| Zvuki Mu | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Zvuki Mu |
| Cover: | Zvuki mu brian eno.jpg |
| Released: | May 1989 |
| Recorded: | November 1988, Gosteleradio Studio 3, Moscow |
| Length: | 39:01 |
| Label: | Opal |
| Producer: | Brian Eno |
| Next Title: | Transnadezhnost |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
Zvuki Mu is the debut and only internationally released album by the Russian band Zvuki Mu, released in 1989 and produced by Brian Eno.
The album was released in Russia in 1998 with a bonus track. This Russian reissue was rereissued in 2013 on vinyl.
The album was recorded in November 1988 in twelve days in Moscow at the rented Gosteleradio studio, mixing took place in London at Air Studios. This album included material from the two earlier albums Simple Things and Crimea, as well as one new song, "Forgotten Sex".
During the recording process a contradiction in the sound of the material arose, which put a stop to the collaboration: Mamonov strived for a “smooth” sound, refusing Eno's innovative techniques.[1] With the release of the album, the band embarked on a tour of Europe and the east coast of the United States, where they were positioned as the "russian Talking Heads". In the UK, the band recorded John Peel session, and in the US had one joint gig with Pere Ubu and paired gig with The Residents on the Lincoln Center stage.[2] [3] [4]
Robert Christgau describing the band's work as "hypnotic cabaret-rock". Jack Barron of NME give positive rating and wrote: "There is something gloomy, dislocated, yet also on occasion intoxicated about Mu's music." Record Mirror criticized the album, writing that, "Zvuki Mu are woefully dated, they make music so grey you can see Moscow's concrete bleakness within the grooves." Spin wrote, "They approach rock music the way a group of aliens might, stumbling over artifacts in a time capsules".[5]
In 2010, the album was ranked 31st in the list of "50 Best Russian Albums of All Time" compiled by the Russian magazine Afisha based on the results of a survey of young Russian musicians.[6]
Adapted from the album liner notes.[7]