''Russkoe pole eksperimentov'' (, ''Russian field of experiments'') is the seventeenth studio album by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n punk band

Grazhdanskaya Oborona Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская оборона, , Russian for ''Civil Defense'', or ГО, often referred to as ГрОб, Russian for ''coffin'') was a Soviet-Russian rock band formed by Yegor Letov and Konstantin Ryabin ...

. The songs reflect the influence of

noise punk Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extreme l ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

and industrial music and contain dark lyrics inspired by

existentialist Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value ...

philosophy and literature. The final title track's length is almost 15 minutes. In 2010,

Afisha ''Afisha'' ( — "Poster") was a Russian entertainment and lifestyle magazine published from April 1999 to December 2015 in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and 12 other Russia's major cities. In its peak years ''Afishas readership reached approximatel ...

ranked the album at 25 on its list of «The 50 Greatest Russian Albums of All Time».The 50 Greatest Russian Albums of All Time
by

Release

The album was released in autumn 1989. It was the last album from the 1989 album series (''Pesni radosti i schast'ya'', ''Zdorovo i vechno'', ''Voyna'' and «''Armageddon-pops'') and one of the band's most popular albums.

Background

In 1988

recruited a full band:

Yegor Letov Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (, ; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian singer-songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (), as well as the founder of the con ...

as lead singer and guitarist, his friend Kuzya «UO» on guitar and bass, Igor Zhevtun («Jeff») as a lead guitarist and Arkady Klimkin on drums. In 1989 they played records at the

Auktyon Auktyon (, . Auktsyon) is a Russian alternative rock band from Saint Petersburg. The band was founded by at the Polytechnic Institute of Leningrad. Though they originally played post-punk and new wave, the group came to be influenced by Euro ...

rehearsal point and then recorded music in Letov's apartment. The songs "Lobotomiya" and "Vershki i koreshki" were dedicated to the memory of the late Dmitry Selivanov and were originally written for the musical project Kommunizm. The title track quotes

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

: "A smell of petroleum prevails throughout" (In Letov's interpretation "Eternity smells like petroleum"/). Letov considered this song one of his best compositions.

Track listing

Personnel

Grazhdanskaya Oborona

– vocals, guitars, bass guitars, production * Konstantin Ryabinov (Kuzya UO) – backing vocals, guitars, bass guitars, flute * Igor Zhevtun (Jeff) – guitars, percussion on «Beri Shinel' / Like A Rolling Stone» *

Yanka Dyagileva Yana Stanislavovna "Yanka" Dyagileva (; 4 September 1966 – 1991) was a Russian poet and singer-songwriter and one of the most popular figures of her time in Russia's underground punk scene. She both played solo and performed with others, incl ...

– backing vocals on «Beri Shinel' / Like A Rolling Stone» * Sergey Zelensky – bass on «Lobotomiya» * Arkady Klimkin – drums

Technical

* Yegor Letov – art design, album design, remastering (1989, 2007) *

Natalia Chumakova Natalia Yurievna Chumakova, married name Letova (, ), is a Russian musician and journalist best known for being the widow of Yegor Letov Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (, ; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian singer-songwr ...

– photography, album design, remastering (2007)

References

External links

*
Russkoe pole experimentov
on MuzicBrainz
Russkoe pole experimentov
on

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1989 albums Grazhdanskaya Oborona albums Industrial rock albums Hardcore punk albums by Russian artists Industrial albums by Russian artists