Dutzend
by Fake Cats Project
'Dutzend' is German for 'dozen' - and indeed this CD contains twelve tracks. In a more commercial part of the music world, it could be considered a best-of compilation. Here in the experimental underground, it is an opportunity to tap into the music of Fake Cats Project which, since their founding in 2015 by Kirill Makushin, Igor Levshin, and Alexei Borisov, has been released in various places and is now mainly found on their Bandcamp page.
The music of Fake Cats Project is psychedelic, melancholic, and highly eclectic. While titles are usually in English, the lyrics are mostly in Russian. This is owed in part to the fact that Fake Cats Project, while rooted in an experimentally-minded concept of rock with a strong tendency towards ambient-ish post-rock, also utilise a lot of musical material from the 'Russian Canon' (title of a 2016 album). But they approach folk songs and the classical canon not in the spirit of reverence for purity, authenticity, or 'national grandeur', but rather with the attitude reflected in the track title 'Fake Cats Project Robs Rachmaninoff'. Stealing, or rather recycling, rewriting, reconfiguring, recoding those parts of a tradition that are found useful for the creation of something new and better, while getting rid of the aspects of said tradition that no longer work: that's the spirit in which Fake Cats Projects approach Russian music (and any other music, too).
File under: psychedelic, avant rock, weird folk
ACU 1061
factory-produced CDr in Digisleeve
Released in 2023
limited to 50 copies
price: 8.00 EUR (excl. postage)
MUSIC / PERFORMED / RECORDED / MIXED BY: Fake Cats Project, 2015-2023
Igor Levshin : Voice,Lyrics,Guitar,Bass,Keybords
Kirill Makushin : Voice,Lyrics,Accordion (Bayan),Synth
Alexei Borisov : Bass,Guitar,Drums,Analog Synths,Tape Recorder
German Vinogradov : Voice,Lyrics
Pavel Bannikov : Bass,Domra
Pavel Sheveliov : Didgeridoo, Bass-Clarinet
Suren Akopyan : Drums
Sasha Zaitsev : Electric Drums
Ilia Gnoensky : Piano
Anonymous Street Singers, Baggers And BBQ Eaters
Artem Amatuni : Mastered (2,4)
Cover By Natalia Levhina
fakecatsproject.bandcamp.com
Also available here: http://www.discogs.com/seller/dependenz?sort=price&sort_order=asc&q=attenuation+circuit&st
VITAL WEEKLY
Something completely different is the Russian Fake Cats Project, the trio of Igor Levshin (voice, guitar, bass, keyboards, virtual ANS, metal rulers, razor blades, etc.), Kirill Makushin (voice, accordion, mouth organ) and Alexei Borisov (bass, guitar, drums, analogue synths, tape recorder) (see also Vital Weekly 1038 and 1188), plus a bunch of guests on voice, bass, drums, and piano; they also use street recordings. This is not really a new CD but rather a best-of compilation, in which they reuse old sounds and create new constructions. There is an influence from Russian folk and classical music, which I don’t hear. I did recognise Satie’s ‘Trois Gymondeis’ and what could have been ‘Smoke On The Water” in a free version. It’s strange music; at times, it’s a bit rock-like, then more improvisation, a bit pop-like, and, as with the previous CD, it’s not my cup of tea. I do enjoy it, as it is something different, but at the same time, it is also something I don’t know much about. It’s a bit of an oddball in the catalogue of this label.
https://www.vitalweekly.net/number-1427/
BAD ALCHEMY
Anlässlich von „Russian Canon“ habe ich die Welt des FAKE CATS PROJECTS beschrieben als eine, in der Humor & Amour Hand in Hand auf Denkmalsockeln stehen, mit No Wave, der einen durch einerseits Gitarren, Bayan, Bass und Keys und andererseits Noise von Tapes und Synthies von der Kraut- in die Noiseecke taumeln lässt. Verantwortlich dafür sind Igor Levshin, Kirill Makushin (Crows In The Garden, When We Live) und Alexei Borisov (Volga, Astma), Krähen-Krah besiegelt es. Dutzend (ACU 1061) vereint das ohrwurm- süße, satieske 'A Kitten Looks at Soldier's Eyes' von „Russian Canon“ und 'Memoirs Fight Club' von „Love is a Ping Pong Ball“ mit 'Songs' von „Fake Cat Songs“, „Sad Songs“, „Perowo Songs“, das krass gegröhlte 'Businessman' von „Kajdaya Noch“ und 'Fake Cats Project Robs Rachmaninoff' mit seiner rhythmisch groovenden Repetition von „Music Laundering Machine“. Dazu 'Five Bottles' und 'My Horse Broke His Leg', das mit Orgelpathos und Röhrenglockenschlägen dem Pferdeorkus entgegenhinkt, von den „Two Garik Vinogradov FCP-Bicapo Sessions“ mit German Vinogradov (1957–2022), dem kultigen Dichter, Musikmacher (mit Grozdy Vinogradovy und OtZvuki Mu) und Begründer einer 'Mysterienkunst', mit Eis und Feuer und düster-schamanischen Ritualen mit der Klangskulptur BICAPO. Die durchwegs russischen Lyrics sind da die seinen, von ihm selber deklamiert, die zuvor stammen von Levshin. Stoische – sture? – Loops und verschlierte Schichtungen spielen Hauptrollen, Klimperei, Art Brut und anspielungsreiche Sophistication begegnen sich Auge in Auge – in 'The Smoke' rockt z. B. Deep Purple on the water. Und zuletzt schwuchtelt ein Kosack mit Bayan 'Goluboy'.
www.badalchemy.de
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