8 posts tagged “russian”
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07/12/09
T in the Park Festival Scotland
Discography
07/14/09 Paradiso Amsterdam 07/15/09 Villa Arconati Milan 07/17/09 Latitude Festival UK 07/28/09 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, CA 09/11/09 Myth St. Paul, MN 09/12/09 Chicago Theatre Chicago, IL 09/15/09 Michigan Theater Ann Arbor, MI 09/16/09 Sound Academy Toronto, ON 09/17/09 Metropolis Montreal, PQ 09/21/09 House of Blues Boston, MA 09/22/09 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA 09/24/09 Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA
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Spektor's much anticipated album, Far, was released a few weeks ago (June 22nd) on Sire Records. The release came in two editions: a standard album and a deluxe edition (you can find them at all major retailers, such as amazon and Best Buy). My review copy is just a standard version, but I will go ahead and recommend the deluxe version because you get two bonus tracks and a DVD for only a few dollars more. Fans should take a look at the Fan Edition, which comes with the CD and DVD, 6 panel soft pack, and a 14”x14” Limited Lithograph (The first 1000 will be hand numbered).
Far seems to me to be a lot happier and more comfortable and even knows where it's going, compared to Soviet Kitsch and Begin to Hope. This tells me a lot of things about where and how Spektor feels in her life at this moment. If you listen carefully to her songs, she gives little hints to her past. Her tendency towards making "instrument" sounds with her voice tells me she probably studies a capella (check out some examples like the snare drum with her voice on "Eet", ooof ooof sound on the foot-tapping "Folding Chair", and beep-bop and piano notes on "Dance Anthem of the 80's").
How about her religious views? She seems to have faith in the "Human of the Year" and the poignant "Laughing With", which states a variety of situations with "no one laughs at God when ... (insert scenario)", even though "God can be funny ... ha ha". It's sung in an ironic kind of way. Apparently, Spektor felt so strongly about the strength of this song that she made it her first single, preceding her Far album.
It was really hard for me to choose a favorite song to represent Far, as practically all the songs are very good. The lyrics are wonderful, the melodies are catchy, and Spektor's voice is irresistible. I have decided to go with "Blue Lips", which I am pretty sure the album is actually named after: "Blue, the color of our planet. From far, far away".
If you aren't already a fan, you should be. "Eet" is just an example of a great pop song, about the impossible notion of forgetting the words to your favorite song. The video gives it a dream-like quality:
07/12/2009 00:23:10 ♥ vu (
)
♥ reginaspektor.com ♥ myspace.com/reginaspektor ♥ warnerreprise.com
)Top 5 Albums of 2008
1. Beach House – Devotion
Their first album was nice.
Occasionally heavy-lidded and aimless (as in, the mind wanders when
listening), but nice, certainly a curious take on dream pop. Then Devotion
came out and it was like Beach House even further demented the dreamy stargaze domain,
in, you know, a really, really attractive way.
With Victoria’s
sad, velvet voice (not at all, never ever cute,
for godsake), the off-putting pace, the hollow beat, the moodiness, the
sometimes romantic/sometimes painful lyrics, the harpsichord, that Daniel
Johnston cover…it just works. How often do all the pieces fall into
place? It may never happen again. Enjoy, Beach House.
2. The Raveonettes – Lust Lust Lust
So the Raveonettes are getting fuzzier and less defined, and moving further from those neo-noir 60s Phil Spector-inspired melodies into darker territory. Darker, louder territory. Like, seriously loud. I’d probably be less impressed with this album if it wasn’t for the sheer enormity of sound. Every song has a kind of feverish build-up; by the end it’s bye-bye future hearing, hello creepy weird aural enlightenment, or something.
3. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
What I like about Real Emotional Trash is that it combines the best of the Pavement core—bizarre/absurdist lyrics and sprawling noise/extended “jammin’/freak deaky guitar rifts. This album sounds very Malkmus; it isn’t the work of a middle-aged rocker desperate to fit in one last reinvention and prove to the twenty-somethings that he’s “still got it.” No, Malkmus hardly seems concerned with too much change; he may choose different directions with each of his solo albums, but there’s always a comfortable familiarity. (And, for the record, he’s definitely still got it.)
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4. Santogold – Santogold
Let’s just get the obvious out of the way: yes, she reminds you of M.I.A. Sure, Santogold sings through her nose, loves a crazy beat, and is scarily supa fly (intimidating to the average-looking), but if you actually listen to her album you’ll realize that she ain’t no M.I.A. Which isn’t to say that Santogold ain’t fabulous. Au contraire, it’s perfect downtown club music (for the mild, hip and white). You can bump, grind, convulse, jump, rapidly move your hands in front of your face, remain mostly still while nodding your head, twirl, whatever. Also, with the absence of any kind of political message you don’t even have to pretend that you care about real things.
5. The Magnetic Fields – Distortion
What an aptly titled album. I’m found of aptly titled things. I wish Animal Collective and Xiu Xiu would take note and start naming their albums “Weird Crazy Things That Sound Like Woodlawn Creatures and Kitchen Utensils.” It would be convenient for writing reviews. Anyway, Distortion is Stephen Merritt doing distortion, which means fuzzy, drone-y guitar that lovers can still swoon to, and sad/silly lyrics like “sober, you’re old and ugly; shit-faced, who needs a mirror” (“Too Drunk to Dream”).
Top 5 Songs of 2008
1. Beach House – “Heart of Chamber” (Devotion)
Honestly, I could have chosen any song from Devotion, but “Heart of Chamber” is the one that gives me the strongest heart palpitations (like remembering a teenage night that never happened). As I said before, it works, and who needs solid logic?
2. Beck – “Walls” (Modern Guilt)
My relationship with Beck is similar to my relationship with thrift shopping: 99% of the time I leave the store irritated and resentful; however, maybe once a year I find something absolutely stunning, like amazingly, disgustingly perfect that I forget about all the previous disappointments. “Walls” is my disgustingly perfect gold lamé romper that I will never wear again.
3. Okkervil River – “Lost Coastlines” (The Stand Ins)
Apparently there are (self-proclaimed) straight men out there that would “go gay” for Will Sheff. Who knew. I cannot make that same declaration, but I will say this: Jonathan Meiburg’s voice keeps me comfortably heterosexual.
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4. Benoît Pioulard – “Brown Bess” (Temper)
His name is Tom (hint: he’s not French). Tom taps into those same otherworldly arrangements that Zach Condon used to convince hipsters that foreign music could be edgy too. “Brown Bess” is just too pretty to ignore. I don’t know what he’s singing (it’s in English; he mumbles, I selectively listen), but similar to hearing a beautiful French phrase, do you even care?
5. Lucinda Williams (ft. Elvis Costello) – “Jailhouse Tears” (Little Honey)
The whole album’s kind of a mess: a few old-school bluesy ballads, some terrible angry rockers, and a truly frightening AC/DC cover (Lucinda, no). However, this duet with Costello makes me smile because I think Lucinda’s being a bit cheeky, no?
Top 5 Bands to Think About in 2009
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1. Sybris
What: Anti-twee
indiepop
Where: Chicago, IL
Think about: “Oh
Man!” (Into the Trees, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/sybris
What:
Halloween-voiced lad + pop music + geek beats
Where: St. Louis, MO
Think about: “Gamble”
(Classy Entertainment EP, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/jumblingtowers
3. Alina Simone
What: Folk/punk
Where: Brooklyn, NY
Think about: “Half My
Kingdom” (Everyone is Crying Out to Me,
Beware, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/alinasimone
4. The Pharmacy
What: Dirty rotten
indie rock
Where: New Orleans, LA
Think about: “Little
Toys on the Shelf” (Choose Yr. Own
Adventure, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/pharmacy
5. Doomtree
What: White-friendly (read: non-threatening or “not too ghetto”) “smart” hip-hop
Where: Minneapolis, MN
Think about: “Dots
and Dashes” (Doomtree, 2008)
More! http://myspace.com/doomtree
Note: Doomtree is
extremely popular within their home state of Minnesota, but have they crossed the
border? Let me know.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
podcast.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
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Tour Dates
06/17/08 Hotel Cafe - Hollywood, CA
Discography
06/20/08 Alice 96.7 FM Fresno, CA 06/21/08 WARNORS THEATRE - Fresno, CA 06/24/08 HARD ROCK CAFE MOSCOW 06/28/08 Aktovy Zal Moscow 07/06/08 State Theatre - Falls Church, VA* 07/08/08 Bitter End New York 07/10/08 Sellersville Theatre Sellersville, PA* 07/13/08 Lou Bredlow Pavillion Woodland Hills, CA* 12/03/08 Merrimack College North Andover, MA 12/15/08 PVCC Center for the Performing Arts Phoenix, AZ Opening up for Howard Jones
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Russian-born Los Angeles resident, Marina V (Verenikina) has just release her 3rd CD entitled Modern Fairytale. She permanently moved to the US at the age of 17 and has been pursuing her dream of being a Pop/Rock Singer/Songwriter. She is an unusual mix of Tori Amos, Jewel and Paul McCartney. Her influences have been Tchaikovsky and the Beatles. Marina muses "There aren't many performers who blend Russian music with Pop/Rock, so I feel it's part of my mission to be a cultural ambassador in this world".
My favorite track on the CD is the opening song "Hope". She has a very haunting voice and the songs flow together very nicely. It's a magical journey through love & loss, peace & war, struggle & success, togetherness & loneliness, with a very fairytale like feeling.
Marina's CD was released in January 2008. It is available at her website (www.marinav.com) and she will sign it for you as well. A self-described ambitious workaholic, Marina continues touring, writing & recording while looking for an artist-friendly record label.
I love writing songs and I really love performing them for my audience. I can't imagine a day without music. I will be doing this forever.
She will be touring this summer so drop by one of the shows, she would love to perform for you.
Hey, I have to extend the Win Brett Dennen's DVD/CD and T-Shirt because I got a few late entries. The final cut-off date is now 3/15/2008 and your chances of winning are basically 1 out of 14. These odds are really good. Much better than the state's lottery.
Also, I love Dereks' comment about Russian orphan boys so much that I've decided to mention it here, since many of you probably missed it the first time around. They were in response to Steklovata.
| Dereks wrote: Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 6:31 AM |
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[this is good] Oh-ho-ho-ho))))))
Well, since I Russian is literally my second native language (Ukraine is fully bilingual), I can tell you a lot.
Basically, I don't know who exactly discovered them, but on the Runet, they became something like a big meme. Like Tay Zonday's Chocolate Rain.
You know, in general they are nothing special at all. They band is just another example of "Ласковый Май" (Laskoviy May / Gentle May) trend that exploded at the down of the USSR era. Laskoviy May was purely commercial project. One producer created a band of orphan boys with very tearful luscious glossy lyrics. In general it was a normal success of another pop-band. But since all the boys were of pre-pubertal age, all of them had almost similar high voices. You just needed another boy under the age of 12 with basic musical skills and he would sound indistinguishable from the original "Laskoviy Maj". Thus by the end of the 80's there were literally dozens of same bands of orphan boys performing all over Russia. Sometimes they even went under the same names.
So Steklovata is part of that "orphan-band" movement, which still sometimes emerges in small province cities. But their feature, that turned them into a meme is their name. Steklovata in Russian means "glass wool". As you see, it's nothing sweet and glossy in that title. Moreover, they have a song, which goes under the same title. The lyrics in translation are something like that:
It's all your own fault, you're thorny like glass wool, glass wool, glass wool, our love turned to be evil, 'cause you're like glass wool.
Also they are using some elements of low-class language, criminal slang, which also promoted them to their success (in terms of becoming a meme, of course).
I love reading about music that I know nothing about - so this is the kind of stuff I really love hearing about.
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04/08/08 Great American Music SF, CA
04/10/08 The Aladdin Portland, Oregon 04/11/08 The Triple Door Seattle, WA 04/13/08 The Paradise Boston, MA 04/14/08 Bowery Ballroom New York 04/16/08 World Cafe Live Philadelphia,PA 04/18/08 The Birchmere Washington DC |
I was also recently invited to join IODA. I think the website is private or invite-only currently because it's still in Beta, but it should be interesting to see this takes off.
The idea behind this seems to be for promoting music to influential webmasters and bloggers. They have the usual artist biography and some of them offer 1 or 2 MP3 for download.
Unfortunately, discovering new music is hard for me because there are a lot of artists to shift through. Plus, not all the bands offers sample music, so you literally have no idea what they sound like. Fortunately, there is a check box that will only display artists with sample music (but you do limit your selections of bands).
They do have some "featured" artists that seems to be popular with all the members using the website. Such as Bauhaus (did you know they were still around? and not dead?) and Robots in Disguise.
Anyway, one of the artists I was told to check out is a pretty young woman called China Forbes. The only song that was available was "Everybody Needs Somebody", which actually pretty good. It sort of has that country twang, but that's not a reason to not check out this catchy song.
Upon checking her out some more, I found out that she's the singer of Pink Martini, who recently put out Hey Eugene! and appeared on the Jools Holland show in 2007.
'78 is her second solo album, and judging from that one song, I think her album is going to do very well with her core Pink Martini audience.
You can find out more about her on myspace and her official website.
PS, my new theme for album reviews will be bands on tour. I'm working on the other three artists, but you can head over to ♫ew music for the latest three.
03/08/2008 23:30:34
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
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I caught a brief glimpse at "Новый год" (New Year) on Rocketboom and was so amused by this Russian boy-band, that I had to find out more information on them.
First of all, the band is called Стеклоvата (Steklovata),
and they are from Estonia, not Russia (but they speak and sings in
Russian).
All of their music is available for download on (their official?) the website gosdetstvo.ru. Since I don't speak Russian (and none of the websites out there that had any information were written in English) it was kind of difficult to figure out who they were.
Here are
some facts I was able to gather: they were the project of mastermind composer/creator Sergei Kuznetsov (Сергей Кузнецов). At first he only had
one singer, Dienis Bielikin (Денис Беликин), but added Artur Jeriemiejew (Артур Еремеев) to the team. I believe both boys were aged 13.
They released three albums between 2001 to 2005, and ultimately are no longer together... but I suspect they are still making music under different groups and projects.
What's interesting about "Новый год" is that video features two additional singers, I believe one of them is called Siergiej Diadiun (Сергей Дядюн) and the other is not known to me. It is definitely not Kuznetsov, as he appears on one of their album cover and he appears to be over the age of 40.
I would really appreciate if any readers could provide me with additional information on this Eurodisco boy-band.
03/01/2008 10:02:04
vu
my♥posts
gosdetstvo.ru/steklovata
| Dereks wrote: Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 6:31 AM |
[this is good] Oh-ho-ho-ho))))))
Well, since I Russian is literally my second native language (Ukraine is fully bilingual), I can tell you a lot.
Basically, I don't know who exactly discovered them, but on the Runet, they became something like a big meme. Like Tay Zonday's Chocolate Rain.
You know, in general they are nothing special at all. They band is just another example of "Ласковый Май" (Laskoviy May / Gentle May) trend that exploded at the down of the USSR era. Laskoviy May was purely commercial project. One producer created a band of orphan boys with very tearful luscious glossy lyrics. In general it was a normal success of another pop-band. But since all the boys were of pre-pubertal age, all of them had almost similar high voices. You just needed another boy under the age of 12 with basic musical skills and he would sound indistinguishable from the original "Laskoviy Maj". Thus by the end of the 80's there were literally dozens of same bands of orphan boys performing all over Russia. Sometimes they even went under the same names.
So Steklovata is part of that "orphan-band" movement, which still sometimes emerges in small province cities. But their feature, that turned them into a meme is their name. Steklovata in Russian means "glass wool". As you see, it's nothing sweet and glossy in that title. Moreover, they have a song, which goes under the same title. The lyrics in translation are something like that:
It's all your own fault, you're thorny like glass wool, glass wool, glass wool, our love turned to be evil, 'cause you're like glass wool.
Also they are using some elements of low-class language, criminal slang, which also promoted them to their success (in terms of becoming a meme, of course).
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Tour 2007
09/07 Atlanta, GA Star Bar 09/12 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club 09/13 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn 09/14 New Orleans, LA Circle Bar 09/20 Atlanta, GA Atlantis Music Conf 10/10 Clemson, SC WSBF 10/15 Atlanta, GA Lenny's 10/19 Brooklyn, NY SoundFix 10/24 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn 10/25 Athens, GA Caledonia Lounge 10/26 Chapell Hill, NC The Cave 10/27 Washington DC Fight Club 10/28 Philadelphia, PA The Kyber 10/29 Danbury, CT Cousin Larry's 10/30 Boston, MA PAs Lounge[1] 10/31 New York, NY Mercury Lounge 11/01 New York, NY Death By Audio[1] 11/03 Cleveland, OH Now That's Class[1] 11/04 Detroit, MI Lager House[1] 11/05 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club[1] 11/06 Chicago, IL Ronny's[1] 11/07 Lafayette, IN Zooleger's[1] 11/08 Nashville, TN The Basement[1] 11/09 Memphis, TN Murphy's[1] 11/10 New Orleans, LA Saturn Bar[1] 11/11 Mobile, AL Blind Mule[1] 11/12 Orlando, FL Peacock Room[1] 11/14 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn[1]
Trivia
Band Members
Free Download Footnotes
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There's a lot of buzz behind Atlanta's DIY punk band, The Coathangers. They've only been around since July 2006 (!), but have made quite an impression in such a short time. They recently released their full length album yesterday (Sep 4th) on Rob's House Records label, so they might be coming to your town on their promotional tour. I've included their tour dates, so check them out and let me know how they were live - as they are going nowhere near me. I can only imagine these girls will have a pretty good time on stage.
I quickly became interested in them because of their constant comparison to Bikini Kill, the Slits, and other Riot Grrl-type bands (as you know I've been a long-time fan of this genre of music[W♥M])
Although the punk-sound is true on their debut album, I was kind of surprise to hear a Russian song called "Missing Letter", which is quite good. The song is about singer, Julia Kugel's grandmother.
In an interview for Stomp and Stammer Magazine, Kugel said:
"When I wrote the lyrics, I didn't want them to sound like a seven-year-old wrote them. I only got the education of a seven-year-old in Russia, so I didn't want them to sound trite. But this Russian friend of a friend was like, ‘Oh, the lyrics are really good!’ So that made me feel proud."
If you were wondering about the accordion in the song, it was purchased by Candice Jones for $10 at a Texas gas station.
The other song I've picked out for you is "Nestle in my Boobies", which reminds me of another band that I liked called Gravy Train!!!![W♥M] You can download this song, as well as others on their myspace.
September 5, 2007 7:36 PM
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
www.thecoathangers.com
Евгений Дмитриевич До́га (Yevgeny Dimitri Doga) is a Moldavian composer, whose work is largely recognized as being part of the Soviet Union. Most of the information online are in Russian, so if you have any contribution - I would really appreciated it.
Doga studied music for nine years before paralysis took his left arm, thus preventing his further career as a musician. He instead focused more on writing and composing music, and taught music theory from 1963 to 1967.
Doga is best known for his collaboration with Russian director Эмиль Лотяну (Emil Loteanu) for his films Мой ласковый и нежный зверь ("My Tender and Affectionate Beast", aka "A Hunting Accident" ) (1978), Табор уходит в небо ("Queen of the Gypsies") (1975), and many more.
From reading various articles, I've concluded that his most famous composition is Вальс ("Waltz" or "Wedding Waltz"), which originally appeared on the soundtrack to "...Beast". The song is really sweet, full of violins, pianos, and the rarely used cymbals crashing sound! I am also including another song of his called Кукушечка because I like the vocals on this. No idea what he's saying, but it's really good.
For a full list of compositions and works, please refer to Russian Wikipedia: Yevgeny Doga
PS, I must confess, I have not seen film, but trying to see a clip of it turned up this little gem.
They originally marketed the two girls as lesbians, but it was pretty apparent a few months later when reports of their boyfriends started to emerge.
Did you know: they have two albums ? In fact, they are planning on releasing a third album in 2007.
Here is their awful, awful, awful version of "How Soon is Now?". I thought for sure that Morrissey and Marr would've gotten back together just to cease and desist this song from being released....
Must be listened to be believed.
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