Russkiy Razmer

Russki Razmer
Background information
Origin Saint Petersburg, Russia
Genres Dance-pop
Years active 1993–present
Website www.russki-razmer.spb.ru
Members Dmitriy Kopotilov
Igor Lutsenko
Eleonora Filimonova
Alexander Borisov
Irina Yastrebova

Russki Razmer (Russian: Русский Размер) is a Russian dance-pop band based in Saint Petersburg.

Origins

Russki Razmer (Russian Size) was formed in 1993 by Dmitry Kopotilov, the guitarist, and Viktor Bondaryuk, the drummer. Kopotilov was a small-business owner and Bondaryuk sold souvenirs. When Kopotilov and Bondaryuk met in 1990, Kopotilov suggested two of his own songs for a new project. One of the songs, "Hello, America!", was recorded in the state broadcasting studio in Saint Petersburg.

The first replicated album of Russki Razmer was recorded together with Vadim Volodin, a famous Russian sound-arranger and producer, in Moscow. Russki Razmer was an active participant in many TV music shows.

The video for the song "Batman" (from the album Yu-A-Yu) reached respectable places on the top charts. In 1995 the group's female vocalist, Angela (Anzhelika Kuznetsova, real name), left to start a solo career. A budding singer, Alexey Lebedinsky, was recruited as her replacement. The album "Davay-Davay!" was recorded in 1996 and in that same year the album Meow was released.

The album We dance? was released in 1998 and reached U.S.A. and Europe. From then on Russki 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" (from the album 650) 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 Russki Razmer, Ю-А-Ю (Yu-A-Yu), was recorded with a female vocalist, Анжела (Anzhelika Kuznetsova), and Вадим Володин (Vadim Volodin), 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 (La-La-Fa) was recorded with Профессор Лебединский (Professor Lebedinsky) and consisted mainly of energetic and funny rave cover-versions of all-time popular Russian songs. It was later re-issued as Давай! Давай! (Come on! Come on!) 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 (Meow), which was inspired by their active club life. It had the alternate title Съешь таблетку, будь здоров! (Eat a Pill and be Healthy!). 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 (A Human is a Dog's Friend), 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? (We Dance?). The female voice on the album belongs to Eva Polna.

In 1999 the group released their album 650, which featured the female vocalist Настя (Nastya). 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? (We Dance?) 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 (mostly songs from famous Soviet films), Next, was issued.

A year later, the album БумZ-БумZ (BumZ-BumZ) was the last in the group's most successful period. The title comes from the German slang word bumsen (i.e., to have sex), 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 (Eleonora Filimonova).

The group then released the albums Выход - OUT (Exit - OUT), Меня колбасит (I Feel Groovy), and Восходящие воздушные потоки (Ascending Airflows). The last album with Viktor Bondaryuk was Цyzамен (Together, in German zusammen). It consisted of the group's collected collaborative works, remixes and some new songs. The new album !Слушай (!Listen) was released in 2010. It consisted of new songs, club tracks and remixes, which were recorded for the last 5 years.

Original title Transliterated Title Translation Year of release
Ю-А-Ю Yu-A-Yu Yu-A-Yu 1994
Ля-Ля-Фа Lya-Lya-Fa La-La-Fa 1995
Мяу Myau Meow 1996
Давай! Давай! Davay! Davay! Come On! Come On! 1996
Танцуем? Tantsuyem? Shall We Dance? 1998
650 650 650 1999
650-2 650-2 650-2 1999
БумZ-БумZ BumZ-BumZ BumZ-BumZ 2000
Next Next Next 2000
Лучшее Luchsheye The Best 2001
Выход - OUT Vyhod - OUT Exit - OUT 2001
Меня колбасит Menya kolbasit I Feel Groovy 2002
Восходящие воздушные потоки Voskhodyashchiye vozdushnye potoki Ascending Airflows 2003
The Best The Best The Best 2004
Цyzамен Tsuzamen Together 2004
!Слушай !Slushai !Listen 2010
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