Upstation: How to Rebuild the 1980s - for a Fraction of the Cost

Upstation are a young Moscow outfit, formed on the ashes (it would seem) of Bleeding Nature. The homepage of that latter ensemble is now closed, though MySpace still hosts a good selection of media. Since summer 2009, Upstation, in the role of ascendant offspring, have benefited from the care and attention of producer Lev Vasilets. These sorts of collaborations, between studio and artists (the so-called "producers' projects"), often feel a need to brand themselves from the outset. Performers gathered on the basis of future plans, rather than long-standing friendships, need to be clearly unified by a shared concept of some sort. Upstation have already done so, "through their love for music of the 1970s and '80s."

The promotional materials continue in a related spirit. "Upstation's music consists of a natural interface between various racy and modern arrangements. More specifically, these involve a half-broken bass guitar, the strings of which haven't been fixed for at least a decade. Then there's a host of Italo-sounds, thanks to a vintage [Soviet] Maestro synthesizer. This all goes to prove, once more, that there's no break between the past and present. The 1980s are alive and well!"

Judging by the initial image in this post, that same bass guitar has suffered further. Guilty parties turn away.

The band has just released a very catchy, four-track EP in this spirit. Included here, all the compositions are also available for free download. According to the musicians: "These songs have been garnering good reviews on Western blogs, where music observers draw parallels with cult bands of the 1980s such as Talk Talk and Simple Minds. Echoes are likewise heard in the Russian vocals of Bowie's intonation." Pausing briefly for a reality check, we move on: "The French label DeBonton has signed a one-track contract with Upstation, as a result of which the band was obliged to make the Russian EP a little smaller! That same song has already been handed over to the French."

These songs have been garnering good reviews on Western blogs, where music observers draw parallels with cult bands of the 1980s such as Talk Talk and Simple Minds. Echoes are likewise heard in the Russian vocals of Bowie's intonation.

So what of those Western responses? We can even start further afield than Europe, in fact in Mexico, where one publication has just declared: "Upstation are a group whose sound is inspired by their unique synthesizers. They write disco music with modern beats; this is new wave with a touch of 80s' pop and glam... All in all, it gives the group a fresh new sound, one that's designed for listening and - why not! - for dancing, too!"

And then, almost simultaneously in Sweden, we might read: "Upstation are a Russian band consisting of Lev and Eugene; they make catchy electropop, with influences taken from 80s' new wave and funk. Sound familiar? Yeah, they'll remind you quite a bit of Tesla Boy, even if they're a little bit more 'disco.' And reminding someone of Tesla Boy can't be a bad thing, can it?"

That parallel with Moscow's Tesla Boy is both justified and important, in that it need not necessarily be a "problem." What sounds like possible grounds for complaints vis a vis epigonism or plagiarism (for the cynical), is in fact something entirely different. Having two major - and similar - exponents of synth-pop in one city can, arguably, only be a good thing, in terms of developing a recognizable sound for overseas listeners. Heaven knows that Russia could benefit from some discernible local scenes. Yet again, the processes of "branding" would also benefit.

And so to other Western reviews. Next door to Sweden, amateur enthusiasts in Finland hold, in even more enthusiastic terms, that the band are "a sweet electro-sensation! And the EP has it all: bursting pop-hooks, cool vox, and a pounding, thrusting synth. So, for the love of God (that's a figure of speech!) listen to this act; you won’t regret it. It’s new wave with huge pop influences; that makes it unbeatable in our book."

Perhaps this growing Scandinavian zeal can be explained by a British website that insists Upstation sound as if they are from that part of the world: "Russia is the new Sweden!" The air fills with the sounds of ABBA and the smell of vinyl.

Several of these opinions can start to sound suspiciously enthusiastic, especially when the references to Bowie increase, so it makes sense to stay on domestic territory for a while. At some of the Russian sites from which the EP can be downloaded, opinions have certainly been divided. Some brand-new fans were swayed by the general atmosphere of the group's imagery, even before a note had sounded, which is odd, given that Upstation have no more than 3 or 4 promotional photographs available. Nonetheless: "The snapshot [at the top of this page] convinced me. I'm downloading the tracks already!"

Other Russian bloggers (and erstwhile admirers of Bleeding Nature) were both unimpressed and unwilling to accept these new compositions as worthy of public attention. "Listen to the band's older material  - and then you won't give a damn about the new press photos or anything else..." Other grumpy remarks concerned supposedly high levels of recent "posing," which  - to be honest - should come as no surprise from a band so enthused with the gloss and glamor of the 1980s. That criticism also seems rather uncharitable, considering some of the melodramatic poses to which Bleeding Nature had no objection.

Listen to the band's older material  - and then you won't give a damn about the new press photos or anything else...

In between these high emotions, a more measured response has come from Russian webzine Indievid: "We heard this music very recently; at that time we would have said it's the sort of material people made in Western France [back in the 1980s]... when we were just learning how to walk! Things, however, are very different; if you're not too fussy about melodies or lyrics, and you have a strong need for simple dance music, then this will fit the bill!"

At this point in the proceedings, one might wonder whether the band themselves have anything to say. With interviews and so forth lacking, only a higgledy-piggledy LiveJournal page adds some kind of private, subjective insight into Upstation's progress. That online location is clearly not designed to operate as "front-end," press-ready PR. It consists of brief, appealingly amateurish, and often random collections of audio or video, much of which is taken from the past.

Likewise, we also see in that same journal a loving display of the antique hardware needed to create the sounds of thirty years ago. As with the issue of "posing," this passion for dusty keyboards was just as prevalent during the existence of Bleeding Nature. The connections between the two ensembles are numerous.

If there was a core element in the music of the 1980s, some kind of widely-recognized DNA which might allow Upstation to build a convincing reconstruction of the era, it would probably be the reliance upon music's visualization. After all, the start of the '80s saw the birth of MTV, together with equally bold forms of display on stage, such as new romanticism, to mention but one use of shoulder pads. Upstation, however (and as noted), have a very slim portfolio when it comes to images - and therefore imagery. A dilemma emerges: How to evoke the 1980s with all the requisite (and prohibitively expensive) razzmatazz?

Instead of making videos - or even pricey snapshots - the musicians seem to be relying upon reverie, in the most literal sense. Their dreams, documented online, take the place of well-funded retro-footage; the musicians' nocturnal imaginations runs wild, if for no other reason than they can do so for free. One band member recently added the following fantasy to his LiveJournal page:

"Last night I had a completely crazy dream about my grandfather. He's a professor of astronomy and teaches in a couple of Moscow colleges. Anyway - in my dream yesterday he decided to liven up his lectures with some cosmic electro tracks! The two of us then discussed matters, and he showed me his music set-up: a couple of analog synths and, for some reason, a portastudio!"

Seeking further to enhance this strange retro-scenario, the same member of Upstation looked - jokingly - for an image of Russian '80s pop heartthrob Igor' Nikolaev; the (totally unrelated) image below was suggested by his search engine. It would seem that the process of re-staging the musical highlights of the 1980s, even using digital detective work, is going to be both unpredictable (online) and expensive (on stage). Bedside dreaming is a cheaper and more flexible option, especially if Bowie is going to be your benchmark.

Some space oddities are easier to imagine than engineer.