Solar X – Kalashnikoff Bullet Bath
Catalog Number: DR027
Release Year: 1997
Solar X is Roman Belavkin from Moscow, Russia. “Kalshnikoff Bullet Bath” is the followup to his smash debut commercial release on Defective, “Outre X Mer” (DR.014). He’s also released a full length CD, “XRated”, on his own ArT-Tek Records.
Both of these releases have received tremendous reviews in respected magazines the world over: Germany’s Frontpage and Techno Today each hailed “Outre X Mer” as “release of the week” last year, and England’s New Musical Express did a full feature on the band, hailing Solar X as “the first star of Russia’s rapidly expanding post-perestroika techno scene”, in addition to reviews in The Wire and Magic Feet. His rhythms are extremely complex, his sound palette diverse, and his originality untainted by European and American techno. He uses loads of Russian synths, many of them completely unheard of in the West. This music is different.
Comparisons? That’s pretty tough, but if you can imagine Aphex Twin meets Richie Hawtin meets YMO meets Jean Michel Jarre meets … And speaking of Jean Michel Jarre, Solar X recently met up with him before his recent Moscow performance. You see, JMJ *requested* the meeting with Solar X, after he heard some of his music… Folks, you MUST listen to this record!
Splendid E-Zine
The really cool thing about Solar X is that he’s Russian and part of an unquestionably remote techno scene (how many Russian techno acts can you name?). The result of this is music that is wonderfully fresh. Many of the sounds on Kalashnikoff Bullet Ballet are from “exotic” Russian synths that are not heard in the West. As far as comparisons go, these tunes are reminiscent of Aphex Twin, particularly in the intricate (and in-your-face) drum programming. The biggest treat on the record is track 1 of side B, “Koraleva (Solaremix)” — where else can you get impressive synth programming blended with what sounds like a drunk Russian mumbling to himself in a stupor?”
– nw
