Vinyl in Russia (and X-rays in the USSR)

Переверни Пластинку (flip the record) in English Flipside, is a documentary (2016) about vinyl in Russia. And about records when vinyl was either unavailable or banned: pressed onto X-rays. See How X-rays were used to smuggle banned music into the Soviet Union (Vice/Noisey, 2017) and When Rock Was Banned in the Soviet Union, Teens Took to Bootlegged Recordings on X-Rays (Smithsonian Magazine, 2015).

Trailers

The name of this trailer is aptly explained, Рок на костях = rock on the bones. No subtitles, and not very inviting. There’s also a Новый Трейлер (new trailer) and The Needle in my Ribs (an older one).

Music history

It’s best to watch the entire documentary. Especially if you love vinyl and/or music history—who doesn’t? It covers fans and collectors, contraband and record stores, underground scenes and revival. Featuring Mujuice, Noize MC, Beat Junkies, Dmitry Spirin (Тараканы!), and others.

Directed by Roman Naveskin (Роман Навескин) and Stepan Polivanov (Степан Поливанов).

More at Antipode and IMDB.

English subtitles, 44 m.

Learn more about vinyl and its surrogates below.

X-Ray Audio: The Documentary
(The Vinyl Factory, 2016, 13 mins)

English subtitles, also on thevinylfactory.com

Bone Records
(Slate, 2016, 2 mins)

Документальный Фильм О Советском Феномене – Пластинках На Рентгеновских Снимках
(Own Sound, 2016, 13 mins)

More vinyl in Russia and x-ray records

• The Strange History of Soviet X-Ray Records (Great Big Story, 2020, 2 m)
• X-Ray Audio | Soviet Records (Vinyl Eyezz, 2019, 5 m)
• Фильм о виниловых пластинках в СССР (2017, 16 m)
• Russia’s X-Ray Records (Zoomin.tv, 2017, 3 m)
• Vinyl records back in fashion in Russia (AP Archive, 2017, 6 m)
• Music on Ribs – Forbidden Music in the Soviet Union (OurGreatSociety, 2016, 4 m)
• The story of X-Ray Audio: What would you risk for the sake of music? (TEDx Talks/Stephen Coates, 2015, 18 m)
• Музыка на костях (Aleksandr Gromyko, 2011, 8 m)

Follow Rusland1 on X
Discover more about Russia and Russians at Rad Russia
Listen to Russian music at Music in Russian