Thursday, January 31, 2013

The A.I. of Rah - "Too Much Of Japan Gods" [2004]

Artist: The A.I. of Rah
Title: Too Much Of Japan Gods
Label: Dominatrix Rec.
Genre: Noise
Country: Russia
Release date: 2004

Track List:
  1. War
  2. Japan Innocence (Cruelty to Women)
  3. Hunger
  4. Japan Innocence (Violence to Children)
  5. Pestilence
  6. Japan Innocence (Contempt to Life)
  7. Death
  8. The End
This release by The A.I. of Rah differs significantly from the rest of their releases, as it's strongly influenced by harsh noise (particularly japanoise) and generally sounds not so far from what's now called "lolicore". Album consists of 4 noise tracks and several interludes (probably samples from some old Japanese songs). You're free to disagree, but I view this release as one of the best in their discography, on par with "Sintetika".

Sunday, January 20, 2013

I Am Waiting For You Last Summer - "Come Full Circle" [2011]

Artist: I Am Waiting For You Last Summer
Title: Come Full Circle
Genre: Post-Rock
Country: Russia
Release date: 2011

Track List:

  1. Event Horizon
  2. And Nothing Changed Yet
  3. Nevermore
  4. Sleep
Some more "soundtrack-ish" post-rock/dreamtronica from Russia. This time it's an EP by a relatively well-known band from Ryazan with a quite lengthy name. They also released a full-length album titled "Edge Party" just a few days ago, which can be downloaded for free here. As for me, I personally prefer this EP over the full-length.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Neanox - "Vacuum" [2012]

Artist: Neanox
Title: Vacuum
Genre: Post-Rock
Country: Russia
Release date: 2012

Track List:
  1. Toward the Sun
  2. LV-426
  3. Gelid
  4. Outside the Galaxy
Neanox are a duo from Moscow, formed with an intent to create music which can be described as atmospheric and melancholic post-rock with elements of ambient and post-metal. Out of 4 tracks present on their debut demo, "Vacuum" (released November 14, 2012), the last one "Outside the Galaxy" is really good, no worse than most works of other "cosmic"-themed bands I've posted here before. The rest of the demo isn't as impressive, though (but could serve as a soundtrack to some film or game).

Sunday, January 13, 2013

МП44 - "Антропия" [2011]

Artist: МП44
Title: Антропия
Genre: Dadacore, Industrial, Spoken Word
Country: Russia
Release date: 2011

Track List:
  1. Эволюция сейчас
  2. Наблюдатель
  3. Агрессия
  4. Бог
  5. Многие миры
  6. Язык
  7. Звук - это код
  8. Сознание
  9. Atom test
The latest album of MP44 up to date, released in 2011. Like their earlier releases, it's rather a for of "sample poetry and media philosophy" (as the band themselves define their style) than music, so don't put your expectations too high. While their previous albums were mostly political/social-themed, this album is inspired by science (quantum mechanics in particular). Download: from narod.ru / from torrents
P.S. "Our nationality is the post-humanity" -MP44

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Post Industrial Boys - s/t [2004]

Artist: Post Industrial Boys
Title: Post Industrial Boys
Genre: Minimal Pop
Country: Georgia
Release date: 2004

Track List:
  1. Post Industrial Boys
  2. Cops and Their Wives
  3. Lula
  4. Damshviddi
  5. In the Kitchen
  6. Melon
  7. Eyelids
  8. Morning Light
  9. Kampolina
  10. Me Gamoval
Post Industrial Boys is a project of Giorgi Dzodzuashvili, and a part of the "Goslab" cultural network based out of Georgia. PIB is said to be a relatively well-known project, which is strange, though - even when I asked Farid of Mechanic Fist (the only industrial musician from that region I know), he said he didn't knew anything about them. Anyway, here's a mediafire link (not my upload, though) for PIB's 2004 debut album. Don't expect to hear any "extreme" stuff on there - it's very minimalistic electro-pop/darkwave with male and female vocals. Too bad their second album, "Post Industrial Trauma" turned out to be too lengthy and boring (just my opinion, though...)

Monday, January 7, 2013

Psychonaut 4 - "40%" [2011]

Artist: Psychonaut 4
Title: 40%
Genre: DSBM, Post-Black Metal/Rock
Country: Georgia
Release date: 2011

Track List:
  1. Serial Lier
  2. Parasite
  3. Antihuman [Drug = Друг]*
(*  for those who don't understand: "друг" means "friend" in Russian, and it's also a direct transliteration of the English word "drug", although the pronunciation is different; therefore, "drug" - "friend")

And right after I posted an album by a straight edge hardcore band - here's another ex-USSR band, but with an ideology diametrally opposed to that of Partybreaker. Psychonaut 4 are a depressive black metal band from Tbilisi formed in 2010, whose main lyrical themes are alcoholism, drug addiction, and self-destruction in general. Initially they thought to release only one demo (this one), but after it received a lot of positive responces from the audience, they decided to release a full-length album, "Have A Nice Trip", and only then split up (they'll play their last show on January 24, 2013 at the Old Cinema Studio in Tbilisi). Personally I like the demo more than the LP, and would recommend it to anyone who likes Lifelover and similar projects. Here's a Russian-language interview with their vocalist, if anyone's interested.

Partybreaker - "Hatred & Disbelief" [2012]

Artist: Partybreaker
Title: Hatred & Disbelief
Genre: Hardcore
Country: Russia
Release date: 2012

Track List:
  1. Последняя песня (The Last Song)
  2. Мистер Труп (Mr. Corpse)
  3. На верном пути (On The Right Track)
  4. Под натиском времени (Under The Pressure Of Time)
  5. No Truth
  6. Моя Клятва (My Vow - WBH cover)
  7. Смерть (Death)
  8. Hatred & Disbelief
  9. Всё бывает лишь раз (Everything Happens Only Once)
One more hardcore band from my city (Sormovo district), featuring members of Wild By Heart, To Tell The Truth, and Final Broadcast. Nothing really original (Agnostic Front-type hardcore), but nevertheless pretty solid by the standards of our provincial scene. Here's a pic of these "Sormovo drug-free youths":

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Wild By Heart - "From The Devil" [2012]

Artist: Wild By Heart
Title: From The Devil
Genre: Hardcore/Metal
Country: Russia
Release date: 2012

Track List:
  1. From The Devil
Beatdown hardcore/metal from my city. They're relatively well known not only locally, but through the whole country as well. This single indeed isn't bad, even though I don't like the vocals. By the way, one of their members recently got in trouble with the political police ("anti-extremism department", who's well known for their abuse of authority, especially in our city), but it looks like it ended well.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Abu Lahab - "Moths From The Silver Reich"

Artist: Abu Lahab
Title: Moths From The Silver Reich
Genre: Black Ambient
Country: Morocco
Release date: unknown (probably from the 2010s)

Track List:
  1. The Void Resonates
  2. Grasp the Abyss with Petrified Palms
  3. The World is a Sea of Blood
One more demo from the Moroccan artist known as Abu Lahab (not much is known about him, but this last.fm account probably belongs to him). Compared to "As Chastened Angels Descend Into The Thoracic Tombs", this demo is considerably less noisy - it's almost pure dark ambient. However, the unique "hellish" atmosphere still persists, and that's what distinguishes Abu Lahab from the myriads of generic dark ambient projects. His main source of inspiration is said to be "occultism and surreal visions (caused by illness)", and I can confirm I feel the atmosphere of insanity on this and other his releases. "Moths From The Silver Reich" is only available as 128kbps mp3 release, but I think it's pretty enough to preserve the aforementioned atmosphere, no higher quality rip is needed.