There Is No Cat

Ya i ti roboti (was Ya Ich Die Roboty, see comments)

Laura and I went to one of our favorite events this past weekend, the twice-a-year WFMU Record Fair. Finally free of the strains of unemployment and impending home ownership, I actually dropped some bills for some tunes this time. One of my favorite finds so far is a compilation of Russian bands, Russendisko Hits, put out on Germany label Trikont, who are one of the coolest labels on the planet. I had actually mentioned the album here some months back, so I was delighted to find it. There is a ton of neat stuff on here; I had no idea ska was so popular in Russia, for example, although I was definitely aware of the band Leningrad, who make an appearance on the CD. One of the neatest tracks on the CD is by a hybrid German-Russian band (co-fronted by one of the compilers of the CD) called Rot Front, which I assume is German for Red Front. Their track is a klezmerish clarinet- and accordion-laced cover of Kraftwerk’s "The Robots", sung in a combination of Russian and German, with an at least partially English rap dripping with profanity dropped in the middle. A little poking around finds that the track is available in MP3 format on their web site, so go listen!

It was also cool to meet the guys from Tamizdat, a small company dedicated to selling central and eastern European music to us insular Americans. (Oddly enough, I didn’t get the Russendisko compilation from them; someone else had that.) They seemed surprised to actually meet one of their customers (I’ve bought from them a few times in the past). We had a nice conversation and I wound up buying a couple of CDs on their recommendation, a Polish ska band named Alians and an Estonian pop band called Dallas. I haven’t had a chance to listen to them really, but the little bits I’ve heard sound promising.

Anyway, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Posted at 11:32 PM