1987 – The First Petersburg Raves: The Planetarium

AK Troitsky:
«Moscow's rave life was, in fact, transplanted from Leningrad. In Petersburg, back in '86, I met some young guys, Valery Alakhov and Igor Berichev, the band 'Novye Kompozitory' (New Composers). There was a certain number of other people around them, and it was essentially through them that all this fun life began.
'Novye Kompozitory' were the first in our country to record modern electronic music. Or - almost the first. The pioneer in this sense was Vova Siny from the city of Chelyabinsk, who back in 1983 was already putting out funny albums with loops. But with Vova Siny it was a strictly homespun operation, and in general he was way ahead of his time. As for 'Novye Kompozitory,' they were already quite civilized guys, working with more or less sensible instruments. They had their own studio, and they were considered conceptualists; all of it was tied to a scientific theme, the theme of space exploration. But it was all presented in an ironic, mystifying vein, of a semi-Kurekhin sort.
They were the ones who began holding the first raves in Russia, at the Petersburg 'Planetarium.' It started somewhere around 1987-88. I used to go there. I have to say, these gatherings didn't enjoy any particular popularity, and it was pretty deserted there. I can't say they had any great success in Petersburg.»