Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova made some waves in 2002 not only with the song “Not Gonna Get Us”, but also with all the controversial discussions about that they are lesbians – or not. Later, in 2004, Katina then stated: “He (producer Ivan Shapovalov) made us out to BE lesbians when we were just singing FOR lesbians. We wanted people to understand them and not judge them. That they are as free as anyone else.” And Volkova stated: “He spends his time thinking up scandals instead of planning our artistic work. I’m sure our fans would rather hear new songs and new albums than new scandals.” The band’s name – t.A.T.u. – “Тату”, refers to a shortened version of the Russian “Та любит Ту (Ta lyubit Tu)”, meaning “She loves her” and it was the idea of the producer Ivan Shapovalov. The first single was completed in Autumn 2000, entitled “Ya Soshla S Uma” released in English as “All The Things She Said”. Their first album, “200 Po Vstrechnoy” was released on May 21, 2001 and the English version of the album was released one year later, entitled “200 km/h in the Wrong Lane”. In May 2003, t.A.T.u. represented Russia at Eurovision Song Contest 2003, where they placed third. In 2003, the act released the first compilation CD of remixes, titled “Remixes”. In early 2004, t.A.T.u. legally broke their contract with Ivan Shapovalov and soon after announce their split. The girls rejoined in 2005 and they released their second English album on 5 October 2005 titled “Dangerous and Moving”. In 2008, a press release appeared on the band’s official website that declared that the forthcoming album would be titled “Vesyolye Ulybki” (“Happy Smiles”). “Waste Management” was released in 2009 and this double CD of new remixes was released on 29 March 2011.
It’s a nice trip into an area colored by trance, trip hop and even some jazz remixes, one of them are extremely exciting ones, I love especially the Baraka RMX and the Zo-Ya & Weed Remix of “Time of the Moon”, the Jamcat Jr. RMX of “Little People”, and the Chattanooga Ska Orchestra version of “Don’t Regret the White Robe”, but the whole material is a very nice “stuff” to listen to. The first CD contains the more chill mixes while on the second disc are the danceable, more techno mixes. Russian girls are beautiful, but also they have talents, Russians have strong tradition in arts and performant schools. So, quality products from Mother Russia are not so big surprises.
