(Progressive Rock, Post-Rock) Rushus - Nine - 2008, WavPack (image+.cue), lossless

"Searching for their own inner mounting flame they have opted for a glowing warmth and humaness in their sound, which sometimes evolves into a true burning fire. They never fall out of a basic melodiousness and their contrapoints and disharmonies never fall out of place. Whatever they do, they seem to have a certain plan and they follow it down... Currently I am fascinated by Rushus mainly because of their choice of percussion instruments, because Tkachev plays the congas. I haven’t heard a record where congas played an important role in a music that was progressive and forward bound in quite some time. Tkachev plays them like a half devil most of the time. Especially on the track 'sky horse' he makes the mentioned horses come alive by emulating a driving beat of a horse galopping in full force. A physical achievement in itself, it also sets an intriguing fundament for the screeching guitar sounds of Lipkin and the fleeting bass noises of Nikulin. Very important in this respect, to me at least, is to mention, that inspite of the congas they never once touch into the field that is generally described as ethno or world music... As any good prog-rock or fusion jazz band will, they want to show off as much of their music as possible, therefore they have filled this CD to the brim with 68 minutes of music. But the album stands its own time, does not get boring and if you let yourself fall into it, then you will welcome the evolvement of these nine lengthy as space to roam in freely." – by Georg Gartlgruber at Monochrom-Cracked (Austria) (March 2009).

"Nine is a richly layered and subtle foray that bends together elements of ambient, fusion, and world music with a slight nod towards the avant-garde. Tkachev's work on acoustic percussion and congas gives each of these nine compositions their warm organic feel as Lipkin weaves both his myriad of synthetic sounding space effects and carefully thought out, multi-textured solos. While Nikulin's bass work sounds distinctly absent from the first couple of numbers, his thick & meaty sound finally appears on 'View From Within' as he lays down a nice foundation for Lipkin's jazz tinged guitar work. Cohesiveness is the key word in describing Nine as each composition flows seamlessly into the next so the listener can revel in fully absorbing these trance inducing meditations from beginning to end. Nine comes across as completely natural and organic and Rushus have definitely delivered an impressive debut record, one that sees them already firmly in control of their musical vision. (Score: 4/5)" – by Ryan Sparks at Sea Of Tranquility (USA) (April 2009)

The trio’s debut-set of nine tracks is a subtle, textured instrumental album that relies much on ambient music and improvisations. It unfolds slowly but logically, and displays a lot of inner heat with engaging and graceful guitar work, hypnotic and fluid synthesizer passes, shamanic djembe beat, and bass forging the bridge between rhythm and melody. Nine has a wonderful fluid meditative feel, and appeals to anyone interested in melodic improvisation and composition. Some tracks includes textures created by Jhonnie of KRATONG. The album was mixed and mastered by Alisa Coral of SPACE MIRRORS. Comes with artwork printed on various colored-papers (green, blue, red, yellow, etc.). (9 tracks - 68 min.)