Alinah Sipps: Jazzy Hip-Hop from the Cafes of a “Provincial Town”

Subwise Records is an independent netlabel, based in St Petersburg, specializing in electronica from new or little-known artists in northern Russia. The label’s various venues online usually contain a small paragraph in their native tongue, sketching these endeavors for the uninitiated. Turned into English, that mini-text becomes a little longer, no doubt due to a lack of perfect synonyms. Given a quick buff and polish, the English paragraph then reads as follows: “SUBWISE unites musicians who write experimental electronic music – together with some other genres, too. The organizers at Subwise used to publish recordings that had a rather ‘hard’ sound, but now they place an emphasis on softer works. That does not mean to say, however, that things are any less interesting!”

The text ends with a few contact details and a closing phrase of relevance to us: “Send us your music with a brief story about yourself – or not. If we like your recordings, we’ll find a way to track you down. Even if means digging around underground! ” In the case of today’s artist – Alinah Sipps – the music appears to have been submitted with absolutely no back-story at all. While it is true that the new Sipps’ release appeared only recently, a basic online search produces no bio or images at the Subwise website, a MySpace page with no photographs or video, and a similarly fruitless collection of amateur portals with links back to the Subwise homepage (again…). The entire visual contents of the Myspace page, in fact, consist of the thin blue image above this paragraph.

It even remains unclear whether the band’s name refers to a number of male artists, or one female performer. Possibly both, given the alternating vocals described below. We’ll plump for the “collective” option, given the predominance of male voices on display, but will happily be corrected if A.S. turns out to be a young lady, managing a number of young boys – and then taking credit for their output!

The only apparent exit from these tight, looping circles of investigation comes from a small lyrical text in Russian that accompanies the download. It paints a picture of some forgotten evening, spent anonymously by an unnamed individual in a cafe several decades ago. The text begins in media res, as if the person being described needs their memory to be jogged a little.

“No, no. You were born much earlier. So much so, that you were around for the 1970s! Early enough to have found yourself in that cafe, on a late evening, surrounded by a cloud of cigarette smoke… There’s almost nobody here, apart from that couple behind a table – over on the other side of the room – together with a guy holding some flowers, a waitress in her spotty apron, and some musicians. Yes, you were there… drinking black coffee and smoking a cigarette. This is the kind of place where you can get to grips with all your thoughts; you can make them sway with the music that’s flying from the piano-player’s hands….”

“Some other musicians come out onto the stage, play their brief set and vanish once more, completely unnoticed. They, too, dissolve in a cloud of thick smoke. Sometime you catch snippets of conversation from the other customers. You catch the occasional word as if running your hand across the strings of a double bass that’s lazily suspended in the air. These conversations change from the joyful shrieks of an encounter to hysterics and arguments. From time to time there comes a kind word or two, amid the notes of melancholy that resonate together with the saxophone. Whether you like it or not, you’re obliged to experience all the emotions that hover above these tables….”

“If you didn’t look at your watch, you could spend an eternity here. Nonetheless, your cup of coffee will come to an end. You wait while a lonely cigarette fizzles out in the ashtray. You leave some small change for the waitress – and go out into the hustle and bustle of a provincial town. Carelessly you make the bell that hangs on the cafe door jangle. You leave the building, certain that you’ll come back once again…”

That provincial town would appear to be Tallinn, Estonia, home to Alinah Sipps; that one fact pretty much exhausts all we know about the band, hence the need to decorate this post with images of Tallinn eateries! This accompanying text to a large degree maps the trajectory of the band’s debut recording. Over the course of 18 tracks and 45 minutes, jazzy/hip-hop instrumentals are interspersed with rap narratives that en masse sketch a similar evening in a similar cafe. People meet and socialize, romances seem possible… but come to nothing as the evening slips away.

These snippets of dialog and jazz recall the basic structure of Jim Jarmusch’s 2004 film, “Coffee and Cigarettes,” which also wove a series of sprawling, frequently-interrupted conversations into a loosely-defined whole.

In fact, one of the opening tracks on “Jazz Cafe” is dubbed over a small piece of dialog from Jarmusch’s film. In English it reads: “Let’s pretend this coffee is champagne.” “Why would we do that?” “Well, to celebrate life! You know, like the rich, elegant people do. The classy people.” “I prefer coffee. Simple, working man’s coffee.” “You’re so provincial, Bill. Do you know what your problem is?” “What?” “You have no joie de vivre…”

The gentle humor of that closing line is reflected in Alinah Sipps‘ treatment of their own material. Heaven knows how much bad rap and hip-hop is running around the Russian web, most of which resonates with (unconvincing) teenage bravado and various claims about sexual or criminal prowess. At the start of “Jazz Cafe,” however, the members of Alinah Sipps stumble over a correct (or correctly impressive!) way in which they should address their audience. In essence, these are the sounds of a few young men trying to live up to the (cliched) expectations of a genre. Not only are they funny, but the track includes the sounds of a girl giggling in the background.

Seriousness and swagger are sent packing.

Likewise, the penultimate track – entitled “A Final Date” – showcases what we take to be the same young woman (perhaps Ms. Sipps herself?), this time narrating a scene in which a young man is leaving her alone in a cafe, maybe forever. In other words, instead of the standard pretensions of hip-hop towards pompous grandstanding, Alinah Sipps celebrate(s) transience, the charm of a fleeting encounter, and do(es) so to the sounds of some lounge-lizard jazz that has gone down extremely well with Russian and Estonian listeners online.

We also give two thumbs up to one of the most interesting (and anonymous) hip-hop releases of the year. Stick in your iPod next time you find yourself on an Estonian marketplace and create a soundtrack to the anonymous chit-chat around you, enveloped in an aroma of coffee, cigarettes, and “spotted aprons.”

Mmm… damp, dirty laundry. We must be in Eastern Europe.

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