StereoStas — Starfall (2023)

 

Hi everyone, I'd like to share with you a single by our new project, StereoStas.

I collaborated with Vladimir Laznev, with whom we've already worked in Nervoese Leute and Concern Void band, and this collab logically continues our movement to more conventional music, started in previous year's Retrowelle EP.

Starfall is a single which includes the title song Starfall and a "b-side" Papa Dj. It provides post-punk sound with mellow melodic structure and more pop oriented verse-chorus lyrics.

The single is inspired by Sovietwave, space exploration and retrofuturism. Also, this is our first collab uploaded to Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music.

Hope you like our new beginning, and hope you're still here.

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 — Коллиматорный прицел бытия

Hi everyone, we're presenting our annual VA sampler. This is 10th annual sampler, actually, we faced a milestone.

This time it's titled "Коллиматорный прицел бытия" ("The Collimating Sight of Being"), and it's about a worldview, a viewpoint which can be seen through the scope / or if life itself has you in its scope.

A bit of paranoia, fears and anxiety, panic in this paranoid, fearful, anxious, panic time.
 But this compilation isn't about current events, some track were recorded long before the situation. The mood of the compilation partially corresponds to previous one, "Крики раненых и почти что павших" ("The shouts of wounded and almost deceased ones"). But there's also some difference between them, as it's no longer reasonable to shout, as our shouts seemingly can't be heard from here.

That's why the compilation is generally calm, quiet, almost mellow. I can't say it's "bedroom music" because we already released "Music for Homebodies" in 2013 and we're unwilling to repeat ourselves. (I just found out I didn't write a post about it, my bad. Gonna post it in June.)

All in all, it's outsider music. That's where we've been since the very beginning, mostly on purpose. No wonder some artists have left to seek acclaim. No wonder some of youngsters misunderstand it as "another no name stuff". Being a "no name artist" who struggles to be liked and a "no name artist" who can reflect on the aesthetics of outsider music and finds himself in it, are two different mindsets, I must admit. We're free to do music for nobody. We're free in general, and we're too old and too honest to betray this path.

Looking through the tracklist, we see that this time we have 6 tracks by 6 artists of 6 genres.

We begin with a new project of our long time friend. It's called Tulse Luper, and it's a field recording. I wanna believe there'll be a release of this project later this year.

Nervöse Leute contributed a track titled Brain Zaps from its 4th longplay hopefully to be released this summer on tape. Analogue samples, noises, post-industrial as usual. 

Snowbringer contributed the longest track on this compilation, "Palimpsest". It's not peculiar Snowbringer sound, and it's good that project hasn't been closed. There was an LP by Snowbringer not long ago, I think I'm gonna post about it later this year.

Our long time friend Владимир Лазнев (Vladimir Laznev) contributed a minimal synth track Дефицит ("Deficit") with speech samples. You might read about deficit in USSR to understand the context. Current events made people be afraid that it can return, but fortunately we were OK (it couldn't get much worse here lol).

Post-rock band Окно Овертона (Overton Window) who you could've listened to back in 2017 contributed an instrumental piece Чуть-чуть (A Little Bit), which melodic structure manages to reflect huge variety of emotions. 

Лосины Маршала Потемкина contributed studio remake of 2013 song Кисель which reminds of past and sort of compares it with present.

Cover photo was provided by our favorite photographer Pavel Chainichkov.

Check out the sampler, friends! (mp3)

Stay tuned.

Sincerely yours,
John "Grey Lenses" Grey

VA — Географический диктат (2019)

Hi everyone, we're presenting our latest VA sampler. It's called «Географический диктат» (Geographic Dictation), and it's a tongue-in-cheek game because it's almost similar to annual geographic quiz «Географический диктант» (i.e. Spelling test).

It's also about dictation = dictatorship, etc.

Geography, space in general, dictates how we ought to behave, what we should do. We are separated by vast spaces, miles and miles, thousands of miles, we haven't met with some of artists who contribute to us for years and years.

We present different styles here. Grey Lenses (me) presents an ambient piece titled "Teriberka" with geographic destination:"from Siberia to North West of Russia". It's made using different software than on previous ambient releases.

Владимир Лазнев (Vladimir Laznev) plays a minimal synth piece titled "Киевское шоссе" (Highway to Kiev) with geographic destination: "from Southern Russia to Kiev, Ukraine", but Kiev Highway can also be found in St. Petersburg and as a federal route from Moscow to Ukraine. Its sound somehow reminded me of Front 242's debut "Geography" which also fits the idea of this compilation.

Snowbringer continues to experiment here with his "Summer Collage" recorded on vacation with geographic destination "from Kazan to Nort West of Russia". Sometimes it sounds just like Nervoese Leute! You see, Snowbringer is not quite active now, perhaps a break is really needed to think about future of this project. We believe that it would surprise us and hope its new works will be exciting!

Лосины Маршала Потемкина contributed a song «3 соуса» (3 Sauces) with more local story: from Apatity to Murmansk. The song was recorded this summer and mastered this autumn. It tells a surreal story of Semyon Zolotarev (the most mysterious guy from Dyaltov Pass incident) found survived in a local fast food cafe. The protagonist says: "There are rumors you're a double agent", and Semyon replies: "3 sauces ain't always better than 2".

Yes, we love detective stories.

So, you can instantly download mp3 version of this compilation, but once downloaded, please change ".r2r" to ".rar" to open it normally.

Stay tuned!
I'd also like to inform you that since this post we're not going to make publications monthly; new posts will arrive when new records will be released.

Sincerely yours,
John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Избегание проблемы (2019)

Hi everyone, we're happy to present you latest EP by Лосины Маршала Потемкина!

The EP is titled "Избегание проблемы" ("Avoidance of the Issue"), and it nods towards well-known song by Glaxo Babies. While previous album was majorly dedicated to recently perished Mr. Mark E. Smith, this time I was obsessed with Glaxo Babies and especially with Pere Ubu and their theory of "equality of all sounds".

This EP was released just today!! It includes 4 new songs recorded this spring. The cover has been drawn by our friend, young and promising artist Olezha Urzik.

It depicts some alternative reality Sergey Bezrukov playing gangster Sasha Beliy from old TV-series "Brigada" who's dropped another gangster on the rails and is waiting for the train... very bizzare.

This image is connected with title song, named after "Sergey Bezrukov". You see, this brilliant actor has managed to play most of Russian 19th and 20th century famous poets, Tsars from Vladimir the Red Sun to Boris Godunov, as well as policemen and gangsters, and ending with playing Jesus Himself.

So, for us, this is the image of Proteus. Any shape can be obtained, any personality can be assimilated. From the one hand, this is sad, as this is the ultimate victory of depersonalization (the issue we were singing about on previous LP).

From the other hand, it promises vast opportunities, like the story of Zelig teaches us. So this is basically about what makes up our personality.

Another major motive on the record is motive of overall sickness. Illnesses are everywhere, and getting to hospital in modern conditions is almost lethal. So the title songs tell a story of an ill guy Sanya, just like fictional gangster Sanya Beliy, who's suffering at hospital and watches movies via TV where Bezrukov is acting ("All of Sergey Bezrukov's roles have meaning, and you have no meaning at all"); then Sanya gets his leg amputated, and then gets buried alive by the same "guys" who've amputated his leg and "put it close to central heating to make it a little drier".

We didn't want comparisons with Egor Letov, but unfortunately these times are as harsh as times when he was at his best. That's why this cruelty and violence in lyrics is returning. Nobody cares that Sanya is being buried alive: "60% pass by, 12% kick him with the boots". That's much Mamleev-like violence, leading to catharsis.

"The Forests of Zvenigorod" where the story takes place, refer to Russian writer Anton Chekhov who worked in hospital of Zvenigorod.

Angst is a strong emotion, it is mentioned in lyrics. This is what we feel. We also feel "guys" are trying to bury us alive.

Then goes "Паблик со стишками" ("Social Network Page With Poetry"), sarcastic rant against popular poetry widely spread nowadays. It's way closer to The Fall aesthetics, it's topical in some way, and it's very social.

The third track, "Проезд капитана Тарана" ("Captain Taran Street"), goes back to topics of diseases. Captain Taran was an WWII hero, and after him a street in the centre of Murmansk, Northern Russia was named. Coincidentally, "taran" in Russian means "ramming".

So, the character's been just released from hospital, and, while still weak, he returns to Taran Street where he used to live in childhood, and he observes as his house is burning while nobody's trying to stop the fire ("If the house's burning, you can watch football").

The original title of this song — "Saperlipopet" (French swearing mentioning the Devil) was replaced because it's hard to pronounce it, but it remained in lyrics and it's significant for understanding. "Saperlipopet" is a title of book by Viktor Nekrasov, also WWII hero and writer who was forced to leave Soviet Russia because of his views.

In this book, the narrator also returns to streets of his youth in Kiev and Moscow, and his despair which sometimes grows in real anxiety is known to me when I go back to the city I spent most of my years.

This song is also touching upon issues of evil, control freaks, problem of Tick-borne encephalitis in Russia, among others.

Finally, the fourth track, "Не отрекаются" ("Don't Resign"), nods to Alla Pugacheva's song "Lovers Don't Resign". We made sort of parody, but we meant that resigning in general is an undesired thing.

The song tells a story of 4 dead people: a person hit by a train (see album cover), a person died in a car accident, a person who was drown, and a hangman. Each time some servicemen deputies act and perform what they must do according to instructions. Every verse is stone cold description of what happened, and each time it ends with a phrase: "But you wanted me to be the dead one here".

Enough said.

Well, musically, as I've said, I enjoyed Pere Ubu method of "equality of every sound". That's why I made the record less polished. I wanted to be harsh, disturbing and awaking the sleeping. It's like an alert. I wanted to express huge anxiety I feel. I guess I managed to do it.

But it would be totally impossible to achieve alone. Though I wrote all lyrics and sang all lines, did mixing, recordings, remastering, used found objects, played synth, melodica and percussion, the band did great amount of work in writing and arrangement.

Mikhail Alekseev is playing bass here; he also did some recordings, as well as our guitarist and musical advisor Evgeniy Dvoinishnikov, who also played metallophone here. Igor Ezhen provided live drums.

The EP was recorded in Red Moral studio hosted by Vladislav Klikunov who programmed MIDI, did recordings, mixing and mastering (except for track 3, where it was performed by Artyom Bogomolov).

So, I guess that's all. Hope you enjoy the record!

Sincerely yours,

John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Шутник вахтовик (2019)

Hi everyone, I'm glad to present you latest single by Лосины Маршала Потемкина. It's called «Шутник вахтовик» which is a rhyme and can be translated as "Joker Shift Worker".

It is actually remake of songs created in 2011-2012 rerecorded as a band. Its post-punk sound gets little lo-fi as it's totally DIY. It was recorded during rehearsal sessions and mixed by me. I also added some samples from original "Shift Worker" (2012) and new samples of a train.

The title track «Шутник комнатный» tells a story of a "joker" who ate glass just to make fun out of it, enough said. The second track tells a story of a shift worker who killed a bear (also for fun) and then had been ironically killed in a train accident.

The cover was drawn by our drummer Igor Ezhen. Yes, this single contains live drums. A punk on the cover hold a bottle of anti-freeze (a nod to our EP «Тренды»).

Well, this single is not about new movement or new direction. There's no certain direction, it's a remake recording to celebrate forthcomig 10th birthday of our band. I believe we recorded it because it was meant to be recorded, I don't know.

You see, we've been in a strange position recently. Our studio CD got a few praises, but mostly it's been found "too difficult or just too bad". People didn't get it, I guess our mates also don't entirely understand what and why we've been doing. Neither knew I.

Just kidding. I was partially aware of what it was about. But now, after the CD is out, I feel I got lost, too. Lately I tried rapping. It was... an experience. I plan to do perfect outsider music record. I plan recordings and recordings. I want to record more than to do endless rehearsals. They simply get me no satisfaction. I want to feel if not proper satisfaction, then just some sort of feeling of things done right, and done in a right way.

There's a fork on the road (again). We'll see what would the next turn bring.

And now, you may check out the single!



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

VA — Pereat (2018)

TL;DR? Then check out video version of this post!

Hi everyone, we're happy to present you our annual sampler! This time it's called "Pereat", it's a Latin word which can serve as sort of pessimistic motto, considering current situation.

The sampler starts with an anonymous short intro, it's an electronic instrumental by our long-time collaborator who decided not to sign this time:

Then goes a song by Concern Void band, it's titled Conscience, and we're really proud of it as it's a result of hard work on creating authentic minimal synth sound. I provided lyrics and vocals for the song, the music was written by Vladimir Laznev.

Then we have a new "Handshaker" by Snowbringer, and now it's "Modern Handshaker". It's a noise record, the sound is quite abrasive though it's not disturbing. It's also the longest track on the sampler. Snowbringer shows truly mature sound here.

Track #4 is a hip-hop by Alogical, he didn't write the beat, but the lyrics are original. It was first published as a part of Alogical Vlog, psychedelic and astonishingly modern. It's titled "Let's Get It", so it's based on a meme, and it's totally the least oldschool track on the sampler, which brings us diversity and all other valuable things nowadays.

The next track is an oldschool minimal instrumental "Time" by Vladimir Laznev, and it's supposed to be part of forthcoming soundtrack. It sounds really promising, and I'm looking forward to seeing the whole soundtrack released.

Then we have a new Nervöse Leute track, "Erziehung". It's a noise record and it's sort of a preview of their 3rd longplay hopefully to be released this summer/autumn. It's going to have less radio / tape noises, focusing on different noise sources instead; this track is an example of shifting quite primitive music to the spheres of sort of sophisticated noise.

Next track is a cinematic instrumental "Creeper" by Hipstor Smith. This track was written exclusively for our radio broadcast, Shadowplay FM, and it was aired earlier this year during a radio play "Post-irony".

The final song on the sampler is "Хуже не будет" by Лосины Маршала Потемкина. The title means "It won't get worse", and it's much a sardonic mood spread in the air these days. Together with a slogan "Pereat" it can be understood as a manifesto, and it was already honored to receive a comparison with a "sarcastic bomb". It's basically post-punk song, recorded in studio with live drums, though bass probably wouldn't sound really post-punk'ish, as it's too smooth. Anyway we hope to do something less sad next time we'll be heading to the studio.

  

So I gotta say we're proud of what we presented this year. From the one hand, there are no new projects / bands which would join us, there are even no guest artists this year, but I feel our "roast" is strong, mature and ready for new achievements. Hope you'll appreciate the result of our long and hard work.

What would you expect from us later this year? Well, we still hope to have 1 or 2 physical releases (they're on the go) by some of artists represented here. We hope to release a soundtrack by Vladimir Laznev, new Лосины's.. songs, and we also plan to release 3rd longplay by Nervöse Leute.

Probably we'll do something more. I feel like I need to invite new artists to our informal label. Let's see if I'll get lucky.

Instant free download (mp3 VBR) (Right click on "Click on this link — Save object as...").

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

Лосины Маршала Потемкина — Тренды (2017)

Hi everyone! Just before the winter starts to freeze our bodies and minds, let me present you our latest release, an EP by Лосины Маршала Потемкина, called "Тренды" ("Trends"). (TL;DR? Then check out the video!)

(design by Olga Klever)

This is our 3rd physical release, and the first CD! And yeah, it's not just some home-burnt CD-R(W), but a proper limited edition audio CD recorded in a professional studio with professional sound technicians.

Лосины Маршала Потемкина exist as a real band for almost a year now, and this EP represents our evolution from neofolk & outsider music to post-punk. We played live quite frequently this year, and our performances (and, maybe, lyrics) encouraged people to tag us as art rock and avant-garde. This is much a direction of our forthcoming development, as I'm willing to believe.

You may check our live sound here:

But let's talk about the CD now. As I have mentioned, it's a very limited edition, even a promo edition. In 2018 we may print another edition with alternative mixes, but these copies are available for order (see details below).

The EP was designed by our friend Olga Klever, who made a cover and a beautiful booklet which is included into a hand-made envelope made of craft paper.

The whole package includes: abovementioned craft paper envelope, the cover and back cover with information originally handwritten by our guitarist and manager Alyona Kidun, the abovementioned booklet (4 pages: a page per a song) with elements of cover design, snapshots from shooting of our promo video (hopefully to be uploaded in early 2018), nice praise from wonderful people around, and some additional information. And, of course, the package includes the CD itself.

This EP includes 4 songs, and the first one is titled "Дэвид Линч" ("David Lynch"), and it's about David Lynch. It was easy to predict, I know. But David Lynch is such a cult person here, every hipster schoolgirl says she loves "Twin Peaks", so David Lynch is obviously a trend here. Don't get me wrong, we don't laugh at him, personally I respect David Lynch, but it's about public image, not the person.

The next song is a post-punk version of "Рив гош" ("Rive Gauche"), a fancy cosmetics store. It's also a trend. While listening to the first two songs, and "Рив гош" in general, I suppose I did my best to make Mark E. Smith grumbling that I've ripped him off ;)

(Earlier electronic version of this song)

The third song, "Незамерзайка" ("Antifreeze") is a topical song about tragic events happened in Siberia previous year. Yes, some people are drinking antifreeze. It's a serious social problem: vodka is rather expensive (a bottle costs ~$3.5 which is expensive for alcoholics), so the people who suffer from this disease, simply can't afford a quality product, they drink such booze, go blind or even die. And it's not about homeless people, or other misfits, but about workers, drivers; even a "regionally important poet", who is also a heavily drinker, can get in such trouble. And, obviosly, we're not laughing again. This is topical, but I was thinking about how Phil Ochs or even our 19th century writers could cover this issue. This is the longest track on EP, and, to my mind, it is seriously scaring track. While playing live, we used a live noise found object, for the studio I had to create an electronic sample. Technicians have made a cool mastering for this song, so it really seems that it was too cold in the studio. I read Joy Division used climate control systems to make the temperature in the studio really low, so that's a chilling coincidence.

The final track, "Утренний рейс" ("A Morning Flight"), is also topical, as it covers issues of suicidal tendencies among Russian teenagers, represented mostly wrong in the media. Unlike us, these millenials had happy childhood, and, becoming teenagers, they grow desperately bored. This problem is well-known to any keen Dostoevsky reader, for instance. On the contrary, the media tend to ignore our literature, and they created a criminal (though fake) version about malicious adults who encourage teenagers' suicides. Moreover, the song touches upon not only teenager suicide problem (which is definitely tragic), but also my personal experience of "wandering" and not having home, not just apartments, and this big amount of pain has turned into the song. Those teenagers often killed themselves early in the morning, in the same time when morning flights depart, and I remember sitting in the airport waiting for my morning flight and reading these stories about "suicidal games", and felt nothing but regret: I regreted their deaths, regreted my fate of a "wanderer", it was simply a depression I can never completely beat. That's why I tried to sing here as low as I could.

So, "Trends" is kind of sick name, really sardonic. The process of recording was tough. Technicians have removed almost all the noise, including the noise which was made by synths and added on purpose, especially in 3rd and 4th songs.

I can confess I learned a brilliant lesson: if you enter a studio while being inexperienced person thinking you're an underground hero, you'll be shocked by enormous expenses. We couldn't afford most of the proper equipment, we needed professional technicians, and it all costed us a lot. In addition, it was critically expensive and difficult to record live drums, so we had to ask for electronic ones. Because of all that, we bought more experience rather than this CD. I realize we need to continue learning, but I have quite ambitious plans for the next year.

"Trends" were presented in Moscow underground garage club recently, and I had some nice feedback from there. Thanks to my friend Hipstor Smith who organized the gig!

I want to thank everyone involved in making of this CD, technicians from a state-owned studio we recorded in, people who supported us and visited our gigs, helped us somehow, etc. Biggest thanks from me go to our bassist and guitarist Zhenya Dvoynishnikov, who is actually making almost all music here — I was responsible only for lyrics, vocals and some synths on the EP.

"Trends" are currently not available online, but it will be uploaded rather soon, I believe. Anyway, it's available for order. I feel I have no moral right to ask you to purchase it by real price (as it would currently be around $40, including postal services, to cover our costs, no joke, though in future it'll surely be reduced), but you can name your price.

Feel free to contact me in case if you want to order it or any of our previous tape releases:

Nervoese Leute / Snowbringer — Split ($3.5 + postal services)

VA — Music to Play With an Axe ($1.7 + postal services; only one copy left!)

Also, feel free to contact me to leave some feedback, as it's much appreciated! We consider our first CD and first studio experience as an achievement, and currently I'm really positive about out perspectives.

Sincerely yours,
John "Grey Lenses" Grey

Acid Socks — Good (2016)

Hi everyone, we’re back with the new release, the 2^nd EP by Acid Socks, “Good”.

Photos by Pavel Chainichkov

Their 1^st EP was released in 2013, after that Socks were not active, and recently they were revived and participated in our sampler “In Vacuo”.

I think I should tell you what the name “Acid Socks” means. It actually means the color of the socks of the founder of this project, green, “acid”; nobody had such socks: that’s why the founder chose such name: something which makes you different.

We can be different

That’s what makes us good
 

Says the speech robot in the title track “Good”. The music for this EP was recorded by Acid Socks in 2009—2013, and remixed in 2015—2016 by me. I also contributed English lyrics and vocals and created samples using previously mentioned speech robot. The photos for covers were contributed on the courtesy of our long-time collaborator photographer Pavel Chainichkov; it’s also from his album of impressions of Southern Russia.

Every track of this EP was made in a different style: “Good” provides solid electro while “Still a Factory”, previously released on “In Vacuo” is something little more melodramatic in its 2^nd part.
 

The third track, “Low Speed”, is the only song here. It’s some very, very lo-fi garage post-punk, the music is not even in stereo. Acid Socks, as far as I’m concerned, used standard “garage rock band” equipment consisting of a drum kit, bass and electric guitar. I applied heavily the variety of effects trying to master my production skills to make it sound “wickedly” to fit the lyrics.

Is that unfair:

Things we’ve repaired

Are breaking again,

Breaking so fast

The lyrics are mainly about Nikolay Stavrogin, fictional character created by Dostoevsky in his novel “The Possessed”, the lyrics touch upon his suicidal way of life, tendency to play suicidal games, desperately craving for “raising the bets”. That’s what the chorus is about:

Reasons vary

No reason why

The speed is still low

We need to speed up

The reasons are actually “reasons to die”. The novel portrays several ideologists who have very different reasons to live and end up that way, although everybody has similar tragic “result”.
 

The final track “The Harbor” is an impression of visiting the harbor, it’s reading of a poem with some cinematic piano sounds and seagulls’ samples. Interestingly that Acid Socks were inspired by Aivazovsky’s picture of the harbor, while I was inspired by actual harbor when I was writing the poem.

Visiting the harbor, witnessing the grace

This world is actually an abandoned place

Ghostly and eluding, everything is gone

I am so confused now, don’t you see: I’m stunned

Dreams are dying quickly, touching this cold sea

I am trembling here, don’t you see?

Endings and beginnings, heads and tails

Help me now to leave these mysterious ways

This EP is very short but important to us. Hope you find it interesting! Stay tuned!

Download for free from BandCamp (lossless)

Or check out YouTube playlist

Yours sincerely,

John “Grey Lenses” Grey