Pussy Riot

http://pussy-riot.livejournal.com/

Here's a compilation of 8 tracks and an interview that I've put together from free sources:

http://d01.megashares.com/dl/xpTpnZ0/Riot.rar

 Follow the link to free download of a 45 track Riot Grrrl compilation that includes a Free Pussy Riot action kit - flyers, stencils etc.

http://riotgrrrlberlin.tumblr.com/compilation03

(Cвина и) Автоматические удовлетворители-- 1979-1994. Претензии не принимаются

When, as a youth in Leningrad Andrei Panov read a condemnation of the Sex Pistols in the Soviet press, he decided that punk rock was for him. Without ever having heard the music he became Leningrad's (possibly the Soviet Union's) first and later most eminent punk.
He adopted the nom de guerre Cвина (Pig), and formed the band Автоматические удовлетворители (Automatic Satisfiers) in 1979. The influence of the Sex Pistols is evident in AY's sound.
Panov died in 1998, aged 38.
Punk Rock in the Soviet Union was a remarkable phenomenon; it took a lot of courage for suburban middle class kids in the west to say Fuck the System and outrage their elders, but in the USSR the state did more than tut it's disapproval. The music industry was regulated by the state and (in theory) only approved artists could perform and record.
There were however, well established underground mechanisms in place from earlier times that perfectly suited the DIY ethos of punk, and bands and writers needed access to only the most rudimentary means of recording and reproducing their work in order to reach a large and eager audience.
CD rip @ 320.

G.L.O.R.I.A

If you drop a guitar down a flight of stairs, it'll play 'Gloria' on its way to the bottom- Dave Barry.
This is for all you people who are starting groups- Woody (The 101ers)

Curmudgeonly Belfast bluesman Van Morrison penned this song in 1964 and it appeared as the B side to his band Them's single Baby Please Don't Go.

It's eminently playable simple 3 chord structure made it a staple of the booming garage scene on both sides of the Atlantic. There are versions here by US garage bands The Gants (the first recorded cover), The Squires, and Robb London and Soul Unlimited. In 1965 Chicago's The Shadows of Knight released a slightly bowdlerized version that made the Billboard top ten.

Garage rock had a global appeal and we have here two Latin American interpretations of the song, from Columbia's Los Ampex and Mexico's Miguel Angel and Los Sharps.

Meanwhile down in Adelaide notorious hedonists The Masters Apprentices were giving Gloria their own treatment.

As the beat music of the era gained a more acid tinged, psychedelic feel, bands such as The 13th Floor Elevators emerged from the garage scene . The song's simple structure and sexual overtones made it an ideal backdrop for the meandering poetic improvisations of Jim Morrison of The Doors and a backbone for the inspired guitar noodlings of Jimi Hendrix.

Patti Smith opened her 1975 LP Horses (one of the most influential records in the history of popular music) with her take on Gloria, featuring a trademark poetic ramble.

This outing propelled Gloria into the proto punk garage scene that spawned pub rock , two versions here- The 101ers and Eddie and the Hot Rods. In that other great populist music boom of the 70's, Disco, Santa Esmeralda funked up the track for a spin under the glitterballs (to be honest it isn't as funky as you'd expect).
The first time that Melbourne's The Boys Next Door were recorded was a live set featuring Gloria in 1977 .
Van Morrison teamed up with John Lee Hooker to take the song back into the charts in 1993.

The appeal of the three chord bash that typified garage music is enduring as well as far reaching- contemporary Magnitude 3 from Japan come up with by far the most primitive take of the song here, and The Crushers from Moscow give us a massive 21 st century version .

Bear in mind:
Variable bitrate.
Some of original recordings rudimentary.
Van Morrison is known to employ 10,000 monitors in five continents working 24 hours a day to ensure that his work is not circulated via the internet.

Цой жив!

It's not often that I use Burning Aquarium as a medium for showing holiday snaps.
In a sidestreet off Arbat in Moscow there is a graffiti wall dedicated to the memory of Viktor Tsoi where admirers still gather to pay tribute to the man who's contribution to the pop culture of the Soviet Union was immense.

Natasha.

Offerings- flowers, fags, beer.

Predictably the guy was playing Gruppa Krovi .

Walker.

Viktor Robertovich Tsoi (21.06.62-15.08.90)

The Mark of Cain...

Nobody in my family had tattoos. Well, my great grandfather did, apparently- had them done in The Great War, but he was dead years before I came along. From an early age I was inexplicably fascinated by tattoos. I even dreamed about them- I once dreamed that my left shoulder was encased in ivy- which it now is.
I somehow understood that the significance of the designs went beyond the pictorial image- sure, the pictures meant something, but the very fact that you had committed to being tattooed meant something as well.
A fair percentage of my body is now tattooed, and I’m something of a student of the sociological/ anthropological significance of tattooing.
Russian criminal tattoos entranced me even before I became a regular visitor to that country.

In The Mark of Cain filmaker Alix Lambert takes us into the gloomy world of the Russian penal system. There are about 800,000 prisoners in the country and the conditions are notoriously harsh. Overcrowding is a particular problem. For example, in the mid nineties Kresty Prison in St Petersburg held 12,500 inmates. It was designed to hold 1150.

We hear from wearers of the old school tattoos which showed where they stood in relation to the complex subculture governed by the Thieves Code , witnesses of the way that the changing political climate has been reflected in prison society, and an inmate tattooist who works with a machine adapted from a Sputnik wind up shaver.

Рубль- Совесть (2009)

I wouldn't normally post something this new, but I doubt that it's widely available outside Russia.
When Leningrad split up in 2008 Shnur (Sergei Shnurov) formed Рубль (Rubl).
The punk elements are more to the fore on this seven track 'maxi single', Совесть (Conscience).


Рубль- touring Russia in February, apparently...

гражданская оборона- Поганая Молодёжь (1985)

Гражданская Оборона was formed in the Siberian town of Omsk in the early 1980’s. Yegor Letov (1964-2008), the only constant member in their prolific career, was the godfather of Soviet/ Russian punk music (despite getting to look more like one of the Freak Bros. with the passing years).
The band’s name translates as civil defence and was often abbreviated to ГрОб (coffin), or simply ГO.
Early material such as this, their first album, 1985's Поганая Молодёжь (pronounced poganaya molodej and translating as Nasty Youth) was distributed via magnitizdat, an underground network for sharing music that was officially suppressed.
Early in his musical career Letov was committed to a mental hospital, and later allegedly contended with such obstacles as the KGB cutting off the power supply when he appeared on stage. Western suburban punks could only dream of such things!
The sound here is rough street punk (there’s even a few oi oi ois), with the occasional hints at Russian folk influences (those mournful minor keys). Quality wise it sounds like one of those demo tapes you might have made with your mates in the early eighties, which is essentially what it is.

Му́мий Тро́лль- Морская (1997)

It’s not often that Burning Aquarium will feature a band or artist that has graced the stage at the Eurovision Song Contest, but here is a worthy exception.
Vladivostok’s Мумий Тролль (Mumiy Troll) - have been described as the most important band in the post Soviet era of Russian pop/ rock music. They represented the Russian Federation in the 2001 contest at Copenhagen, finishing 12th.

Formed in 1983 their early output was in the traditional Soviet form of bootlegs. There was also a hiatus whilst Ilia Lagutenko did his national service. This is their first official studio album Морская (Morskaya /Nautical), released in 1997.
Reminiscent at times, I think, of The Go-Betweens (that's intended neither as a criticism nor a recommendation).



Ilia Lagutenko, vocals, guitar
Eugene "Sdwig" Zvidionny, bass
Oleg Pungin, drums
Yuri Tsaler, guitars, keyboard, saxophone

Бумер Original Soundtrack (2003)

Бумер (Boomer) is an award winning 2003 Russian film directed by Peter Buslov. Four crooks go on the run, a road trip taken in the stolen BMW (Бумер) of the title.
It depicts the lost generation of the Yeltsin era economic crisis as Russia came to terms with capitalism and the 'free market'.
Blurb: Corrupt cops, street gangs, "Bratki" , angry truck drivers, beautiful women and death are what four friends in a black boomer who go on a mission from one region of Russia to another are about to face in the wasteland of small-town Russia.
The soundtrack features 8 tracks by Sergei Shnurov (Сергей Шнуров) aka Shnur, of the band Leningrad.

Ленинград (Leningrad)- Мат Без электричества (1999)

As our friends in the Russian Federation and other former republics of the CCCP get set to celebrate Victory Day (День Победы) on May 9th, here’s a good soundtrack to aid them in their celebrations.
Мат Без электричества (Mat without the electricity or unplugged) was Sergei Shnurov’s first LP as Leningrad's lead vocalist.
Real populist good time sounds here, street language combined with a range of brass instruments, big bass drum etc. and songs of course dealing with boozing and sex.
If youre interested in the Мат argot used here, here’s a dictionary.

Ленинград (Leningrad) -Точка (2002)

Our songs are just about the good sides of life, vodka and girls that is.
-Sergei "Shnur" Shnurov...
Described as ska- punk, 14 piece combo Leningrad enjoy a certain notoriety, largely due to their vulgar lyrics that use мат, (матерщи́на, матерный язык) , an obscenity laden Russian patois . Точка ('dot' or 'point') is a place where you can buy vodka or engage the services of a prostitute.
Great energy here…