Special: Addicted/noname Label from Moscow, Part 16

The original German article is here.

New and old music from Moscow based Addicted/noname Label! This time with doom-stoner by Clarity Vision, impro-prog and afro-beat by DEEBBBB, doom-metal by Dekonstruktor, hyperactive everything-mashup by Detieti, sludgecore by JWH, psychedelic folklore by KissLiar, screamo-sludge by Polarnik, organic dub-rap by REBBBB, stoner rock by Spaceking, depressive doom by Thy Grave, reduced piano indie rock by Verba, crazy everything music between folk, psychedelic, jazz and something else by Голуби и Безумные Кашевары, noise rock by Резина, hip-hop noise punk by Рудольф, psychedelic-shamanic folk rock by Шайййм and danceable garage surf rock by Шон.

Clarity Vision — Clarity Vision EP (2023)

The best thing about this old-school doom-neo-stoner melange by Clarity Vision from Moscow is that Galina Shpakovskaya is a woman on the mic. Her penetrating, almost deep vocals enrich the dark, heavy, riffing music of the three other musicians, guitarist Alexey Roslyakov, bassist Denis Yakhryushin and drummer Mikhail Markelov. She also sings in Russian, which gives the overall sound a special flavour — hopefully not just for non-Russians.

But that's not all: while the opening track of this debut EP, "Заходящие солнца пустыни" (Desert Setting Suns), is still an ethereal almost-instrumental, the four of them reach for the full riff vat from the second song, "Траблмэйкер блюз" (Troublemaker Blues): heavy, dragging, oppressive. "Магический лес" (Magical Forest) even begins with an organ and then speeds up a little to encourage the stoner doom community to nod their heads in excitement. The quartet sees itself in the tradition of seventies doom, which it combines with modern stoner metal, and there's no disputing that. The blues-rock is in the songs, the bong is spinning, and in fact it is the vocals that give this form of metal a special flavour; Siouxsie Sioux and Diamanda Galás could be references, and both are not so metal. Fits!

The two self-released pre-release tracks "Пространства" (Spaces) and "Motorcycle Meditation", which the Muscovites released in January 2023, are not included on this debut EP. Also not included is their version of the Depeche Mode hit "Personal Jesus", with which the band started their rehearsals in 2022.

DEEBBBB — Episode 1 (2015/2021)

The joint journey of two Moscow bands began a good ten years ago when they joined forces to form what was then an eight-piece improvisation ensemble: the avant-garde prog-punks Detieti and the experimental post-rockers I Will Kill Chita, who also call themselves Evil Bear Boris, which explains the abbreviation DEEBBBB, except for the last two Bs, which stand for Big Band. The first episode was released independently before addicted/noname added it to its catalogue six years later and consists of two tracks with a total playing time of just over half an hour.

The octet moshes away, with speed and vigour, but not with heaviness — that's not the point. The musicians let go of everything that comes to mind, so you hear funky guitar and bass, hip-hop scratching, minimalist loop melodies, spacey synth effects, and all eight of them work themselves into a frenzy with which they infect listeners. This is the kind of thing that works when you're dealing with accomplished musicians who know what they're doing, even without discussing it at length.

Drummers Viktor Tikhonov and Nikita Samarin, bassists Mikhail Ivanov and Nick Samarin, keyboardists Petr Bolotov and Andrey Silin, DJ Ivan Khvorostukhin and guitarist Artem Litvakovskiy were involved in "Episode 1". The band developed an incredible flow and grooved to such a hypnotic, danceable tune that it was no wonder that further episodes were to follow: Five years later, Detieti and IWKC expanded their improv ensemble with the Speedball Trio, a punk-jazz band. This meant more drummers, more bassists and a saxophonist instead of a DJ. You can read more about this on KrautNick.

DEEBBBB feat. Rudolf — Episode 3 (2024)

For the third episode, Detieti and IWKC once again team up with guests, in this case Рудольф (Rudolf). The concept for the five new tracks is different this time: the ensemble uses existing sound files, drum patterns generated by Viktor Tikhonov and bass lines recorded by Nick Samarin, and creates the new music around them. The result is — Afrobeat. Quite unexpected and surprising. Overall, the music seems more composed than before, despite its session character, and escalates into dubby trips, trippy dubs and hypnotic dances. Vocals and singing are more important than on the earlier episodes, with choir-like backing vocals and shamanic mumbling. In general, the ensemble here is far more melodious than before, which makes it very accessible.

The fact that more percussion and drums are also used here increases the danceability of DEEBBBB's music even further, which is hard to believe as the group's music has always been danceable. Here, an orientation towards African rhythms and structures emerges, which promotes the danceability and raises it to the next level, increasing the trance factor, so to speak. It is amazing how much order this music radiates, although improvisation was a core element in the creation of this album, even with a different approach.

This time DEEBBBB are: Alex Rtishev (vocals and vocal loops), Roman Karandaev (vocals), Nick Samarin (bass and double bass), Mikhail Ivanov (bass), Dmitry Kuzovlev (guitar), Viktor Tikhonov and Nikita Samarin (drums), Ivan Khvorostukhin and Pavel Makarov (percussion) as well as Andrey Silin and Petr Bolotov (keyboards). Together, they develop a magnetic pull with their music that you willingly expose yourself to — "Episode 3" is the most fun of all DEEBBBB albums so far, and they are all fun. "Episode 3" is an effervescent trip that grooves and captivates, into which you sink and which releases undreamt-of energy.

Dekonstruktor — Death Beat (2024)

The Moscow doom metal trio Dekonstruktor are celebrating their tenth anniversary with a new album: the title "Death Beat" lives up to its promise, the three roll out their tracks with stoically repetitive rhythms forever and let equally monotonous riffs off the leash to match. Once again, it's a miracle that this brutal noise is unleashed by just three people: the fat drums of Mitya DHS create a massive sound, guitar and bass are shared by his colleagues Garish and Memfis (sometimes Memphis), sounding as if there were four of them.

Six tracks in over 40 minutes, that's a lot of space for the three of them to roll around in, and they fill it. Doom is only a superficial label, which they follow to a large extent, but with their epically riffing music they vary the dynamics across all songs, sometimes driving them forward at punk speed, making them bounce with thrash metal spirit or steering them depressively and reduced into the abyss. They occasionally add fuzz to the bass and turn the guitars up to 11 — and give their songs enough space to unfold and branch out despite the stoic monotony and develop shades, nuances and side arms that prevent any hint of boredom. "We hope your comfort zone dies", say Dekonstruktor on their Bandcamp page, and let the album slip away bleakly in a doom ambience.

Ten years ago, Dekonstruktor emerged from the band The Moon Mistress; "Death Beat" is the third album since then, plus EPs, live albums and split releases. The line-up has remained unchanged since 2014: Memfis, also making music with ИГОРЬ, Nedonoshennost, and has been playing with Evil Cosmonaut, Unhealing Wound and the Illegal Ones; Mitya DHS, also a member of the bands СПИДВИЧ, The Crawling Chaos, played drums for Vivisectors' Gulag Tunes and was with Meister Leonhardt and Ulfhednar; and Garish, sometimes calls himself Garish Cyborg — that's all he reveals — makes techno, dub and noise, in projects Torchlighter, White Ninja, Undo Tribe, etc., and also runs the Kill Ego label.

Detieti — Ne eP (2013)

"Ne eP" is debute album by Detieti released in 2013, which can only inadequately be described as a rock band. What happens here in just one track is something that others don't manage in a lifetime. The band has their Zappa in them, as well as their Mike Patton — genres come together here in the most absurd breaks, which together make a track and which you would never have imagined together. Chaos reigns; others would have made entire songs out of every little idea that was incorporated. Strings, saxophone, some kind of clapping instruments with -phon at the end, sudden acute aggro attacks, roaring, funk, punk, bossa nova, jazz, folk, easy-listening driven by an organ, reggae, metal, they have mastered everything and they use it all, sometimes changing every second. And then they treat themselves and the listener to some quiet time by chillingly rolling out a carpet of synthesiser. It's hard to imagine how people can come up with something like this, and yet it exists. And it still works. Impressive.

Detieti worked on "Ne eP" as a quartet. Han slapped the bass, Vanish played the guitar (also with Zlurad, Rudolf and Stone Cold Boys), Peyote R played the keyboard and Victor Tikhonov (known from The Grand Astoria, Kshettra, Slovo Mira and Sound Of Ground) played the drums. Prominent guests helped with the realisation: Roman Karandaev (from Zlurad, Rudolf and Brom) sings and plays an instrument he calls a trubophone. His colleague Dmitry Kuzovlev (Izrazets as well as Zlurad and Rudolf) plays duduk (Armenian woodwind instrument) and zafun (also xaphoon, a kind of bamboo saxophone). Eugenia Sivkova from Der Finger and Lizzard G contributes saxophone and screams. The violin comes from Alexander Chernokrylov (Циклопы Рока aka The Cyclopes of Rock, Teashroom Time Band). So much Rudolf among the guests anticipates a lot of DEEBBBB!

An insane ride, as always with Detieti. You could say that the music is unstructured and arbitrary, but then you could also say that about jazz, Fantômas or Düreforsög and do them all an injustice.

JWH — Hydra (2022)

Hard stuff, in every respect: on "Гидра", i.e. Hydra, the quartet JWH (Jekkyl Will Hyde) deals with the drug problems in their home town of Vladivostok, how people treat each other, what drugs do to people, how broken the Far East of Russia is. The four musicians clothe their complaint in what they themselves describe as sludge, which is not enough: you can hear the indignation and the anger, it's not just in the vocals that hardcore comes through, at some points the four of them also burst out musically in a punk-like manner. Although the eight songs are relatively short, around two or three minutes long, JWH still manage to make them seem as if a lot of time has passed; feedback sections and sluggish riff passages between the harder and faster moments contribute to this impression. The two or three voices between the bawling and grunting add an extra layer of tension to the music.

Despite its brevity, "Гидра" is considered JWH's debut album and was preceded by the single "Желчь Земли". Founded in 2015, the quartet underwent several line-up changes. Involved in "Гидра" were: Singer and guitarist Denis Viner (once with Khaos Labyrinth), drummer Egor Bespalov, singer Zakhar "Bakhar" Pshenitski (also with Rotcult) and bassist Max Dikusar. Sludge-doom bassist Anastasia "Nastya" Ratkevich (Анастасия Раткевич) alias Acid Cøma (also with Rotcult) can be heard as a guest vocalist on two songs. JWH cover a major influence at the end: "I Hate The Human Race" is originally by Grief.

KissLiar — Rustic Acid (2024)

The band KissLiar started off its psychedelic, freaky and spacey journey out off jam and retains this jam-like quality on its debut album with the meaningful title "Rustic Acid". Flutes and keyboards stand out, together with seventies-style sawing guitars, chilled rhythms, repetitive, loop-like melodies, folk, freaky. The music sounds like retro, you feel as if you are on a country trip somewhere in England, but you are actually in Moscow. There, they know how to make use of existing material and reinterpret, reshape and expand it as they see it. Here, for example, in psychedelic folk rock there are borrowings from funk and northern soul.

Surprisingly, although they are seven in KissLiar , none of them sing: "Rustic Acid" is a purely instrumental album. But each of them lives out their virtuosity all the more. The band includes: Aleksandr Lazarev (guitar), Andrey Bass (guitar and bass guitar), Artyom Levitskiy (bass guitar), Arseniy Volodin (flute), Ivan Lugovoy (keyboards), Sergei Iushin (drums) and Andrey Formalnov (percussion). Both pre-release singles from 2022, including B-sides, are also included on the album — which is nevertheless very much a single piece, not a collection of tracks.

As the band does not build its rock on heaviness and only really steps on the gas in the last track, but instead emphasises groove and psychedelia, it is easy to let yourself fall into the music. Or even to move wildly and exuberantly to it. "Rustic Acid" sounds out of time, but not a definable time, because it contains too many components that were not part of this kind of folk rock when it first emerged. And in comparison to Amorphous Androgynous, they are too analogue. That's how it happens!

Polarnik — Protocol (2024)

The opener "Волчок" (Whirligig Pup) immediately knocks you off your feet: Screamo hardcore combined with the songs of indigenous North Americans. And this from Polarnik, a quartet from Kaliningrad. A quartet that would be broadly categorised as hardcore if it weren't too limited for what happens here on their debut "Протокол" (Protocol). The four decelerate hardcore and turn it into a kind of sludge metal, the drums sometimes seem to float into the tracks, the guitar interweaves pads and epic melodies, the bass drives the groove forward and the high, nagging scream from the screamo towers over everything. It's not just barking, it looks towards post metal, post something with heaviness, it's effective because it doesn't work with striking effects.

Polarnik's music is also bold because it features two guitarists, Evgenii Gerashchenko (formerly of Gentle Tick and Silent Guide) and Mikhail Sulzhenko (also ex of Gentle Tick, Nuclear Bear, Constructions and Ishimura and active in Threesingles), who has unfortunately left the band in the meantime. Artiom Nikolaitis (formerly of Constructions, Kocytos, Black Mark and KAFÓ) plays bass and Evgenii Zalyzin (ex of Gentle Tick, Up To Times and Whirler Hang as well as Grasping Veld) drums, while Sergei Lushchakov (also of Hierarchy, Open Here and Threesingles as well as ex of Constructions, Crassus and We Set To Fire) takes care of the screaming, accompanied by Varvara Maksimova on the opener. However, if the quintet weren't also capable of reduced, chilled-out moments, it would be difficult to listen to "Протокол" often — the energy level would be too high. The relaxing passages would increase the tension, as paradoxical as it may sound.

REBBBB — I Am the Universe (2022)

Before Detieti and IWKC teamed up with Rudolf for "Episode 3", IWKC and Rudolf rehearsed improv dub without Detieti as REBBB, Rudolf Evil Bear Boris Big Band, on "Мироздание - это я" (I Am the Universe). Rudolf's hip-hop element is more prominent here than on "Episode 3", there is Russian rap and scratches to the stoned hand-played dub and reggae, even though not all tracks are consistently offbeat; some have a crazy tempo. You can hear that the six musicians are having a lot of fun — it's pure party here, between beach and club, with hand-played organic beats and cheerful melodies, with lots of energy and infectious joy. According to the info, the theme is sci-fi lyrics, which is quite a contrast, but the spacey psychedelia in some of the tracks fits in well with this.

The combination of organic, highly energetic instruments, scratches and rap is particularly impressive here. The Russian works formidably, even without being understood, the sound fits the music perfectly, and sometimes the vocal contributors fall into chants and thus contribute a kind of melody to the music. Behind it all is a drummer who, accompanied by percussion, unleashes a wild beat monster — he alone could throw the party.

REBBBB consists of: Dmitry Kuzovlev (guitar and vocals), Ivan Khvorostukhin (vocals, percussion and DJ scratches), Nikita Samarin (drums), Nikolaj Samarin (bass and Novation Bass Station), Alex Rtishev (vocals and live loops) and Andrey Silin (keyboards). For the first five of the six tracks, the ensemble drew inspiration for the lyrics from Igor Kholin, an avant-garde author whose non-conformist works were not published in the Soviet Union at the time apart from children's books. There is also a lot of message in taking on such an artist in Russia today. Danceable protest, insanely unleashed energy.

Spaceking — Stardust EP (2009)

Ivan Zakharov from St Petersburg recorded his debut EP as Spaceking completely on his own in 2009, but it already set the tone for the band he would later form: on the "Stardust EP", he has collected four instrumental stoner rock tracks with which he sends listeners stoned into space. You can clearly hear that his main instrument is the bass, as it is much more present here than on comparable releases in the genre. He plays his instrument with corresponding virtuosity, which he doesn't use for simple chords but to fuel the stoner groove. Deep guitar melodies and sluggish drums are part of his arsenal, and that's exactly what you get here. Including a brief excursion into disco and ambient in the closing title track. The only astonishing thing is that the Spaceking manages to fit his four tracks into just 20 minutes.

As a bonus, Ivan integrates some keyboard effects into the music, which he uses to create the transitions between the tracks and which only emphasise the spacey, drifting atmosphere. Then he returns to his dominant bass — or sometimes lets the guitar play a gentle solo. A promising start, which is known to have been followed by more promising albums.

Spaceking — Boot Leg (2011)

Take "Boot Leg", for example, which was recorded during the rehearsals of the full band Spaceking and is even a minute shorter than the debut EP. The band takes the track "Labyrinth" from the EP, which will also appear in full on the debut album "In The Court of the Spaceking", as well as "Taklamakan" and "Spaceking", two further preludes to the album that will be released two years later. The song "The Name Is an Anagram" is exclusive to this album.

Nothing against the instrumental qualities of band leader Ivan Zakharov, but it gives Spaceking's music an additional layer when it is played by five people, and here together in one room. The five of them fire each other up, support each other in their energetic performance, motivate each other to make excursions and digressions, give the music a new life, even if it doesn't change much in principle. Here, the focus is no longer solely on the good tracks, but also on the very lively form of performance. Things happen here that Ivan wouldn't have been able to do on his own, special breaks, unexpected solos, mutual rocking — the decision to continue Spaceking as a band was a good one. Moreover, Spaceking remains instrumental as a band, with only a few samples to be heard in the last track. An anagram of what?

The band was joined by guitarists Sergey Tumanov and Ilya Yakunov, drummer Ilya Makarov and Denis Demchev, who was responsible for effects. Spaceking also recorded their debut with this line-up.

Spaceking — The Piper at the Gates of Stone (2016)

Like the debut "In The Court of the Spaceking", the second album "The Piper at the Gates of Stone" also has a specific reference in its title: there it was King Crimson, here it is Pink Floyd. Their spacy influences cannot be denied on Spaceking. Nevertheless, stoner rock naturally predominates here too, riff-dominated and powerful, and, unlike on "Boot Leg", produced really fat, the difference is considerable. The band has really got to grips with each other, the compositions are virtuoso and bursting with ideas, every track takes a turn in unexpected directions.

Spaceking are no longer confined to the stoner rock genre, as the title suggests: The band is prepared to step over the banks, and eavesdrops on the less riff-dominant spaciness of seventies prog rock, which it places between its riffs. Spaceking are also not afraid to push their riffs in the direction of metal at times, and also serve post-rock with shimmering guitars. This makes the whole album seem even more varied and creates a tension that demands attention. What's more, it's all so incredibly well played and produced.

On this album, Spaceking are only a four-piece and effects master Denis Demchev is no longer on board of this rocket. There have also been some changes: Stanislav Mateev has replaced Sergey Tumanov (moved to Australia and started solo carrier & NCTMMRN label) on guitar and Daniil Kornev (Pressor, Dead Man Tells, Cosmic Show Owner) has taken the drums for Ilya Makarov. In return, Spaceking involved a few guests in the recordings: Andrey Romanov plays the North African frame drum Bendir and the Jew's harp, Vladimir Kabanov synths and Ivan Rozmainsky (Roz Vitalis) keyboards. Together they create a rousing, varied, boldly produced album that once again does without vocals.

Thy Grave — Filth (2021)

The world is shit, and you have to express that in music from time to time. Thy Grave from Moscow spew this out a lot, and their second album Filth, which was released eight years after their debut Anhedonia, is no exception. The album is aptly titled and the music is very much in keeping with this: we’re officially talking about doom here, but Thy Grave are much more aggressive and bad-tempered than ordinary doomers. There's death metal in there, sludge, something evil; the quartet takes its instruments and plays them particularly slowly and brutally. Each riff takes minutes to uncoil, and the singer shouts and roars his displeasure into the world.

Over the course of the album — six tracks in three quarters of an hour — there’s hardly any variation in the tempo; it remains sluggish, disturbing, depressing, and at the same time aggressive. But it’s not quite without variations: within the tracks, Thy Grave change the intensity of the brutality, so they also reduce the energy at times and riff on the guitars for ages without the drums and bass maintaining the pressure towards the abyss. Filth is heavy stuff and is definitely not something that will brighten up the dark days.

Thy Grave — My Body Is a Coffin (2022)

Another EP from Thy Grave with two tracks, My Body Is a Coffin, marks the return of the original vocalist—røt is back and grunts into the microphone, Konstantin (Matushka) replaces Helferlein as a drummer, but Eugene, Ira, and Max are still here. And the band still tries to be as brutal as possible with BPM as low as possible. The sound remains fat, but that’s no wonder with two guitars, and it seems as if the voice of røt, who now calls himself A.C., is being held back a little compared to Eugene’s vocals [on previous albums]. With this EP, Thy Grave once again express their disgust for people and humanity, which is understandable given that the situation in the world isn’t particularly reassuring. This is the soundtrack for doom.

Verba — Молчи, грусть, молчи (2005/2023)

"Молчи, грусть, молчи", meaning "Silence, sadness, silence", is what Verba from Moscow called their debut album, and it fits perfectly: the instrumental music is reduced and slow, a kind of indie rock, self-absorbed and spartan. The guitar is not always at the forefront, some tracks are piano ballads, the drums are very restrained, however powerful they sound. For Verba, however, sadness does not mean tearfulness; their ballads are free of pathos. And the music is warm; there is no coldness to it that is to be expected with sadness. Verba also like it psychedelic and spacey, some tracks leave the planet, and curiously, they never lose their grip on the ground. And it is only in the ninth track that Verba rock a little harder, accompanied by an ambient keyboard, and the final track rocks dirty.

The band's song titles are as reduced as their music: the eleven tracks are simply numbered in Roman numerals. The band belonged to the time: Илья Зининн (Ilya Zinin, guitar and effects), Антон Димитриев (Anton Dimitriev, bass, guitars, noises), Наталья Сапожникова (Natalya Sapozhnikova, keyboards and vocals), Дмитрий Дроздов (Dmitry Drozdov, drums) and Сергей Лезин (Sergey Lezin, effects and electronics). The info lists three guests: Theodor Bastard with electronics, Театр Яда (Theatre of Poison) with interference and psychedelic objects and Игра Снов (Game of Dreams) with sounds and effects.

One year after the debut, the EP "Temp" was released, followed by the second album "Tok" in 2010 and two split singles, before the band split up. Half of Verba was then absorbed into the great Резина (Rezina). "Молчи, грусть, молчи" is worth every rediscovery.

Pigeons & The Insane Porridgemakers — Hole (2022)

So: Голуби и Безумные Кашевары is the name of the mega-collective from St Petersburg, meaning Pigeons & The Insane Porridgemakers. Accordingly, "Hopa", the title of their sixth album, should be called "Hole". The music on this album is so diverse in terms of genre that it's hard to imagine how all this can come from just one band. Well, band: Голуби и Безумные Кашевары consists of 13 musicians, it's more like an orchestra, and that probably explains this crazy variety.

And the diversity here is spun — the ensemble knows its Zappa, but applies it differently, namely not so mosaic-like that the contradictory individual parts are put together like blocks, but truly combined with each other. And what the 13 musicians can't do so well that they put it together successfully and convincingly: Rock music from prog, folk, kraut, space and psychedelia, melodic lines from either the Middle Ages or the Orient, vocals like those of Lisa Gerrard or Milan Fras, especially when the throat singing transports specific vocabulary, country twang, reggae offbeats, saxophone rock, Celtic folklore, Rondo Veneziano and hints of jazz. All of this is used on "Hopa", always three or four building blocks in one song and scattered throughout the album. It's remarkable how well this works: It takes some expertise to guess what fits together as well as it does here.

Many cooks spoil the broth, they say, and if they are crazy, how will it turn out — here there are 13 of them and they spoil nothing. Natalya Grazhdankina contributes the dominant voice, accompanied by guitarist and organist Daniil Grazhdankin. Pavel Dombrovskiy plays bass, guitar and synthesiser, Georgiy Medvinskiy tenor and soprano saxophone, Valeriya Meshkova oboe. Vladimir Polevikov and Liliya Akivenson play synthesiser, Alexandr Sokolov another organ. There are three rhythm players: Alexandr Meertsuk with percussion and Egor Egorsky (Doomerion, Irhagar, ex-Ciolkowska) and Gleb Pinskiy on drums. Anatoliy Buchin plays the flute and Dmitriy Ataulin the guitar. The beginnings of Голуби и Безумные Кашевары date back to 2009, when the debut album "Вояж" appeared, also released as "Le Voyage" under the band name Pidgeons & The Insane Porridgemakers.

Rezina — I'm Saying (feat. Sveta Matveeva) (2023)

Since "1619", Резина (Rezina) have only released all their songs as scattered singles, most recently "Говорю" (I'm Saying). As usual, the Moscow instrumental project chooses voices for its songs, this time those of Sveta Matveyeva, also known as Wooden Whales. Her almost Far Eastern way of singing overlays the nosierock that the band unleashes. Unhurried, but exceptionally intense. The song first builds up its intensity and then lets the fuzz off the leash. Резина are guitarists Ilya Zinin & Andrey Klimov, bassist Oleg Lisitsin and drummer Dmitry Drozdov.

Rezina — Space Forces feat. On Yun (2021)

The music of noise rockers Резина (Rezina) works with every imaginable type of voice - including Он Юн (On Yun), a hip-hop project from St. Petersburg. Once again, Резина perform their song "Космические войска" (Space Forces), slowly head-nodding with small noisy outbursts, and Он Юн rapping to it, with vigour and expression, in a way that seems less like rap than aggressive rock chanting. It fits perfectly, and the music is also unspeakably good. It's about time Резина bundled all their individual songs into one album and released it physically, as well as their debut.

Rudolf — Firstborn (2022)

What do Рудольф (Rudolf) from Moscow actually sound like without DEEBBBB or REBBBB? You can find out on the debut album "Первенец" (Firstborn): It's pure chaos here. Twenty minutes of noise. Noise. Shouting, barking, outbursts of rage. The basis could be some kind of punk, noisecore perhaps, clattering, noisy rock'n'roll, enriched with scratchings. And people shout around and call it hip hop.

It's true, songs like "Томный скит" (Languid skit) can still be categorised as hip hop, with the exceptionally reduced organic music underneath perhaps even as crossover. But a song like this is an exception, otherwise the Rudolfs just bang away; isn't there even speed metal in there? Zappa jazz? The band themselves write sludge in their info, but no, they're too fast for that.

It's impressive how Рудольф combine punk rock with their verbal performance and scratches. "Первенец" contains ten short tracks that are so insane that the album seems much longer. They must have had a lot of fun in the studio. They have no respect for the individual parts they put together, or rather: respect for the purists, because they might despair of this album.

Shajjm — A Dream Is Not a Dream (2020)

What a dynamic! Шаййм (Shajjm) from Moscow develop an inescapable pull from the very first bar. Their debut "Сон да не сон" (A Dream Is Not a Dream) takes folk rock a step further, in a driven, energetic, powerful direction. The drums boom like on some New Model Army albums, accompanied by flutes, the Russian vocals demand every ounce of attention and the music takes on the brutal industrial hammer blows of Swans. The almost eight-minute opener "Камни" leaves the listener breathless.

Шайййм then leave the path of brutality, but remain as urgent as before and shift to psychedelia, with which they jack up their version of folk rock. Even with reduced instrumentation, Шайййм maintain the high energy level, most strongly expressed through vocals, but also with lively percussion and jazzy flute. The entire performance becomes increasingly shamanic and ritualistic, which the band also expresses by extending the only five songs on this album indefinitely — without them becoming boring. At the end, Шайййм briefly pick up on the eruptive nature of the opener and give their psychedelic-freaky folk music a kick.

Only four people were involved in this lush album: drummer Ilya Borodin (studio/base Motherbase, bands Saving Hands, Ivan Suraev, Toma​-​To​!​, Tot Kexit, Юрын Миёми aka Yuryn Miyomi, Дом малютки aka My Small House, Perth, Foojitsu), double bassist Roman Komlev (Джажда aka Jahjda, Затворница aka Zatvornica, Ага, вот-вот aka Aga, vot-vot, Конус Маха aka Konus Makha), flautist Nikita Bobrov (Kshettra, Dry River, Trna, Mount Ant) and singer and guitarist Nikita Chernat (Хадн Дадн aka Hadn Dadn, Созвездие Отрезок aka Sozvezdie Otrezok, Сад имени Фёдора aka The Fyodor's Garden, "Ага, вот-вот" aka Yep Well-Well, Высадка aka Landing, Молоко на губах aka Milk on the Lips). The second and so far last album "Радостные дни" (Joyful Days) followed in 2023, recorded with the same line-up.

Shon — ŠÖŇ (2012)

Шон (Shon) from Korolyov slightly to the north of Moscow seems to have only released the quasi-self-titled album "ŠÖŇ", with only the single track "Не говори никому" appearing ten years after this opening track, as the opener of the label compilation "Addicted Tuens". The album is instrumental - and the music is not easy to summarise: Kind of sixties garage rock, i.e. clattering proto-punk, but performed with a different attitude, not at all so specifically turned to retro. There are too many other influences, which are also expressed in the songs and the titles. For example, they cover the breakbeat hit "Rockit" by jazz master Herbie Hancock as an electrified garage rock bomb, call a track with a good-humoured ska beat "Slack Babbath" - and "Готичный сёрфер" hits the nail on the head: "Gothic Surfer".

Шон are very varied in their musical expression: on the one hand, they like to add fuzz to their bass and shovel a scoop of dirt onto their sound, on the other hand, there are also clear, almost poppy surf songs like "Зорька и Худенький". Nor do they shy away from disco beats that lie beneath the weird fuzz sounds. For all their versatility, the band is characterised by considerable joy in playing, the songs carry dynamics and infectious good humour that doesn't stick to the surface.

Interestingly, nothing can be found out about the band's line-up; perhaps a knowledge of Russian would be more successful, but it doesn't look like it. It's astonishing enough that you can still keep a secret these days. All the more reason to focus on the music. By the way: Unfortunately, the "Rockit" cover is not included on all versions of the album.