Crohinga Well: Zapara

Ole Lukkoye – Zapara
(Exotica / EXO96101)

Andrey Borisov founded the Exotica label in 1996 and it was one of the best things he could have done to help Russia's cautiously blooming new musical underground. The label couldn't have made a better choice than to rerelease Ole Lukkoye's “Zapara” LP (1993), already a milestone in Russia's rock history for being its first really psychedelic rock album ever (review in CW9). Exotica brings a digitally remastered CD version (great and subtle sound!) plus 2 bonus tracks (“Raven” and another version of “The Name”), a total of 60' of ancient mushroom flights over an endless steppe. This CD ranks among the best international psychedelic albums of the 90s and it's available to a larger audience again now. With the fall of the old “Communist” (?) regime, Russia started to import a lot of Western values, but not always the best ones were chosen: after importing MTV, American fast food restaurants and the “free” (?) market, young Russians are getting under the influence of “alternative” (?) techno and bass & drum styles (or whatever promotional label they give to all this computer-generated boredom nowadays).

Crohinga Well (Belgium), #14, 1998