Two Siberians

Two Siberians: Out of Nowhere

by Jim Santella
March 8, 2005

Guitar and violin virtuosity lends itself to the music of Yuri Matveyev and Artyom Yakushenko. They work with a jazz celebrity guest list on Out of Nowhere to create a sensational storm of ethnic and popular music. Both artists contribute startling instrumental counterpoint. The violin and guitar are so well known to the public that you feel as though Matveyev and Yakushenko have been living next door to you for decades.

Their album, however, runs through impressions of ...

Two Siberians: Out of Nowhere

by John Kelman
February 26, 2005

Out of Nowhere and from the unlikeliest of origins, violinist Artyom Yakushenko and guitarist Yuri Matveyev, the musicians who comprise Two Siberians, prove that music is universal and transcends artificial borders. Not only that, but stylistic limitations only exist in the mind and can be overcome. Yakushenko and Matveyev were trained at the Irkutsk Academy but broke free of the strict regimen of academia. A chance meeting with American producer Darryl Pitt in '97 in Moscow was the serendipitous circumstance ...

Two Siberians: Out of Nowhere

by Woodrow Wilkins
February 22, 2005

Never let it be said that jazz is only a Western form of expression. Also never let it be said that Russians don't have a sense of humor. Out of Nowhere is the aptly titled debut album by the innovative electric string duo known as Two Siberians. Yuri Matveyev (guitar) and Artyom Yakushenko (violin, mandolin) present an eclectic array of pop-jazz, neo-classical and all-out fun in this outing. Joined by some of contemporary jazz's finest sidemen--including Michael Brecker, ...

Two Siberians: Out of Nowhere

by Michael A. Edwards
February 20, 2005

One of the great wonders of modern music is how seemingly disparate genres be assimilated into and reflect each other, with the artist oftentimes unaware.

Out of Nowhere , the brisk and largely high-spirited album from from electric violinist Artyom Yakushenko and Yuri Matveyev, billed as Two Siberians, is a fusion record in the truest--and best--sense. Both the opening “Radio Outpost" and a later track, “Vodka Diaries" (featuring guests Don Byron and Richard Bona), have traces of Jamaican dancehall in ...

Two Siberians: Out of Nowhere

by Franz A. Matzner
January 28, 2005

Featuring the virtuosi talents of Siberian schoolmates Yuri Matveyev on electric violin and Artyom Yakushenko on electric guitar, the recent Heads Up International release Out of Nowhere from Two Siberians weaves a forceful tapestry of folk traditions executed with the spontaneity of youthful experimentation and the exactitude of deep artistic commitment. Hailing from Irkutsk, Siberia, located 150 miles north of Mongolia, Matveyev and Yakushenko were both born to highly musical families, and each became fascinated by their ...