The shaman has a day off: Nytt Land summons spirits, Patricia Kaas sums up

The last month of spring brought several surprises to the audience, from a comprehensive anthology of Patricia Kaas's work and a reissue of Soviet—era avant-garde jazz to a reconstruction of shamanic spells and electronic experiments by a younger generation of musicians. The most interesting albums of May, which for some reason could have passed you by, are in the traditional Izvestia review.

Patricia Kaas

1987–2025: une vie

This is the fourth compilation of old hits since the beginning of the century by a once—popularly beloved singer from Lorraine, but now slightly forgotten. Unfortunately, there have been no new ones for quite a long time. However, a couple of previously unreleased items have been added here, and some of the checked ones have been re-recorded. A touching musical autobiography has been released in the most unexpected way, in which the artist reveals to the listener her whole life lived on stage. From the first chords of "Mademoiselle chante le blues" to the rare live recordings of recent years, everything here is imbued with soul and passion, which modern pop stars are quite rare.

Hits like "Mon mec à moi" or "Il me dit que je suis belle" sound like the anthems of an entire era, while updated versions of "Ma liberté contre la tienne" and "Je voudrais la connaître" reveal an unexpected side. The titans of the past are also not ignored: there are covers by the late Belgian Arnaud (previously performed by Patricia only at Les yeux de ma mère concerts) and "live" versions of Barbara's "L'aigle noir" and Johnny Hallyday's "Toute la musique que j'aime". In general, the topic given by the laconic name is 100% consistent: this is really a life report (God forbid, not the last one).

Nytt Land

Songs of the Shaman

The Nytt Land trio are probably the world's most famous residents of Kalachinsk (Omsk Region, population 20,825). The Pakhalenko couple and Alexander Roslyakov, who joined them, released their dark ritualistic albums on the iconic British company Cold Spring Records, and in the 2020s they switched to the equally legendary "metal" Austrian label Napalm Records. However, the "metal" in their music is present only metaphorically — starting with an imitation of Scandinavian folklore, Nytt Land smoothly moved from Odinism to shamanism, leaving the Extreme Tula of the Vikings for their native Siberian expanses.

On "Songs of the Shaman", the group recreates the atmosphere of ancient rituals, performing in an authentic way the ritual chants of the Tunguso-Manchurian peoples. Each track on the album is a separate ritual or spell, reflecting various aspects of shamanic practice. For example, "Eikule Yekule" opens the album with a divination ritual, immersing the listener in an atmosphere of mysticism and foresight. "Kerani Kerani" tells about the return of the soul from the world of the dead, and "Hailambi Xulembi" is about the exorcism of evil spirits. Primitive magic as it is.

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M83

A Necessary Escape

Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez, known as M83, has always been inclined towards cinematic sound — and here we have a real soundtrack performed by him. The 12 tracks written for the documentary Dakar Chronicles combine ambient textures and almost Vangelis-like synthesizer sounds. For Gonzalez, this is to some extent a return to his electronic roots, after his previous work, which was more focused on live musicians and teamwork in the studio.

The film itself tells the story of three young Senegalese, each of whom, in his own field — a musician, a programmer and a former street racer — is trying to "escape": one from cultural pressure, the other from globalization, the third from his own reputation. The camera follows them through the streets of Dakar, roadsides, nightclubs, from dusk to dawn and through the foam of the days. It is commendable that Gonzalez avoided the temptation to illustrate these stories with a pseudo-ethnic new age — for example, "A Necessary Escape (Part I)" explores the borderlands of ambient music with musique concrete, "Strike Machine" and even approaches the domain of industrial music from the time of Throbbing Gristle. Escapism, as stated in the album's title, but quite justified and noble.

AVRAMOVA!

"It's like that with me"

Artist, designer, sound engineer, songwriter, singer — in short, an artist in the good old sense of the word - Daria Leonova has been releasing under the pseudonym AVRAMOVA for several years! existential art-pop with overloaded guitars, almost academic vocals, jungle drums and piercing saxophone solos. On the best (and longest) track of the album, "I Don't Recognize You," Daria completely goes somewhere in the realm of languid romance, in which Bryan Ferry lived 40 years ago.

Fans have been waiting for Daria's new album for three years — an outstanding period at the moment, during which time other pop stars, even those of the avant-garde, simply disappear from the horizon and from mobile screens. In the case of AVRAMOVA! everything turned out much more successfully — although, most likely, the songs from "Everything with me is like that" will not occupy a place in the playlists of teenagers, but the loyal audience that has grown up with the singer over the years will undoubtedly find a response.

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Vladimir Chekasin, Jazz Orchestra of the Lithuanian Conservatory

"Is it possible...?"

Free jazz is poorly associated with the Soviet era (although jazz as a whole flourished during the last years of Soviet rule), however, here is a weighty confirmation that it also found a place under the hammer and sickle. Of course, in liberal Lithuania, where the big band of the local conservatory was led by the great experimenter and visionary, saxophonist Vladimir Chekasin.

He probably wasn't the first to come up with the idea of combining swing and free improvisation, but it seems few people have managed to do it with such casual elegance. Two musical collages, each on the side of a vinyl record, featuring intricate excerpts of jazz classics from Ellington to Ganelin. Styles, eras, and performance styles constantly collide, creating an unpredictable sound wave of true avant-garde. The original album was released in a meager print run in 1988, and now, finally, thanks to the efforts of Melody, it has become available in digital format. Yes, now you can do that.