Self-Titled Summer | KINO (КИНО) (1991, USSR)

Our next spotlight on a Fedi-recommended self-titled album is on number 265 on The List, submitted by roboticowl. This new wave/post-punk group is regarded as a highly influential band in the Soviet (and then modern Russian) rock scene, even though the majority of their albums were distributed underground via magnitizdat (i.e., copying and recopying tapes privately and passing them onto friends to do the same), due to being unable to distribute commercially under the strict Soviet rules. While still riding the wave of the so-called "Kinomania" that spread even outside of the USSR (including the international hit "Blood Type" that would eventually end up on in a Grand Theft Auto game), the band headed into the studio to record this, their 7th studio album. When beloved frontman and songwriter (and, essentially, cult hero) Viktor Tsoi tragically died on August 15, 1990, the band completed the album with Tsoi's demos, and then broke up. The album was left untitled but fans would come to call it "The Black Album" after its cover.

Want to read more? See the full spotlight on the Fediverse at @1001otheralbums.com or on the blog: https://1001otheralbums.com/2025/08/18/self-titled-summer-kino-%d0%ba%d0%b8%d0%bd%d0%be-1991-ussr/

Want to skip straight to the music? Here's a YouTube, with English translations for most of the songs in the subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooU9H_HZQIk. Also on Bandcamp, but only 2 songs available for free: https://kinogroup.bandcamp.com/album/--5

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