trend towards ethno. Homay is an exemplary example of combining the root national traditions (in particular, throat singing) with the current techniques of pop and rap production. The trump card of the composition is the "rocking" beat, which makes you want to shake your head!

Leonid Fedorov, Igor Krutogolov — "In the Sunshine"

If in April, connoisseurs of Russian underground rock were pleased with Megapolis with a new album, then a couple of weeks earlier, at the end of March, a similar gift came from Leonid Fedorov, the frontman of Auctioneer. And, admittedly, this is an even more informal, radical-sounding (and poetic) work. It is based on the texts of the legendary Leningrad nonconformist poet Henri Volokhonsky, whom literary critics consider to be a direct follower of the line of Khlebnikov and Vvedensky. There are a number of recordings in Fedorov's collection on which Volokhonsky himself reads his poems (some time ago, the founder of Auctioneer published them and at the same time used them in his own musical works). However, the new record is entirely based on the vocals of Fedorov himself, which, however, coupled with wild, extravagant, psychedelic music, perfectly fits the absurdist constructions of Volokhonsky.

Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov performed by GASO RT

In this section, which completes the review of new music, we traditionally talk about releases released in the previous month, which were not mentioned by us earlier. Of the March concerts available in the recordings, we recommend watching the performance of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan (GASO RT) at the Moscow Philharmonic. Apart from the fact that this is basically one of the best bands in the country and its performances deserve attention a priori, in this case it attracts an unusual program. "Waltz" and "Scheherazade" by the French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel of the first half of the 20th century meet here with the "Scheherazade" by our compatriot, the classic of the "Mighty Bunch" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Of the three listed opuses, the first and last are absolute hits, but the second is a real rarity. Moreover, a mezzo—soprano soloist takes the stage in it. Unlike Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel did not make a suite, but a vocal cycle. Ekaterina Semenchuk succeeded perfectly in the image of the oriental storyteller, but the team led by Alexander Sladkovsky brilliantly demonstrated its best qualities.: impeccable precision of the copper section, colorful and contrasting sound. Although other numbers of the program, including an encore (a dance from Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloe"), turned out to be no less, and maybe even more impressive. Overall, we have a fascinating juxtaposition of European and Russian views of the East.

Izvestia Playlist

Our traditional playlist this time turned out to be as extravagant as some of the releases from the review. The selection opens with the Bashkir hit, which we described above, continues with charismatic hip-hop from Trekt and Young Thug, followed by one of the best compositions from Leonid Fedorov's album based on poems by Henri Volokhonsky. And finally, there are two "flying" songs that seem to lift us off the ground.: This is a track by the British indie band Cassia and a melancholic number from the album Megapolis.