HISTORY of ZODIAC 2020 RELOAD by PPK (Pimenov Plus Khramkov)

Rostov on Don-based ‘transki’ pioneers PPK soar back into orbit with the ‘Zodiac 2020 Reload’ maxi-single, a natural successor to the mighty worldwide smash ‘ResuRection’. Another poignantly hook-filled blend of haunting melody, signature bleeps, spooky atmospherics and relentless Russian beats, it’s the solar soundtrack to a night of screeching cars, pounding rain, early snowfall and throbbing sounds at your headphones.

When ‘ResuRection’ smashed into the UK singles chart at #3 in December 2001, PPK caused a sensation in the press as it emerged that they were the first Russian act ever to reach the UK Top 3 and go on TOTP. And then there was the issue of their “sound”. Yes, everyone agreed, it was trance but was it “trussian” (as favoured by Mixmag) or the more widely preferred “transki” (as used by everyone else). The international success of the track, from Greece to Australia, led to PPK also enjoying massive success in Russia.

Back to old times Sergey Pimenov (DJ, producer and promoter) and Alexander Polyakov (studio musician and producer) incorporated PPK in 1997 in Rostov-on-Don. Early success came via the release of their first album ‘Feel Insomnia‘ in 1998, which became an instant success with local audiences. Despite their growing popularity, PPK were unable to get any exposure through traditional media channels and soon the Internet became their outlet to the world when, in 1999, PPK opened their official website - www.ppk.ru - and released music through MP3.com. The response was overwhelming and they quickly became the most downloaded act on the web with over 3 000 000 downloads worldwide.

This weird year of 2020 Sergey Pimenov is relaunched his music label Uplifto Records and later on re-established PPK jointly with experienced sound producer Evgeny Khramkov also widely known as DJ Hacker. First PPK (Pimenov Plus Khramkov) single is famous tune ‘Zodiac‘ originally written in 1980 by soviet Latvian composer Janis Lusens.

By uniting history and connecting of generations of electronic musicians PPK originally released their single ‘Reload‘ in 2002 when track reached #39 in UK singles chart and was undeservedly rated as overlapping work after ‘ResuRection’ worldwide impact.

2020 became a challenge for most of us and we got time for making lots great again. Same for PPK (Pimenov Plus Khramkov) who are back to Janis Lusens timeless melody and rerecorded ‘Zodiac Reload‘ to celebrate 40 years of the music piece and lovely days we went through.

Zodiac Reload is released December 4th, 2020 on Uplifto Records.

The critics on ResuRection:
Mixmag “Lovely like aliens singing on far-off silver moons”
NME “Stand by for the next musical movement – Transki”
Mixmag “Russian trance – we’re calling it Trussian”
Muzik “Single of The Month”
DJ “Trance record of the year. From Russia with Love *****”

The facts about PPK
• First artist ever from Russia entered UK Singles chart
• ResuRection peaked at #3 in UK
• 12 weeks in the UK Top 40
• Sold 300 000 in the UK only
• Top 10 in 10 countries