I'm really loving Ana Baston and Zhenya Vill. Does anyone have anything of theirs?

Ana Baston has released an album 'Moj pervyj vystrel' (My First Shot), with 7 original songs and 5 remixes of 'Skandal':

1. Vystrel - video clip
2. Skandal - video clip
3. Zatsepil
4. Esli by ya pela - was her first single
5. My ne my
6. Belymi lentami
7. Raz, dva, pyat' - ya ne blyad'

Her homepage. Well, Ana Baston's solo career is over before it had so really begun. End of May she signed a contract with the producer of the Russian girl's band 'Reflex' and she will be the first not blond member of the group. Maybe she will still contribute some of her songs in her new environment, although I doubt.

Zhenya Vill' - her discography: Opasnaya nezhnost' 2007, some other songs, her new homepage is currently empty, her old one - http://www.zwille.ru is outdated since 2008. There are some earlier songs on Real Music, and more recently her Promo DJ account. She is from Barnaul in the Altai region, right in the middle of Asia. German minority by the way. Her true surname is Wille. She has a youtube channel with her two clips and some performance video from the presentation of her last clip, unfortunately in bad sound quality, interesting anyway.

What would we do without you, Argos? Thanks so much!

Has anybody heard anything new from Anastasia Prikhodko, who was on Eurovision a couple of years ago singing a song called "Mama"? I have that and her cover of Gruppa Krovi and a couple of other live tracks. Has she ever done anything in the studio?

This is her recent song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlcJZtDcBPo

she took part in Ukraine Eurovision selection

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKPbQPab3vA

New videoclips from Russia and Ukraine of June, disillusioning evidence of the decline of the Russian music scene - almost no new vids from the stars.

Bloody Faeries The Seed - not really Russian, but Linda is the only well known person of the Russian scene who contributed something interesting last month. The Kazakh singer together with her Greek producer and spouse Stefanos Korkolis with their new project, telling fairy-tales. 'Different' somehow...

And then we have (again) some rather unknown acts:

Couple Apocalipsis lyubvi - Apocalypse of Love. Usual dispute of newly wed. :D Another example of IKEA pop, one of the best of that kind.
Louna Karma mira - Fate Of The World. Pretty new rock group, a bit more than a year in the scene.
Anna Pingina Lastochka - Swallow. Pingy follows a swallow through the woods and is soon out of herself. Debut video of her first album. Folk of the very different kind.
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A little bit more from the Ukrainian stars:

Ani Lorak Sprosi! - Ask! Just a few weeks after she gave birth the top star released a new video, a ballad. Decent.
Vera Brezhneva Real'naya zhizn' - Real Life. Vera tells a girl to go out and look for the real life - in Katmandu! :confused: The new video of the singer, who dominated the charts of last year.
Yolka Na vozdushnom share - On The Balloon. The extravagant pop singer is the first star to celebrate the beginning of summer.
Potap & Nastya Kamenskih My otmenyaem Konets Sveta - We Call Off The End Of The World. Accurately at the beginning of summer the new song for the season. Silly but entertaining, as always.
Evgeniya Vlasova Ya mechta - I'm A Dream. The ex-wife of VIA Gra's producer Dima Kostyuk in her typical style - 'ethno' pop with piercing voice and 'antique' themed video.

And the only noteworthy not-yet-stars...

Vremya i steklo Serebryanoe more - Silver ocean. Another intoxicating song from the newcomers (we already had the honour...), and of course for the beach party.

I just discovered this beautiful song in Russian. Probably one of the best songs I've listened in Russian.

Оскар Между мной и тобой
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PuJgxTuTxE

I've been searching for a performance and cannot find it anywhere but I know I saw it on youtube a while back. I think it was a the Muz TV awards years ago (maybe 2003?), but I'm not 100% sure. I remember a guy flying around the stage shirtless with angel wings. Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Russian Videoclips of 2012

Not really much good songs nor interesting videos in the last year, and consequently there were only a handful of Russian songs which reached the top 3 positions of the radio charts and even those were mostly cases of 'nepotism'.
DJ Smash & Vintazh - Moskva: Anya Pletnyova from Vintazh together with the most 'mighty' DJ of Russia with an abominable 'song'. Watch with muted sound, if you want to avoid the barf bag!
Eva Pol'na - Vsyo mir na ladoni moej (All World in my palm): Soon the whole world will fit in her torso. The song is for the generation 50+ and sounds quite the same as dozens of other songs from her and her former band 'Guests From The Future'. The video - no better than the music - boring!
Nyusha - Vospominanie (Memory): The Dancing Queen of Russia. Not a single song since her first appearance was a miss, and she continues making the by far best techno on the (White-Blue-)Red Planet.
5sta Family - Vmesty my (We together): Sounds a bit like a shtick for a childrens' party, but at least something for the younger generation at the tops of the radio chart.

Something else attractive from the known acts? Maybe...
Glyuk'oZa - Koshka (cat): Quite unusual for Natasha, no comics, nor a ballad, but a hard dance piece and a way more sexy Glyuk'oZa.
Vintazh ft. Roma Kenga - Tancuj poslednij raz (Let's dance a last time): The rotten meat on the front passenger seat is the composer of the song, Roma Kenga, and Anya shows that driving completely wasted can be quite exciting.
Mona - Grani (borders): One of two reanimations of the long gone past. More than 6 years ago she left the psychopathic Fadeev family, married a TV boss, gave birth to a child and wasn't seen anywhere near the showbiz, and bang! - back, with not even a bad track.

...and some life signs from the sorely afflicted girlgroups, which can hardly survive the crisis of Russian showbiz:
Serebro - Mal'chik (Boy): As the most popular girl group they didn't get into the top 100. Anyway, the video is just fun!
Reflex - Ya budu nebo tvoim (I'll be your heaven): The second visitation from the past. Irina Nelson left the group at the end of 2006, feeling too old for the group. Now Ira and Alyona are together again, and it seems that they didn't have aged at all. Anyway, by far the best performing girlgroup of 2012, keeping themselves in the middle of the charts for several months.

And finally, some new acts:
Elvira T - Vsyo resheno (It's all settled): The shooting star of the year. Number 4 in the charts for this song.
Water Low - Cassandra : Not only the vocals are unusual, the video looks, in a certain way, quite strange as well.
Galina Bosaya - Kuri! (Smoke!): Usually quite excentric, here she shows herself rather bog-standard, with a jazz-pop piece. Excellent singing skills!

Argos, how can you not like Eva Polna ?! There is something about her voice and it's nice not to see someone like a stick insect ! Not done too badly on tophit.ru either. Granted her latest vid isn't that exciting but I loved this ... (and I'm not 50 lol)

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

^ Ева Польна - Я тебя тоже нет (Je t'aime)


Svetlana Loboda also seems OK but I don't know much about her. My friends here enjoyed the song/vid Облака.

There are some good alternative groups around in Russia and some of the older bands have released enjoyable songs last year. Goth (ish)/industrial/ebm can also be found if you look a little harder. Checkout a band called Scofferlane, they sing in English. Something a bit different for you ! And here ends my fleeting Tatysite visit :)

I love her voice, no doubt, but I don't like it when people release practically the same music over and over again, and even the hat in the clip is almost as old as her career. No, lack of creativity is a sin for which I won't give my absolution. :no:
Ok, I wasn't very clear with my statement. I was speaking of mainstream music videos - dance, pop, poprock. Most people here seem to prefer this kind of music. Personally I can't complain about the releases of 2012. my favourite is Russian rock, and there was rarely a year with so many good album releases than this year, although I think even in this genre the artists were a bit miserly with good video clips. Ok, one gem I have to share: Bi-2 - Blef.
Ukrainians were not (at least not intentionally) on the list, they have deserved their own one. See below.

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Ukrainian Videoclips of 2012 - "Strictly Mainstream" Edition

The Ukrainian scene exposed itself much better than the Russian one. Despite their greater competition (international and Russian artists) they brought about three times as many songs into the top positions in the radio charts than the Russians, and the videos are something of the best. Ukrainian clipmakers are probably the most creative ones in the whole eastern hemisphere.

In contrast to the Russian list, where it wasn't difficult to decide which clips to show you, I had a really hard time to get this one together. I had to skip several videos which I really liked. Ok, let's begin, entertainment guaranteed!

The radio top scorers first:
Svetlana Loboda - Oblaka (Clouds): Sveta has to deal with an obsessed stalker. I love it how she makes fun of herself and her image.
Svetlana Loboda - 40 gradusov (40 degrees): Even better the other face of Loboda, the dramatic, emotional one.
Alyosha - Feromony lyubvi (Feromones of love): Alyosha is becoming more and more popish lately, doesn't hurt at all. A song to love the summer even more.
Alyosha - Tochka na karte (point on the map): Director Filatovich plays around with his new freeware 3D-animation toy :) atmospheric pictures anyway to a great song.
Para normal'nyh - Nevesta (bride): The group had some kind of sophomore slump, after Ivan left the group and was replaced by the (too young for Anya) Artyom. But now they are back in the tops again, a completely normal couple, as the group name suggests.
Para normal'nyh - Vendetta: Not quite as successful as their other song, but you have to see this video! Settling some dispute on the streets.
Delice - Nezhno-nezhno, celuj menya (darling, kiss me): Girlgroups, in contrast to Russia, can easily compete with the solo stars of the Ukrainian scene. This one is the prime example. They release a single and a magical hand lifts them up to the number one position. While I'm typing this they have already reached No.1 with their next song.
VIA Gra - Allo, mam: All good things have to come to end. The very last video clip from the most successful girlgroup of Russia and Ukraine, they closed the doors with Dec 31. Wonderful song with a moving plot.

And some more video highlights from other stars:
Max Barskih - Z.Dance - episode 1: Were you bored by your last Z-Movie you watched at the cinema? Try this one! Absolutely hilarious masterpiece by Alan Badoev and Sergej Solodkij!
Mika Newton - Don't Dumb Me Down: I think that Mika is the first ESC participant who could use the song contest as a spring board for a promising pop career in the USA. Everything except her is American here in this clip, but she is better than ever, despite her usual disposedness to exaggeration. Absolutely devine her faces in the quiz show!
Ruslana - Ce - Ejforiya (This is euphoria): You know her as winner of the ESC some years ago with her 'Wild Dances'. Up to now we rather knew her as a 'hooray'-patriot, but a frontal attack on the political and juridical establishment in this hopelessly corrupt country was something completely unexpected.
Vitalij Kozlovskij and Varda - Ne ostavlyaj menya (don't leave me): Well, Vitya has seen better times in Ukrainian showbiz, and this song wouldn't be worth a note...if there were not this extraordinarily choreographed video. Varda can't deny that she was once one of the world's best pole dancers. So, have fun with this East-European kind of martial arts called dancing!
Erika - Paparazzi: Music and clip ripped off from the first to the last second. But at least it's a really well done plagiate, and sounds good.
Olya Polyakova - Russian Style: It's Dec.21, 2012 - apocalypse, and only some spot in Siberia has survived. To be among the survivors has it's price: no kokoshnik (that ridiculous head gear) - no life! Superblondinka Olya leaves out hardly any platitude about Russian culture, and of course a Lady Gaga joke. Pure nonsense!
Payuschie trusy - Vasilyok: another plagiate, music from centuries ago, and the clip - a one-by-one copy of Madonna's "Girl Gone Wild", ok...almost. And Olya the Sprat is somehow more convincing - definitely the most dirty clip of 2012 in Ukraine.

And of course, some work from the ones quite new in the scene:
The Hardkiss - Make-Up: It took less than 2 years for Yuliya Sanina and her band from practically unknown to the rock band of the year. Extravagant and stylish group.
Vremya i steklo - Garmoshka (accordion): A magical accordion falling from the sky and a run for being the first to touch it. Don't miss the very end of the clip!
Renata Shtifel' - Dusha (soul): Ukraine has a never drying up fountain of great young voices. Tiny Renata however has the problem of being way too soft for a showbiz girl. The manager tries to give her a tougher image. Martial arts, as in this clip, and leather-clad assassin in another one, but still: even a Yorkshire terrier looks more dangerous than her.
Natasha Gordienko - Kiev-Goa: Natasha on a not so uneventful journey. Even if the song may not be to your liking, you will love the video, and surely the singer as well!

Argos, I guess I will always have a soft spot for Eva Polna and her voice :D. As for the hats, she recently bought 12 in the same style but different colours from Philip Treacy lol ! Am not sure if it's really her on FB and VK but there are some odd and endearing posts including photos from inside the Kremlin and food pics !Not like your usual celeb stuff at all.

Bi-2 was a great choice.

I'll check out the Ukrainian links :)

Sadly for Mika Newton, her song and video have already been done better by an American artist- it's a blatant knock-off of Pink's "Stupid Girls". Also, the American market is brutal about any kind of accent or pronunciation difficulty, especially in pop, and she's got both.

I love a bit of an accent especially Russian or Eastern European ones :)

Half a year without a posting in this thread, that's not good, so...

Some of the new Russian music videos of the first half of this year:

The top acts:
Gradusy - Ya vsegda pomnyu o glavnom: The guys can't sing so really, but they are just good at it :D . At least their music is far from the diet of current Russian pop music.
Nyusha - Naedine: The Queen of Dance, the most reliable hitmaker these days. Quite unusual pictures for a Nyusha video, and some times (perhaps unwanted) funny. Some flowers may have had side effects!
Serebro - Malo tebya: The last radio hit was long ago, and the Russian fans needed a lot of endurance. Only the international tracks seemed important for the team around Fadeev. At least they are back with a nice Russian track.
A'Studio ft. Igor' Krutoj - Papa, Mama: This Pseudo-Rock group can't score even in a retirement home, but they make their points thanks to their ability to lick the asses of everybody who has something to say in showbiz, like here with this sooo important Igor' Krutoj, who is by the way one of the most annoying bores in Russia's music scene.
Dima Bilan - Dotyanis': Well, I'll never become a Bilan fan, I guess.
Vintazh - Znak volodeya: Anya, the most fertile of all female Russian pop stars, shows that she is still one of the most erotic show 'girls' in her country. Addicting song!

And here some gems from the 'almost unknown':
Burito ft. Jack's Garret - Ya tancuyu: This in Peterburg living Kazakh group shows one of the most creative dance choreographies I've ever seen in a Russian music video, and absolutely hilarious!
Kukla Brejn - Medik: If you call yourself Dolly Brain, you need a good reason, ok her true name Ekaterina Sakalavichyus is reason enough! ;) An artist with certification of authenticity! :love:
Nookie - Zhivy!: The noisy brat of the group 'The Slot' started a solo career last Christmas (no fears - she will remain in the group) with already three (very different) singles and an album, all of this composed and texted by herself. At least she's not screaming for food :laugh: !
Sant'yaga - Vokzal: Her third single in a year old career. While waiting for her love to arrive, Nastya gets the Railway station Blues.

Ok, that's it...no - I just HAVE to show you this one: Russian pop stars have a bad time these days, and hardly anyone can live from the musical career alone. So they are mostly working in other jobs as well, like advertising...:
Vika Dajneko - Blizhe chem Tango: I have to go to Moskva to witness myself, if she's ALWAYS smelling well EVERYWHERE! :liplick:

Yuri Antonov
3 songs in english

Look At Their Faces
I Send To You My Love
Ridin' Into The Darkness
Yuri ‎– Look At Their Faces -1986 (Finland)

Yuri Antonov - Dvadtsat' Let Spustya
Ravshana kurkova & Maksim Vitorgan - Dvadsat' Let spustya

It's been a long time. What's happening on the Russian and Ukrainian music scenes lately?

Long time, ok! Seems I was a bit lazy lately...So, a comprehensive summary here.

Russia's topstars had no surprises to offer, but at least they didn't fail completely. No no.1, no no.2 nor no.3 in the radio charts, and average songs, if you are not too picky.

Dima Bilan - Malysh I'm still not sure if the video has a message, finally he could gather one autograph hunter. Yes, that's success!
Sergej Lazarev - V samoe serdce Sergej gets beaten by his girlfriend and staggers helpless around the boxing ring. Makes even more sense than the clip above: the two Russian top male acts have become losers. :D
Nyusha - Tol'ko The Dancing Queen says good bye to her hot rhythms and does ballad, and the meaning of the video again escapes my comprehension...
Yuliya Savicheva -Ya tak tebya zhdu True to her designation - a romantic ballad, but what a horrible clip! Gaping into the camera lens like a television announcer, all through the whole 280 seconds of the video! :bum:
DJ Smash ft. Vintazh - Tri zhelaniya One of the not so great jobs of Vintazh. Take Anya away and this is just waste.
Serebro - Ya tebya ne otdam Aaaaah!

Some ladies, who have their best times already left in the past, show that they are far from pension, and probably way better than the young generation:
Anzhelika Varum - Ya vsegda s toboj A song in good old Russian pop tradition and a clip which I can understand.
Mayka in Ku - Who Is It Alyona Vysockaya going astray. It's in English, if you can't imagine! Anyway, everything is Alyona - singer - songwriting - choreography - direction.
Alyona Vysockaya - Ih imena And another work from Alyona, just before the Ukrainian - Russian crisis reached its climax - the other side of heroism.

And of course, some new faces:
Dasha Luks ft. Krasotin My Exorcist Something nice for clubbing.
Astrofizika - V otrazhenii And some cheesy pop (rarely shown by me I think). Loooovely.
Lampochka - V odnoj kvartire Simple song, simple 'arrangement', simple clip, but Yuliya Chernyaeva from Cherkessia shows that you don't need great tools to catch your heart, provided you can sing.
X.Child - Say Now And another good singer - Anna Vergelesova.

While the Russian pretty much failed in their charts, the Ukrainians dominated their own ones. Russians and international artists were only rare guests in the top three the last several months. Although the top ranked people were not always to my taste...

The top stars:
Ani Lorak - Zabiraj raj Karolina sings a pop song from the Russian rock lady Blondrock, who never does pop. Anyway, the audience was not very impressed by this. I on the contrary, liked it more than most of her other songs lately.
Svetlana Loboda - Gorod pod zapretom For once not a scandalous Svetlana in a colorless clip.
Maks Barskih - Nebo 90 seconds artistical boredom by clipmaker Alan Badoev, but then...Maks at his best!
Taisiya Povalij - Gde lyubov', tam i rvyotsya Another stylish video from Badoev. Fossil singer, even older music style, but no.1 in the charts.
Tina Karol' - Zhizn' prodolzhaetsya Tina grieves for her late husband. No.1 as well. Commiseration? Maybe.

The second league of Ukraines showbiz showed some interesting acts as well:
Para normal'nyh - Love Is Our 'normal pair' again solving their conflicts the ruthless way.
Yuliya Nelson - Zhivaya Yuliya sings a song from an Ukrainian rock group 'Rozhden', completely beyond her usual repertoire, and for the first time she got my closer attention.
Marta - Reki poyut When it comes to cheesy pop ballads then we have here one of Ukraines greatest professionals. The music style with a clear retro touch, but perfect for conjoint hours (failproof!).
Lama - Angel One of the few Ukrainian acts being successful, although she sings exclusively in Ukrainian language. Unique music style, peculiar and demonstratively plain.

Some gems of the non-mainstream artists:
Boombox - Pepel A soundtrack to a Russian series, and one of my favourite songs of the last half year.
Okean El'zy - Strilyaj and Rendez-vous. Two clips which belong together, big picture and great songs, and Svyatoslav Vakarchuks machless voice.
The Hardkiss - Shadows Of Time Another great song from Yuliya as soundtrack for the movie 'Unforgotten Shadows'.

Time for some girlgroups:
Delice - Vetrom The next no.1 song from this duet. You decide if it's their talent or the fact that the older sister's husband is the owner of one of the biggest Russian radio stations.
NeAngely - Roman The most unusual alto duet with their next hit, no.3 in Ukraines radio charts.
VIA Gra - Peremirie Producer Konstantin Meladze made a huge casting show for the continuation of his very popular group and these girls were the winners. The video was done in a hurry (the ex-co producer already launched his own group VIA Gra), therefore the video is not one of Alan Badoev's best works and the girls looked better in the casting show. The song reached no.1, so definitely not a failure.
NikitA - Himiya The group snatched the title 'hottest girl group' from VIA Gra already some time ago, and with clips like this it will stay like this. The song will probably not hit the top of the charts, although...it's really not bad.

Fresh blood? What about these:
Zhanna Peregon - Na meli Formerly known for singing boring songs on song contests, now completely pimped.
Inna Voronova - Ty ne moj Yet another big voice out of Ukraines magic top hat, and even writing her songs herself, a rarity among Ukraines young voice wonders.

So, what's been happening lately?