VA — Music for Homebodies (2013)

Cover image provided by Pavel Chainichkov

Hi everyone! Just as I promised, here's the post about our 2013 sampler Music for Homebodies. Guess it's the right time to throw back time.

This piece of outsider music was hugely important for us back then; I think the nostalgia is rather explainable.

We began with the waltz by Andrew Hangover who had just had his band Mourning Dance split, and turned to more academic style music, moreover he had proper education to compose it. 7 years later I feel sad that Andrew hadn't released much of new stuff since that moment. Obviously talented guy whose both collective and solo creative work could've been awesome.

Then we had a track Monte by Hipstor Smith, dedicated to Monte Cazazza. Its pure industrial sound was typical to Smith back then. He's been generally successful with his bands but we always cherished his solo works as well, and I also feel upset he's not releasing plenty of new solo stuff in last couple of years.

Then we had a song by Лосины Маршала Потемкина, something that wouldn't appear on their saddest 2013 album, this song was sort of outtake which I now consider weak.

Acid Socks provided a track Benny named after Benny Hill. It was a bridge between their earlier instrumental sound and their first EP which would also follow later in 2013.

You know, Hill was really depressed and sad guy. He was unhappy, his life was full of dark, heavy times, especially in the end when he got fired, had his show shut, and nobody had tended to support him (except Michael Jackson). I know in the West people sometimes dislike Hill's show for being vulgar, and that's partially true, but he demonstrated that sort of comedy which makies you feel ashamed for your human flaws, weaknesses, etc., and thus you were supposed to learn how to be a better version of yourself. At least, that's what I always thought of Hill. I didn't enjoy his shows most of the time, but he had stuff to learn if analyzed thoroughly.

And so we made this track with Acid Socks. I cut samples from Beavis & Butt-head parody where they watch Hill's show, and we mixed it with electro instrumental written by Socks. It was funny and since that we decided to collaborate more intensely, which resulted in 2 EPs in 2013–2016.

The man behind Acid Socks completely disappeared in September, 2017, and I have no clue where's he, and how he's doing. Hope he's alright. Though his disappearance was (and still is) a loss for me, he was a friend of mine. We've never been close friends, so I didn't have his phone number or address, or even common friends who'd know anything about him, so... guess we respected each other's privacy a little too much to ask for emergency contacts. Now I regret it.

Well, the sampler ended with a track by MWaD, another project which I liked, and which is currently put on hiatus, as far as I can judge. I also sort of regret about that, as I enjoyed the project.

Maybe we all grow old. 7 years have passed. Some of us were students back then. Now we have jobs which steal almost all our time. We're older and we probably feel such type of creative activities which gets no acclaim at all, is useless. Perhaps such art is useless from some perspective, but I'm inclined to believe it's not the reason to stop doing what is reflecting your soul, your thoughts and mindset at the moment.

But maybe there are different ways to do it. Like Instagram stories. JK.

Here you can instantly download the compilation (mp3)

Stay tuned!

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 — 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. 

Download for free from BandCamp:

Sincerely yours,

John “Grey Lenses” Grey

VA — Music to Play with an Axe (2016) (rec. 2011—2015)

Hi everyone, we’re happy to announce that finally we managed to release the physical tape of our “Best of”. This C90 compilation includes 27 tracks, released in the web in 2011—2015. This very limited edition (50 copies) is “almost totally handmade”.

Design & photo by Hipstor Smith

If you want to get a copy or even more, feel free to post a comment or write to Hipstor Smith, the coordinator of this project (you may need to sign up). Unfortunately, tapes are not free, but I believe that price won’t be much higher than postal costs. If you’re a member of Russian social network VK, you may win a copy if you take part in the repost contest!

In the tracklist, you will find songs by artists about whom you might have already read in our blog, like Лосины Маршала Потемкина, Grey Lenses, Acid Socks, Hipstor Smith, Nervoese Leute, Man With a Dictaphone, as well as by artists about whom we haven’t written a post yet, like Алёна Кидун, Константин Охотный (a side project of Man with a Dictaphone), Шумотрон and Concern Void (a band which released only 1 song).

The music varies from Russian neofolk to lo-fi synthpop, from ambient to post-industrial.

The tapes and tape boxes were manually painted black, check out the enormous amount of care we invested in this release!

Design by Hipstor Smith

 We hope this is only the first physical release, and the next will follow soon!

Sincerely yours,

John “Grey Lenses” Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина – Сны безработного провинциала (2012)

While just a week ago Лосины Маршала Потемкина released their fourth album, we’ll take a look on their second one now, as I believe this “band’s” story is more like a story of evolution, so it’s necessary to get known with their discography in chronological order.

A year after their debut LP, Лосины.. released this one, showing deeper and more serious approach. The title (“The Dreams of Unemployed Province Dweller) aimed to alienate the songs from “the crowd” (big cities – province; society – unemployed; and even reality – dreams), which was sort of escapist manifesto, but only sort of, because in particular, it was heavily realistic, sometimes even topical album.

Photo by Pavel Chainichkov

It was still neofolk / folk with primitively sounding out-of-tune acoustic guitar, harmonics, found objects… not much has changed, but generally the sound was a bit “brighter” and closer to bard music, popular in Russia, but there’s a huge distance between real “bards” and Лосины Маршала Потемкина, while saying “closer”, I mean that previously the distance was like between Earth and Mars, and then it has shrank to the distance between Earth and the Moon :)

Some songs were really inspired by the dreams I saw («На мелководье» — “In the Shallow Waters”), some songs («Лишняя песня лишнего человека», «Я хочу быть котом Феликсом», «Лужа» — “A Superfluous Song from a Superfluous Man”, “I Wanna Be Felix the Cat”, “The Pool”) were written in a sick mood after being hit on the street by some criminal bastards trying to steal my cell phone (a common situation in a remote Russian town), and appeared earlier on our annual sampler “Superfluous Music”.

You might know that “Superfluous Man” was a typical character of the Golden Age of Russian literature (I suggest you to check out the true masterpiece of Russian realism, “Diary of a Superfluous Man” by Ivan Turgenev), and it’s kinda funny that this song was a true improvisation, I just took my guitar, pressed “Record” and started to play, composing the lyrics on the go, there was only one take, and the result was quite impressing.

When you don’t know where to start

Think about what could be the end

While the 1^st album was ~90% humorous, the 2^nd was only about 50% humorous. Amongst humorous songs «Медитация №9» (Meditation #9), «Ксива» (The Pass) and especially «Случай на стройке» (A Case on the Construction Site) deserve mentioning. In this song, a “passer-by” Petya tries to save a boy who was hit in the head by a brick while walking on the construction site… and it’s also a common story, I mean – haven’t you ever wanted to take a walk on the construction site? I guess every boy wanted.

“In the Shallow Waters” is important for me as it shows the structure and even the “tectonics” of a dream I experienced, its music is closer to industrial and lyrics are one of my favorites, it also includes a brief quote from “The Possessed” by Dostoevsky. 

“What have we inherited? A sense of shame.

What will remain of us? Only the sorrow”.

“They have discipline – they have submission”

“An overpopulated shoebox – it’s our favorite town, it’s the whole world”

“I will be swimming in the shallow waters

Because I can’t swim”

The line “I was born on Herzena Street” comes from quite popular in the Russian web Soviet recordings of mentally ill people, released in 1962, and this line was illustrating schizophasia aka “word salad”. Alexander Herzen, by the way, was famous Russian 19-Century writer, publisher and journalist, I highly recommend you his desperately unknown work “Dr. Krupa” (sorry, couldn't find a free-access English translation). Herzena St. is also peculiar as there are Herzena streets in various Russian towns.

Industrial sounds can also be heard on «Сказка про вахтовика» (“A Fairytale about a Shift Worker”), while closer to album’s end there are two short acoustic songs «Похмелье» and «Обидный факт» (“The Hangover”, “An Offending Fact”), which are totally sombre.

“If there is any freedom in this world,

Then there’s not much freedom has left”

“Though different people are tortured by different demons,

We’ll hang all the demons on one rope

And we’ll bury all the demons in one grave

And we’ll cry one tear for all the demons”

I believe this album reflects my own and even people’s state of mind back in that time, I dare to say so, I dare to tag it as “folk” music, as this is what Russian folk music should be like. It’s half funny, half depressing, a very bipolar album from a representative of “bipolar nation” as some YouTube user commented on a video about our country. Who knows, maybe he was right, I refuse to judge and, certainly, refuse to condemn anybody. I’m just a regular guy, you know.

Download for free from BandCamp:

 

Still yours sincerely,

John “Grey Lenses” Grey