Russkiy Razmer


Russkiy Razmer is a Russian electronic dance band from Saint Petersburg.

Origins

Russkiy Razmer was formed between 1991 and 1993 by Dmitry Kopotilov and Viktor Bondaryuk, two school friends originally from Kustanay, Kazakh SSR who moved to Saint Petersburg during the late 1980s independently of each other. Kopotilov was a small-business owner and Bondaryuk sold souvenirs. By that time both had played in different music bands. When Kopotilov met Bondaryuk in 1990, he suggested two songs for a new project. They started performing in rave clubs, and in 1992 they recorded several songs that later became part of their debut album: The Star Is Melting Above the Town, I'm Calling You Joy, Batman . Their first big concert took place in the Yubileyny Sports Palace in 1993 with various pop musicians taking part in it.
The first replicated album of Russkiy Razmer was recorded together with Vadim Volodin, a famous Russian sound-arranger and producer, in Moscow. Russkiy Razmer was an active participant in many TV music shows. The video for the song "Batman" reached respectable places on the top charts
. During that time they actively performed as an opening band at the concerts of Army of Lovers, Haddaway, La Toya Jackson and other touring musicians. Their call "Davai-davai!" quickly became trendy in the Russian club culture.
In 1995 they met Alexander Levin, a TV and music producer. As the leading vocalist Angela left the group to start a solo music career, Levin teamed Kopotilov and Bondaryuk with Alexey Lebedinsky, a parody singer and their old-time friend known by the stage name of :ru:Профессор Лебединский|Professor Lebedinsky. They regularly performed together from 1996 to 1998 and recorded two albums: Davay-Davay! in 1996 and Hello-Goodbye! in 1997. Their friend Dmitry Nagiyev, at the time a popular radio DJ and showman, also helped them with promotion.
The album We dance? was released in 1998 and reached U.S.A. and Europe. From then on Russkiy Razmer actively went on foreign tours, and during the period of 1997-2005 the group performed in the U.S.A. fifteen times. The song "Angel of the Day" and the video of the song also reached the charts. Since 1999 Eleonora Filimonova has been the vocalist of the group. In the beginning of 2005 Igor Lutsenko joined the group, as a replacement for Viktor Bondaryuk, who had previously left.

Discography

The first album of Russkiy Razmer, Ю-А-Ю, was recorded with a female vocalist, Анжела, and Вадим Володин, who was the sound-arranger and producer of that time. The album had a successful debut in Russia. It was influenced by the rave movement and groups like 2 Unlimited. Nevertheless, it was different from the albums of the genre in the sense that it incorporated the "space traveling" concept and included melodic love songs connected with it.
The next album Ля-Ля-Фа was recorded with Профессор Лебединский and consisted mainly of energetic and funny rave cover-versions of all-time popular Russian songs. It was later re-issued as Давай! Давай! and was even more of a success in Russia than the first album.
At the same time, the group was recording an alternative club album, Мяу, which was inspired by their active club life. It had the alternate title Съешь таблетку, будь здоров!. Liner notes of the album mention that it was not about glamorizing drugs, such as ecstasy, but was instead just about a healthy way of life. The album consists of eleven techno-rave compositions. The first track from it, Человек собаке друг, reached the 12th place on the Dutch club charts in 1996.
After a two-year hiatus the group released their fifth album in 1998, Танцуем?. The female voice on the album belongs to Eva Polna.
In 1999 the group released their album 650, which featured the female vocalist Настя. The album got its title from 650 MB volume of a CD because it was supposed to have contained an enhanced CD-ROM feature. The enhanced version of the CD, however, was a very limited pressing, so it was decided to re-release the album under the title 650.2. On the re-released version some new songs were added, some were excluded, and the multimedia part consisted of the contents of their official web-site, including photos of the group, stories, videos and mp3s. While the songs from 650 are perhaps less romantic when compared to the songs from Танцуем? they represent a synthesis of creative and professional skills in writing dance-pop songs.
Before the next studio album, a collection of dance cover-versions of popular songs, Next, was issued.
A year later, the album БумZ-БумZ was the last in the group's most successful period. The title comes from the German slang word bumsen, which is phonetically similar to the sound of a drum-machine. The twelve tracks of the album are mainly quality dance-pop songs with true-to-life texts, but among them are also some tracks without vocals. Almost all of them became radio hits and favorites of dance-pop parties. From this album onwards the group has collaborated with the female vocalist Элеонора.
The group then released the albums Выход - OUT, Меня колбасит, and Восходящие воздушные потоки. The last album with Viktor Bondaryuk was Цyzамен. It consisted of the group's collected collaborative works, remixes and some new songs. The new album !Слушай was released in 2010. It consisted of new songs, club tracks and remixes, which were recorded for the last 5 years.
Original titleTransliterated TitleTranslationYear of release
Ю-А-ЮYu-A-YuYu-A-Yu1994
Ля-Ля-ФаLya-Lya-FaLa-La-Fa1995
МяуMyauMeow1996
Давай! Давай!Davay! Davay!Come On! Come On!1996
Танцуем?Tantsuyem?Shall We Dance?1998
6506506501999
650-2650-2650-21999
БумZ-БумZBumZ-BumZBumZ-BumZ2000
NextNextNext2000
ЛучшееLuchsheyeThe Best2001
Выход - OUTVyhod - OUTExit - OUT2001
Меня колбаситMenya kolbasitI Feel Groovy/Ill2002
Восходящие воздушные потокиVoskhodyashchiye vozdushnye potokiAscending Airflows2003
The BestThe BestThe Best2004
ЦyzаменTsuzamenTogether2004
!Слушай!Slushai!Listen2010

Literature

Alexander Alekseev, Andrei Burlaka . Encyclopedia of Russian Pop and Rock Music. — Moscow: Eksmo-Press, p. 333.