Grey Lenses — Nine Insights (2024)

 

Photo by Evgeniy Dvoynishnikov

Hi everyone, it's been more than a year since previous time I had updated this blog, and I hope some of you are still here to check out my new album.

I also noticed someone else started to use name "Grey Lenses" and releasing music under this moniker, which is actually ambigious: the good side is that it's actually a good name, the bad side is that they could google if the name's been occupied before using it, or, even worse, they don't care about such thing as an unique name for the band.

Anyway, as the first occupier of the name I found no reasons to rename my project, and released "Nine Insights" as Grey Lenses. Again, it's a soundtrack for a book. The photo for the cover was taken in 2021 by my friend Evgeniy Dvoynishikov in Murmansk, the district of Roslyakovo where there was a spontaneous "beach" also filmed in our video:

Also, one of the most important scenes in the book takes place there, so this image was the most accurate one I could ever pick for the cover.

Musically, one might not hear a great changes in sound between this record and some of my previous albums though I used a different software this time, and it took me about 18 months to finish the album while previously I used to take only 12.

For this album I tried to "compress" noise (it's almost completely a noise record with less than few pieces of dark ambient) into an everchanging structure which wouldn't allow listener to take a break. In addition, I tried to achieve "warmer" sound with using some of analogue equipment. Unlike Nervöse Leute, the project which was (is?) entirely analogue, Grey Lenses' noise records were entirely digital until "Nine Insights". This time it's sort of mix between digital and analogue technologies, and I believe I managed to make the tracks sound "oldschool" enough.

Technically speaking, the sound's based on feedback noise, a classic approach proved efficacy since 80s, but originally feedback was made when a mic was put against a speaker; I used a mic and a guitar amp with no guitar plugged, and this "absent" guitar was a symbol of significant loss, the great missing link which creates "a hole" in perception, which, i.e. hole, is getting filled with feedback noise.

I took inspiration in analogue noise pieces of industrial music (Cabaret Voltaire, Laibach), and also studied how guitar bands could use an amp to make noisy yet gentle sound (neither noise rock, nor shoegaze, but mostly in style of post-punk like Durutti Column, Joy of Life, Siglo XX or My Dad is Dead).

I hope you'll check out this record, it took effort of me:

Stay tuned for the new posts may follow!

Sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Зинаида Миркина в ее лучшие годы (2020)

 

Hi everyone, today I'd like to present you latest LP by Лосины Маршала Потемкина. It's titled "Зинаида Миркина в ее лучшие годы" (Zinaida Mirkina in Her Best Years).

The fun thing is that "best years" of Zinaida spent in total obscurity, she was a religious poet who couldn't be published in USSR, so first issues of her books were released only in 1990s, when it was anyway too late (she was 65 years old at the moment).

So I thought it's actually about us, we're not receiving anything at all at time, we have to wait for so long to get something which is never enough.

The cover picture was taken by our bass player Mikhail Alekseev in Belarus, and it's actually a reference to famous picture Alyonushka.

Switching to the sound, I got to admit not much has changed, it's still post-punk based songs with rather witty lyrics.

We begin with "Я не могу сказать, где твои деньги" ("I Can't Tell You Where's Your Money"), it's one of the earliest songs, first recorded in 2010, rerecorded in 2011, and finally remade as post-punk track in 2020. It features synths, metal percussion and a fine guitar riff. The lyrics touch upon topics of alcoholism in Russia.

Next goes "Бычьи цепни" ("Beef Tapeworms"), a story about parasites and intoxication, a metaphoric idea which is connected with Nick Drake's "Parasite", from one hand, and nodds to The Fall's bass sound in musical part. Lyrics also have reference to "Krvava Gruda - Plodna Zemlja" by Laibach (Bloody ground - fertile soil). Our favourite artist Vasily Shulzhenko was also mentioned (Life is a Shulzhenko's picture). And another reference is to notorious "You got AIDS" from "Family Guy" (You get beef tapeworms, yeeeah!).

Then we have "Отпуск ради отпуска" ("A Vacation for Vacation's Sake"), a sardonic story of a Russian employee who has to depart for vacation (otherwise he'd be forced to keep working). It also has a reference to David Lynch's "Eraserhead" ("I'm on Vacation"), touches upon topics of suicide (Strozsek is mentioned, see also a reference to Ian Curtis), isolation, poverty ("I got enough money to afford one lemon candy"), about office work as a new form of slavery ("A man is born to work at the office / He's not as free as his favourite kitty"), which is also strongly connected with early topics of Swans' lyrics (like "Power for Power's sake", "Money is flesh", etc.).

The fourth track is titled "Новый год в СИЗО" ("A New Year at Pretrial Detention Centre"). It's purely social, because many Russians, unfortunately, have an experience of being put in such centres. Musically, it has a reference to Neubauten's "U-Haft Muzak" (metal percussion in the end, which resonates with fireworks sound). The song begins with a sample by a great actor Leonid Kanevsky saying "Aah it's such a place no-one wants to leave" taken from famous and memetic show "Следствие вели", a crime show about well-known Soviet mass murderers. The song also features a Russian reversal, and a panic attack inside.

Then we have a song about workout which is titled Воркаут (Workout). It depicts sort of intellectual workout of memory training, claiming "How many quotes of the great men can remember your brain?", which is quite post-modern approach when we think in quotes and actually speak not our own words, but constantly repeating, quoting someone else's words. Lyrically, there's a mentioning of epoche, Husserl and reductionism, as well as one of the first Soviet pranks (Дед ИВЦ). The song ends with pictures of hospital, novocaine, ambulance, gleet, etc.

Then we have a song "Удачный день" ("A Lucky Day") which is actually a narrated story also in The Fall's spirit, about a guy who saw a man resembling famous maniac (and an occasional poet) Mukhankin and began to spy at him. All the way long, Ivolgin's laughter can be heard — which refers to Dostoevsky's character from "The Idiot" and a character from notorious Russian movies "Peculiarities of the National Fishing". Bela Lugosi and "Bride of the Monster" are also mentioned. Of course, the narrator underlines that "Bela Lugosi's dead" (we all remember Bauhaus). Closer to the end of the story, a suspicious man fights the narrator, but stray dogs arrive like Deus ex Machina and save him by biting the suspicious man to death: the narrator admits that it's similar to Ivan Karamazov's story from Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov". In the end the narrator goes back home happily boasting that it's "Such a lucky day", and "Our debt's been payed, and the light is ours" — another reference to Laibach (Hostnik's suicide note / Apologija Laibach song).

Then goes a weird psychedelic song "Гусь Хрустальный" (Gus-Khrustalny), about a town in Russia which mythically mocks (in our song) Tupelo from Nick Cave's song: The sun doesn't rise in Gus-Khrustalny, the birds don't fly in Gus-Khrustalny. No-one knows the exact site of the town, no-one can guarantee that the post will be delievered there, no-one knows about famous people from this town, it's a dark and criminally dangerous place. "Napoleon said we don't need this town", which echoes with radio-like speech that Gus-Khrustalny "is not kind of town we need because it wouldn't help us to replace SWIFT". In the end the narrator confesses he'd move to Gus-Khrustalny to "die", and his scream drowns in maliciously sounding guitar effects.

Then we have a song "Кисель" ("Kissel", Russian national soft drink), it's a studio remake of 2013 song, I already told you its story, so we move along.

Next song is called "Чумной доктор" ("The Plague Doctor"), which refers to SCP, pandemic (though it was written way before the Covid), and shows the viewpoint of a man whose "business" is to "heal". He appears to be a sensitive guy taking care of prostitutes, wounded birds, lost dogs etc., but shows a great arrogance claiming "I'm better than Brodsky, and Pakhom's better than Brodsky, and Hölderlin's better too". Musically the guitar riff remind of Joy Division's "A Means to an End", lyrically it has references to Russian rap and pop music, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky's The Devils.

The final track is titled "Кевларом" ("By the Kevlar"), where kevlar is a metaphor of mental "armour" we put on ourselves. It has a piano part played by our collaborator Andrew Hangover. Lyrically, it's a symbolistic work having plenty of various images, but it also has some popular culture references, e.g. Dr. Myasnikov, a Russian propaganda-style TV doctor (the funny thing is that name "Myasnikov" in Russian means "Butcher"), or references to the Bible.

This album was the fruit of the whole 2020 year, it took about 11 months of hard work. We did our best and hoped to show some progress. I'd like to thank everyone involved, you can see here all the credits.

Check out this album, hope you like it!

Stay tuned for more!

Sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

VA — Крики раненых и почти что павших (2019)

TL;DR? Then check out video version!

Hi everyone, we're happy to present you our new annual sampler. This year, it was titled "Крики раненых и почти что павших" ("The shouts of wounded and almost deceased ones"), and, despite the fact we turn 10 years this time, it's in no way an anniversary sampler.

The picture for the cover was taken by me in Moscow.

The sampler represents the way we feel in modern media and social environment. It's mainly about self-actualization.

We begin from an end: the title track by Wladimir Laznew is called "Вместо эпилога" ("Instead of an Epilogue"), and it's a retrowave piece, very moving and suming things up at the very beginning.

You see, there's no action anymore; it's not even post-action, it's more like post whatever (just like your T-shirt prints say).

I did hope and I do hope Wladimir would release a solo record one day, because I know how many outstanding minimal synth pieces he has in store.

Then we have an abstract hip hop piece by Лосины Маршала Потемкина (prod. HANGOVER). It's the first and only experiment so far, and it might be considered even as a demo record, but we'd check out if it's liveable. Perhaps we would go on. Anyway, there's some remakes on the go, and plans to record newer stuff as well. And yeah, it's the only track featuring lyrics on this sampler.

Then there's a short interlude by Nervoese Leute, the track from their forthcoming 4th longplay hopefully to be released this year; further exploration of weirdest noises ever heard.

Then there's a super long track by Automatic Alice, the new monkier of our long-time friend. We decided there's no need anymore to have any shapes and restrictions for our samplers, so let this almost 12-minutes recording flow right into your ears. It's also an exploration, it's prorably even sort of meditation, it's kind of weird psycho folk / post-industrial experiment hopefully to be released later on tape in Moscow.

And we end with an ambient requem to Mark David Hollis of Talk Talk recorded by Snowbringer. The sad thing is also that it may be the final or one of the final tracks by this project before disbanding: perhaps there'll be final longplay, but it's uncertain.

And this is devastating. Musicians do leave; yup, they grow old, turn 30 etc., and got some other activities to waste their precious time on, but still there's sort of grief about that. Only few of us remain, new ones never seem to come.

Maybe there's no time or no creative space anymore for obscure Russian lo-fi diy records, partially because these efforts had never been appreciated seriously, anyway, when the desire to be avant-garde and weird disappeared, some cherished pieces of soul deceased.

Well, this sampler is designed to be percieved as a whole complex piece in 5 parts. It's different, but, without a doubt, it represents our vision. It's ideologically completed and it's more like a missile than an actual music piece. Seems like we've faced a dead end.

You may instantly download the sampler (mp3 only, change .7z to .rar when downloaded).

Sincerely yours,
John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Grey Lenses — Exploitation of Icarus (2019)

Hi everyone, we're entering 2019 with a brand new release, another soundtrack for a book by Grey Lenses.

The difference is that it is finally a soundtrack for a hardcover book, not a .pdf. "Exploitation of Icarus" is the title of the first story included in a book, and this album includes music which is supposed to be playing while reading first and last story featured in edition.

Since 2017, I annually release book OSTs, and they are always laptop dark ambient music. They are quite similar, I'm afraid it could be rather hard to tell one from another, but it's caused by the plot, because all these stories are connected, they share characters and show the development of both fictional narration and my skill in creating laptop ambient / post-industrial.

In this case, it's entertaining to think what is post-industrial literature and post-industrial music in general, and I hope this is something we can actually build by our own efforts.

To build is more fascinating than to demolish, it's some sort of creative credo. Despite the fact you might hear some quite disturbing noise and some occasional musical pieces here, it's all about sonic structures, it is by design. This album differs from previous ones because it has longer tracks consisting of different pieces. Previously, I created soundtracks making a track for a chapter; now these tracks reflect certain motives mentioned in a book, not particular chapters. This is why they are longer and even might be resembling dark ambient "sonatas".

"Icarus" is a typical "main theme", it exposes a sonic image of mythical Icarus which later disappears ("Disappearance"): a metaphor of losing the ideal role model. "Animal Blood" and especially "Death by Drowning" represent darker sound (there is honestly nothing cheerful in drowning), and final "In the Sandbox", "Reconstruction" and "Salvation" deal with an idea of liminal theme, topic of resurrection after a challenging encounter of death, all so traditional for world literature. The image of a sandbox is both Apocalyptic and modern, it's all about rebuilding. Reconstruction is a final phase of deconstruction, we destroy to rebuild, we'll never put up with empty spaces. And, in the end, everybody deserves salvation. If we're speaking about ideals, we should be moving towards such ideal unless it becomes irrational and/or useless.

Moreover, all my projects fight against music and it's pseudo harmony, because total harmony equals death. This is just another round, and I encourage you to be brave in creating most abrasive non-musical music which is not neccesary should be harsh. What is most valuable, is the method, the approach, not rawness for rawness. Just listen!



Stay tuned! 2018 was successful for our label, we had 2 physical releases and 4 web-releases, and I'm eager to make 2019 even more successful.

Feel free to leave feedback. Most physical releases may be ordered.

Sincerely yours,
John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Трудно быть первым, когда ты лучший (2018)

Hi everyone, we're proud to present you a CD "Трудно быть первым, когда ты лучший" ("It's Hard To Be The First When You're The Best") by Лосины Маршала Потемкина. It's a result of hard, exhausting work that had started in July and have ended just yesterday when we received actual CDs. Overall, we've spent more than 78 hours in studio.

This is actually 5th longplay by the band, but it's the first LP CD, and the first LP recorded not as an one man band.

I'd like to dedicate the record to Mr. Mark E. Smith who had perished early this year. It was a significant loss for the culture.

So, it's a post-punk album, it's all about lyrics, but it avoids typical depressive post-punk topics. It's pretty much an upper, not a downer. It's built around lyrics which are sang against a repeatative bass riff. Probably, singing is not the best term for this vocal practice, because it's more about storytelling. Each song is actually a story which often has a plot, narrative, fictional characters, 1st and 3rd person narration.

The title track, "Нудный" ("A Dull Guy"), is a remake of an earlier electronic track:

Then goes "Кофейная культура" ("Coffee Culture"), telling a story of expansion of coffee culture which leads the narrator straight to a heart attack in the end:

The lyrics are full of cultural references, parodies, etc., so it would take time to explain it (when I wanted to jot a brief comment, I found out I'd need to write a book about the album).

Then we have "Стремные танцы" ("Weird Dance") which is actually really weird. It even includes a vocoder. I suppose one might do weird dances while listening to it.

4th song is "Внутренняя эмиграция" ("Inner Emigration"), and it's so up-to-date, so up-to-date, you got to understand. It also sounds wicked and dark, almost brutal.

Then goes "Винишки в Ростелекоме". It's rather hard to translate. "Винишки" ("Vinishki", from "wine") is a subculture represented mostly by young females enjoying cheap wine and listening to new school post-punk which probably has nothing in common with original one. As with any subculture, we're dealing with lack of values. "Ростелеком" is an Internet provider widely spread in Russia. It's so big they have to hire personnel who can't help users, and the song is dealing with problem of misunderstanding.

Brace yourself, because the intro of next song "Речной трамвайчик" ("Water Taxi") is rather eerie. The song is sort of sophisticated nod towards Alla Pugacheva's song with the same name, but it's not a cover at all. It messes around the line about a "tanker with corpses", so it's quite depressive, actually. It's also noisy and even a little scary. I'm afraid to live where I live, and I'm not afraid to die.

These are complicated emotions, it's fear with apathy, it's denial of depression, it's exhaustion and hopelessness. Die laughing, you know.

It's rather logical that the next song is called "Кризис самоидентификации" ("Self Identity Crisis"), and it tells a story of an incel who's deprived of social life and loses identity and then loses personality ("Now you are me", says the final line) and dissolves in observation of stray cats ("My only friends are stray cats"). To double the sarcasm, the song sounds cheerful.

You see, we don't have much fun here on this record. It's bruisingly sardonic. Then we have our favorite song "Бойцовский клуб" ("Fight Club"), it's not totally based on the novel, but it tells a story of a fight club in modern Russia. Aggression, irritation, bloodthirst become common now.

We end with the song "Сердитый" ("An Angry Guy"), it's opposing the title track. And it's almost jazzy which totally contradicts the lyrics. We make terrifying stories contradict to pop-oriented music, and we make aggressive, angry lyrics respond to pseudo-lounge music. It also touches upon mental health issues ("All I need is amitriptyline" — very old but effective prescribed drug) stigmatized in the society.

The lyrics, vocals and cover was provided by me, there were totally 5 musicians involved in recording, you can read the whole credits here. We used electric and acoustic guitars, different basses, mics, tank drum and metal percussion, electronic drums and synth, harmonica, plenty of things.

I don't care if it'll be a successful record. I don't get it if we need praise for this. I feel no satisfaction with current trends, and it was a huge sign of protest against all mainstream culture. I started to feel giant spiritual freedom and independence, sense of freedom is inner one, it doesn't matter where you are and what's happening around.

I don't wanna make major hits, I don't wanna sing about love or politics, I don't think I'd be understood if I write this for my compatriots. Instead, I wrote a bunch of stories. I tell stories about fear, isolation, loss of values and identity, loss of sense of reality, mental destruction and psychological breakdowns. It's funny that they often sound remarkably cheerful.

Well, you may order the CD as well as previous physical releases. Feel free to write me about that.

Sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Похороны безработного провинциала (2018, Single)

Hi everyone, we're happy to finally present you a studio single by Лосины Маршала Потемкина recorded this spring. It contains song "Хуже не будет" as a "b-side", previously included in our VA-sampler "Pereat".

The "a-side" is a studio remake of 2015 song "Похороны безработного провинциала" ("The Funeral of an Unemployed Province Dweller"). That song was much more appreciated than other Лосины...'s songs of that period, and its relatively successful live performances have also pushed us to rerecord it properly.

So, these songs were recorded with live drums played by our drummer Igor Ezhen; Mikhail Alekseev played bass, and Zhenya Dvoynishnikov played guitar. I performed as vocalist and lyricist.

"Хуже не будет" was mixed and mastered in studio, "Похороны" was edited by me. It may sound less polished than it could be, but I feel I managed to create the mood this song was supposed to create. While being a lone bedroom-folk singer, I spent plenty of time trying to make specific atmosphere on first Лосины...'s albums, and finally on "Похороны" I came close to what I wish it could sound like. I mean this song is like a devil chasing the listener, it's ruthless, it's like doom, like fate, like something totally inevitable. Despite that, it's not supposed to frighten a listener, not sort of "scare the kids" tag.

Lyrics' protagonist, Unemployed Province Dweller, has been important to me. He's the narrator of most songs recorded in 2012–2015. Our second album was titled "The Dreams of an Unemployed Province Dweller", so his "funeral" was a significant step, crucial, necessary if I wanted to move forward.

When I ask myself: "Who's telling all these weird stories which fill Лосины...'s lyrics?", I can say there are at least four of them, and I even created names for them. First songs were narrated by Vyacheslav Babochkin, who was sort of representative of famous Russian gopnik subculture. Then, an Unemployed Province Dweller had appeared. At some point Semyon Potemkin was added to tell smarter stories (like "Нудный", "Дэвид Линч") and represent positive, "Apollo"-like side, and finally I found out there's also a "wicked" character, kind of villain, named Phil, who narrates, e.g., "Утренний рейс". He has the lowest of my voices and represents a darker side of personality.

The cover was taken on 19th century cemetery in my native city in Siberia. Currently this cemetery is totally embraced by urban buildings, it's almost centre of the city, such a sarcastic coincidence.

I got to add this single is released a bit late. I thought it'd be ready in June, but again we had a delay. Currently we're visiting the studio more frequently, working on a longplay which is likely to be released this autumn.

Moreover, we're still preparing a lot of new stuff by Nervöse Leute this year, and maybe some of tracks by artists from "Pereat" sampler.

So, stay tuned, much fun is on the go.

Sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Дебютный альбомчик (2010)

Hi everyone! Just before the work on a new Лосины Маршала Потемкина's single is, as far as I'm concerned, crawling to the end, it's time to tell about their very first release.

 While observing its cover, you might have prepared for extraordinary amount of weirdness, and this is indeed the weirdest Лосины...'s release. The history of the band, started in 2009, was frustrating at that moment, as mates began to leave it, and I remained the only member since late summer 2010 and for long, long years.

The "doctrine" of the band in 2009 and first half of 2010 proclaimed we ain't going to record, and we didn't even manage to perform live in a club then, so when I was left alone I felt like I should make this record just to save the impressions from being in a band. Of course, I was very limited in instruments.

The faces who stare at you from the cover were our avatars created in a PhotoRobot software which is, as we believed, was quite close to ones used by the police. The cover was also decorated with excise stamps from alcohol bottles which represented "alcoholic folk" genre we played back then.

I believe this EP is really, really hard to listen to. It's pathologically lo-fi. It's recorded to irritate listener. It's weird, it's atonal, it's noisy and hopelessly out of tune. It represents mostly anger.

The EP includes 4 songs, some of which we still play in 2018: I have to mention sort of "alcoholic folk anthem" "Я не могу сказать где, твои деньги" ("I Can't Tell You Where's Your Money"), re-recorded in 2011 and still quite popular in a post-punk version (set timecode to 36:21); "Мягкие игрушки" ("Soft Toys") — also check out truly magnetic post-punk version (the timecode is 7:17).

It also featured melancholic yet ironical "Шерстяная кофта" ("A Wool Sweater") which we still play in a modified version, and "Заначка" ("A Stash") with weird arpeggios, and it's the only song from the EP we don't play now.

Well, the primary instrument for the EP was a steel-string guitar, sometimes accompanied by harmonics and synths. The EP touched upon topics of alcoholism, fear and poverty. Perhaps it's anti-music but it's definitely not anti-folk; it's real Russian outsider folk music, as it's close to people.

Retracing this way, I find it easy to surprise how far we've gone, how much we've mutated, and before releasing a post-punk single, our 2nd post-punk release, and dreaming of making an abstract hip-hop record and conceptual post-punk album, it's fitting to recall the very beginning. Moreover, I found this EP missing on BandCamp, so this link is possibly the only chance to download it.

I feel sorry that our new stuff, including annual sampler, is still delayed, but it only means we'll have a bunch of new releases at some moment.

Stay tuned,

sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Тренды (Video)

Hi everyone, I've just recorded a video telling a fascinating story about CD "Тренды" by Лосины Маршала Потемкина, so now you may watch / listen to this post (in case if you wouldn't like to stare at my face):

Stay tuned, and new releases will follow!

Sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Тренды [Now availiable online]

Hi guys, this month's message is pretty short: our latest physial release, a studio EP "Тренды" by Лосины Маршала Потемкина, is now available online for free download in lossless or any other appropriate format.


There was quite long post about this CD a couple of months ago, so you may check it out in case if you've missed it, to learn the fascinating story of this EP. 

I decided to upload songs because I felt there's no need to make you wait :) 
Hope you like it. 

Anyway, physical CD is still availiable for purchase (as well as your previous tape split), feel free to contact me if you're interested.

In 2018 we hope to make 2 more physical releases and at least 2 web-releases, actually, it's our goal. We also plan to continue posting our monthly messages for you to keep you updated with our activities.

Stay tuned!

Sincerely yours,
John "Grey Lenses" Grey

VA — Миф новогоднего настроения (2017)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

We're saying goodbye to 2017 with a new short VA web-EP called "Миф новогоднего настроения" ("The Myth of a New Year's/Christmas Mood").

Photo by me

We can say we don't have "Christmas mood" at all. So if you have, I guess it's not the best time to check out this sampler. You see, we came to conclusion that "Christmas mood" is not real, it's a fake, or, which is probably more accurate, a myth. It has been constructed, we were made to believe in some special New Year's mood.

So this sampler represents such idea. It's as short as it could be: about 10 minutes. It's also as gloomy as it could be. And it's as sincere as humanly possible.

The picture for the cover was taken by me near Moscow, in famous "writers' village" of Peredelkino.

The sampler starts with a track by Диспозиция Линча, it's the second track published by this project, and it creates proper New Year's mood from the very first seconds.

The second track is a collaboration between me and Snowbringer: I provided voice and lyrics; Snowbringer provided an instrumental from one of his latest releases.

The third track is the first appereance of the project "Окно Овертона" ("Overton Window"), titled "Пост-рок" ("Post-rock"). Окно Овертона is a band where plays our long-time friend and collaborator who have participated in our 2014 sampler "We Could Have Been Martians" as John Francis Dooley. This is the longest track, and the most musical on the sampler. I gotta say this band has quite a lot of interesting instrumentals hopefully to be published.

The final track is an instrumental from Лосины Маршала Потемкина titled "Добрые, добрые, добрые слова" ("Kind, Kind, Kind Words"). It's actually my solo track and the only track where I play balalaika.

Hope you will like our sampler. You can download it for free (mp3; instant download link if the previous one is broken).

Stay with us in 2018, there's always more to come.

Sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Snowbringer — The Places I've Gone Without Going Anywhere (2016)

Hi everyone, I've just noticed I hadn't posted one of albums by Snowbringer released by him in 2016.

This "missing" album is called "The Places I've Gone Without Going Anywhere", and it's a classic "bright" ambient record divided into two parts: "The Places I've Gone..." and "...Without Going Anywhere".

Each part lasts more than 1 hour 16 minutes, so this journey is about to be long, though, I believe, it would be rather calm and inspiring. Even the idea of "remote control" journey is something which really seduces the mind, when one allows oneself to dream without limitations. Anyway, the author could imply something different from my interpretation.

So, check out this album — and stay tuned!

 

Sorry for brevity, got too much work these days.

Sincerely yours,
John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Триумфальное возвращение (2015)

Hi, fellows! From the depths of profound sorrow I’m writing you now just because I need some readers (I wouldn’t dream of interlocutors) who would make me a company on this dark autumn (in Russia it’s already winter, actually) evening.

Poverty and unemployment are surely among our biggest troubles, you all must have heard about it. Actually I’m facing it every day, and I’d like to look in the eyes of those who claim that troubles like these can become some sort of sources of inspiration — how wrong they are!

The latest album by Лосины Маршала Потемкина, «Триумфальное возвращение» (“The Triumphant Return”) is basically about it. I wasn’t about to return to this project after previous release which turned out to be pretty devastating, but I think I had to return due to external reasons. I felt I had to remind that things are still going wrong.

The title cover was traditionally contributed by my friend Pavel Chainichkov, who also takes part in a conversation in the opening track «Алкоголик-фолк» (“Alcoholic Folk”).

Starting with this album, «Лосины…» correct their direction again. Having begun with “alcoholic folk” with heavy found objects’ sound, this project turned to completely acoustic folk, and then — to somewhat I call “conceptualist folk” on this record, meaning actually the influence of poets representing Moscow conceptualism (firstly, Dmitri Prigov, but also Vsevolod Nekrasov and German Lukomnikov, whom I had a chance to meet personally).

The second track, «Вторичный крик» (“The Secondary Scream”) refers to “Primal Scream” theory, as it’s easy to find out. I doubt if some accidents occurred during the first year of a life can determine the whole living, as there is always some breaking point, which, I suppose, is the “secondary scream”.

The third track, «Вечная гармония» (“The Eternal Harmony”) is another reference to Kirillov, mixed with real-life cautions and rows:

“One year ago I was told to get a job

And I still can’t get rid of the fear”

The fourth track, «Дискриминация» (“Discrimination”) doesn’t need to be explained, I believe. Well, maybe you haven’t been discriminated. Lucky for you! Poetically, it’s some kind of cut-up lyrics read using one-chord harmony and industrial synths.

One of favorites from this album is an instrumental «Музыка для поножовщины» (“Music for a Knife Fight”), one of few tracks from this record which got positive acclaim and pretty big (for me) amount of plays. Certainly, I used a real knife, recording it. When I tried to promote the record, some editor of a magazine wrote:

“It’s not music at all, it’s not art at all… you wouldn’t prove anything to me, because I have musical education”.

When I received this answer I was on cloud 9: I reached my goal! “Music for a Knife Fight” (knife fights quite often occur in Russian towns, because holding a gun is most likely illegal, and there’s a heavy risk of suicides, as Dostoevsky thought) contains some very heavy overloads, although it’s not harsh at all, it’s very sweet noise-pop with some sweet acoustic guitar, at least that’s what I thought.

The song «Камни» (“The Stones”) is a sad sadness song, like stuff from previous album. The title refers to Ivan Turgenev, who wrote: “I envy to the stones”. There is also a line about savage faces which was a nod towards my hero Blaine L. Renininger’s song “Teenage Theatre”.

“Look closer and you’ll see

Things which seemed to be made of iron

Are actually made of paper”

“I’m fed up with living in constant fear

I’m fed up with living with pain

I’m fed up with living like a dog

Who notices only bad things”

“When no-one knows you,

No-one’s going to forget you”

“Hopes of our childhood have been mixed with dirt”

“So many years have passed,

But I have just noticed how much I’m exhausted

How futile it was to envy the strong ones

How futile it was to envy the stones

Because the stones have crushed me”

Another sad song is «Чувство дистанции» (“Sense of Distance”). It nods to The Sound’s song “Fatal Flaw”. But the most depressing song here is, probably, «Похороны безработного провинциала» (“The Funeral of an Unemployed Province Dweller”). This character, unemployed province dweller, gave a title to second Лосины…’s album, and now I found out that he’s gonna die if he’s about to stay unemployed. Actually I’m still unemployed and in the hour of need there’s nothing to wait for. This song includes a hard work of applying effects to acoustic guitar, and I think I can be proud of the result. It also includes Akutagawa’s quote “I don’t have a conscience, I have only nerves”.

“I have nothing to be afraid of

I have nothing to lose

There is no difference at all

If I stay or if I go”

“Those who love the life that much

Jump down from the bridge”

“If you’re that far ahead

Maybe your way is wrong”

“When each and every of us was put in hell

You were thinking if you’ll be allowed to return for a cell phone charger”

The album ends with song «Времени нет» (“There’s No Time”), it repeated the Apocalyptic line “there is no time anymore”. I guess I was wrong then. Well, maybe I’ll need to release another Лосины…’s album then. 

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Sincerely yours,

John “Grey Lenses” Grey