Monday, March 19, 2012

Гражданская Оборона-Multipost

It's odd noticing that this band has risen in the ranks as being one of the most sought posts I've done thus far. We're talking almost 2,000 different people have been looking for albums by them and have stumbled on this site. That may as well be 2,000,000 people in the way my maths work. But what a fucking great band (see my past write up for more detail as to why they are one of my all time favorites). I almost don't feel like writing much else because when a band has a special place it almost seems like I might be dispelling some of the allure by comparing to this and them. I think I can do a pretty decent job of being empathetic and trying to understand
issues from others' perspectives, but I cannot imagine what it would have been like to live in Russia and to hear this group for the first time. Granted, my knowledge of Russian music is a bit limited, but this still just seems out of place in nearly every context. Perhaps kids will finally start bringing the mystery, passion, and poeticism which made this group matter so much. I know I complain a lot about kids starting shitty soundalikes and thinking they're all the better for it (i.e. see every band that started to record post 2000), but if people want to dare try to emulate this lot, well, you'd make an old man proud. Anyways, here's 4 albums to get your collection going (one is a repost). I cannot overstate just how vital these recordings are. Nab them all now or wait for mediafire to delete my links again and then cry about it (I will not keep reposting them).

Оптимизм (1985)

Поганая молодёжь (1985)

Свет и стулья (1988-9)


Здорово и Вечно (1989)

6 comments:

  1. could you pack any more intrigue into a single post?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to see that you appreciate these guys. Big part of my youth right here, and Optimism would probably be in a personal top 10 if i ever had such a thing.
    Anyone who likes this stuff, must check out Letov's other project, Egor I Opizdenevshie. Here's there first album: http://www.mediafire.com/?4u1d228rfnib81x.
    This show also gives an interesting look into the Siberian (post-)punk scene: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/29583.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a hugely important band. GrOb's songs have become true folk standards in Russia, and tons of cover versions are on youtube.

    Anyway, I was missing a couple of these so thanks for them. Egor's 90s stuff is good and pretty out there, definitely worth hearing. Thanks miskov.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Word has it that the ENTIRE CATALOG (30+ albums) including Kommunism etc and Yanka will soon have U.S. distribution. Deluxe digipaks, lots of archival photos and more. Finally.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just letting you know that track 7 of Оптимизм has some digital glitches going on...

    ReplyDelete