In the Soviet Union during the 1950s, Western music was seen as a form of neo-fascism or "mysticism" that could infect the youth, and was largely banned. But a recent project called X-Ray Audio has collected bootleg records from the U.S.S.R. that were cut onto x-rays illegally and are now beginning to surface on the internet.

The Guardian has a long interview with X-Ray Audio founder Stephen Coates in which he explains how he first discovered the era of roentgenizdat (the private publication of audio or "bone music") while wandering through St. Petersburg:

"We had arrived to play some shows," recalls the rangy frontman between sips of coffee. "I went for a wander in the flea market and I looked at a stall and thought: 'Is that a record or an x-ray?'"

In an attempt to find out more about what these "bone music" records were, Coates got in touch with an old Russian man named Rudy Fuchs. During the 50s, Fuchs would regularly donate blood in order to make money to cut records, or as The Guardian puts it, "blood money for bone music." Coates explains: "Back in the late 50s, Rock Around the Clock was the track that got Rudy fired up to distribute these records to other people – that and Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy, which was a revelation."

X-Ray Audio is taking their sonic project to a London gallery, where several of the records will be played live. One of the tracks, "Odessa Mama," is available to listen on their site, and it sounds fucking awesome.

X-rays weren't the only material used to make records:

The clamour among young Russians for jazz and rock'n'roll during the cold war years is brought home by the range of materials on show at X-Ray Audio. Unofficial recordings weren't pressed only on to x-rays – at the Horse Hospital, there are records made from road signs and circular cake plinths.

Coates says his motivation to find these records and archive them on his site is to preserve one way music was sought out before the Spotify era.

[Images via The Guardian/X-Ray Audio]