Future Sound of Ukraine: Borsh Division

As Vlad Trotsky, theatre director and conceptual genius behind DakhaBrakha, once put it: ‘Old Europe is tired and cynical and Russia is authoritarian, and there is space between for something new to come through.’ And there is a real sense of new energy here. Quite a few tracks at the start make you think ‘this really won’t work.’ But somehow it nearly always does. DakhaBrakha are the best-known artists on this compilation, put together by Berlin-based musician Yuriy Gurzhy, and they kick off proceedings with a lovely Ukrainian folk tune that utilises an incongruous Jew's harp and a rocky cello to build to an epic climax. Other tracks are less immediately impressive, but there is always a sense of possibilities – of a cultural lava still flowing before it becomes solid. Influences from all over the place are fearlessly and shamelessly incorporated – from the energetic ska of Perkalaba, Gutsul Calipso and Taras Chubay to the Edith Piaf borrowings of Mariana Sadovska's ‘A Recruit's Song’ and the gothic romanticism of Vivienne Mort's ‘Mariula’. There's a wry rap that turns into head-banging rock on ‘Radio Kharkiv’ by Zhadan & Sobaki. Like a lot of tunes on this album, while it wouldn’t win any awards for subtle production or general tastefulness, it makes up for it in sheer bloody-minded energy, mixed with an off-kilter mentality. Politics are never far from the surface – even if obliquely. For many years, Ukraine's top rock and pop groups were often overly aping a UK or US template, but here there is a sense of escaping that to create things that are genuinely original. Nearly every one of these bands sound like they would mesmerise an audience at a festival. A breath of bracing air from the east.