EU

Champions of Russian IDM, EU (Elochnie Igrushki in Russian, meaning Christmas baubles) are the brainchild of electronic musicians Alexander Zaitsev and Ilya Baramiya, childhood friends from the St. Petersburg suburb of Lomonosov. Drawing more influence from the quixotic soundtracks of the Soviet film establishment than from DJ sets, EU produce songs rather than tracks, with a devotion to melody. Beats travel cleanly as the music drifts a little above the electronic medium, but stays down to earth. After their first 1997 release, one track issued by the St. Petersburg label Per...