Album Notes

This compilation was the debut release for Dars Records from the Ural city of Chelyabinsk . The title gives a good clue about the essence of this CD. Bringing together artists from different parts of Russia and former Soviet republics, IDM…ZOOM is definitely a good start for a label. Most of the presented projects are not widely known in the West, mainly because some of them are very young and others have had much exposure outside of Russia yet. However, some fans will definitely recognise a few names like Supremus Plastice (SP), who released his debut album on Shaped Harmonics; or Stud and Randomajestiq - both of which released a lot of material on various great mp3 labels (Kohvi, Kikapu, Acedia, etc).
The compilation opens up with a punchy track by one of the very promising Russian artists – Clapan, who’s contributed two of his creations for this CD. It’s hard not to see the similarity of Clapan to the mighty electronica veteran SolarX, especially in the second track entitled Organ Man. Genius Sponge (very amusing name) delivers a rather neurotic piece with an interesting pulsating rhythm and a very deep bass line. Stud contributed a very nice melodic track, which is sad yet quite positive, perhaps in a Boards of Canada kind of way. SP continues working in electro/ambient fields, with the presented track being a good example of very pleasant and light music. Belarusian Randomajestiq came up with the most aggressive moment on this compilation – gigantic beats gradually make their way into your head, becoming stronger and louder. Therefore the next piece from Devyataya Zhizn’ (translated from Russian as "the 9th Life") is a real life saver with ambient soundscapes floating on a soft relaxing beat.
IDM…ZOOM serves as an introduction to the label’ and artists’ furture direction and creativity. Those who enjoy this CD will most likely be interested in the second compilation from Dars Records – Music of Deneb.2099 that managed to attract some bigger names of Russian electronic scene and other Dars releases – ILI and Stud albums, and new 2006 compilation - "Slavosonic" - Slavic national music, folk, modern slavic folk arts, experimental, post-IDM, electronic music compilation.