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In April of this year, Moscow's Aktovyi zal played host to the Avant Music Festival for the sixth time. Russia's version of Rolling Stone recently assessed the event as follows: "This festival was especially created so that Moscow's youth, slouching around as always, could at least put their IPods aside for a while and get involved in a role-playing game by the name of Avant. It looks as if absolutely anybody can play this game or, at the very least, we'd say that the social make-up of the concert-goers is a clear triumph of eclecticism. "
Once events such as this come and go, however, that broad sense of variety and experimentation narrows: not everything is filmed, and some memories last longer than others. The most enduring monument to the festival - and the other operations by Avant - is sometimes the resulting compilation CD. The newest of these albums helps both to keep the limelight on a good number of participants and give a fairly reliable impression of a coherent "scene" to listeners far from the streets of Moscow.
Who prefer to spend their money on music rather than chairs.
Avant 2009 contains 19 bands, showcased according to a raison d'etre that's clearly stated in the PR materials. "This album is the fruit of shared labors among a number of Russian musicians who are making new music both here and now. Many of the tracks on this CD are being published for the first time." Such is the credo that has kept Avant going since 2004, dismissing as it does so the intrusion of meddling "radio stations, sponsors, financial crises, and any kind of competition."
"The varied format of the festival is designed to cover a wide-ranging number of genres or styles. Whatever the rhythms, melodies, or musical directions that emerge during the event, all those taking part are unified by a sense of experimentation. They're joined by true creativity, the view of modern music as a genuine art form, and a shared interest in upcoming trends."
In this spirit, the CD is opened by St Petersburg's Bicycle Thieves in a state of relative anonymity: at the time of writing, their MySpace page has only been graced by a little more than 3,000 hits. They list themselves as "unsigned" and tag their music as "independent." No label and no specific style. In order to get people through the front door, the organizers of Avant clearly needed a little more context, so they produced it themselves.
"It looks like Russia's Northern Capital is home to a healthy, growing population of musicians who fashion their melodic indie-pop in the style of Stereolab. Then they spice things up with a few post-punk or psychedelic tendencies, which remind us of the Spanish outfit Schwarz that we had at the very first festival."
It looks like Russia's Northern Capital is home to a healthy, growing population of musicians who fashion their melodic indie-pop in the style of Stereolab. Then they spice things up with a few post-punk or psychedelic tendencies, which remind us of the Spanish outfit Schwarz that we had at the very first festival.
Little by little, traditions are being established and cross-fertilization is taking root.
Another highpoint quickly marked in the running order is a track from Moscow's instrumental powerhouse, Silence Kit. Their three meticulously recorded and slowly released albums (the first appearing in 2002) have now become absolute gold dust for collectors. In this particular number, "Venus," the band move slightly away from the huge, towering structures of their earliest work that would have reminded some Western listeners of, say, Explosions in the Sky. Here they take a quieter, almost ambient path that - for Russian fans - would recall other local ensembles in the style of Boskh s toboi.
It sits somewhere between Robin Guthrie and an almost acoustic, ambient texture.
The thing is, however, that "Venus" isn't really a new offering, in fact it's a (still excellent) track from the band's 2007 album, "The Great Red Spot." Silence Kit may be establishing their own sense of tradition here through an act of repetition, but some fans aren't happy at all.
"You could have least done some kind of unplugged version!" says one grumpy commentator on their other website. There's nothing to lose in having a go! Personally I think that using a track that's two years old really isn't the done thing..." The band laugh off the suggestion that they'd ever play anything acoustic: they remain committed to noise, and wonder if acoustic remakes aren't often a sign that a band is running out of ideas - and soon to expire.
You could have least done some kind of unplugged version! There's nothing to lose in having a go! Personally I think that using a track that's two years old really isn't the done thing...
But why the old material, all the same?
The same doubts hang over the track from Samara's wonderful Cheese People. The organizers of Avant note with justifiable pride that the band are a rare phenomenon on the Russian scene in that they've attracted not only the attention of Moscow's more prestigious and fashionable labels (namely Snegiri), but also big business: one of the group's songs has certainly been used for cellphone and M&M commercials in Russia. There may be even more examples of which we're unaware.
Since, however, opportunities such as TV ads usually give second life to already existing melodies, it's a bit disheartening for some fans of the band to see that Cheese People have also offered an old track here: "I Hate this Sound" is the closing number from their debut LP that appeared a few months ago.
Great song, but not really new.
And so we move on... Even in the final songs this tendency continues. The CD's penultimate number is by Moscow's ever-promising Lost Weekend and entitled "The Illuminating." It, too, has appeared in another form, namely on the band's first album that was published in December of '08. It's a fine example of their work and a good choice in terms of calling cards. But old.
They've been referred to as a "continuation" of My Bloody Valentine, which is a reasonable starting-place and certainly more helpful than the self-portrait we're offered at V kontakte. Here they claim that their music is created under the joint influences of heavy metal and Carl Jung. Their inspiration, apparently, also comes from boiled beets, tobogganing, dancing the twist, sex, drugs, and violence.
Probably not at the same time.
And so the LP concludes with another 2008 composition from Moscow threesome, The Burns. Another good selection in terms of PR - and another great band, too. At the end of so many familiar tracks, though, it becomes clear - despite the declarations of novelty in the promotional materials - that the CD's rationale is not just to throw new material at a knowing, loving audience. It's also designed for the uninitiated, who need the 19 MySpace addresses that are part and parcel of the artwork.
On the pages of Avant's website, the organizers declare their distaste for the "fossilized" canons of traditional Russian rock (from the late Soviet years) or anything officially endorsed today. When faced, therefore, with the two related obstacles of history and state-owned media, these bands need to present a very united front. The older, more popular tracks on this compilation (often from better-known ensembles) may be familiar to the lucky residents of Moscow, but it's precisely because of these Muscovites' concert-going and shopping habits that the groups can say with confidence that the songs' chance of public acceptance is high.
That's an approach needed in places like Cheese People's hometown, shown below.
Everyone looks happy except the guy in the striped sweater. He must be visiting from Moscow.
The well-known songs on Avant 2009 are the beginning of a new tradition that's far from anything fossilized; they establish a background of successfully reached milestones, against which novelty can be assessed. They also help to drag new, unknown songs into more homes. Avant 2009 thus continues in the related heritage of its two predecessors, and remains one of the best, most important compilations on the Moscow indie scene. In a nation that seems so strangely averse to the idea of geographically defined local scenes, the need for philosophically determined teamwork is very high indeed.
That philosophy, however, is much more likely to be a consequence of good music and shared passions than anything Jung ever wrote.
"Yeah, dude! Dig for beets!"
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