Mumiy Troll / Мумий Тролль

RU

Adult contemporary, Aor, Baroque Pop, Classic rock, Futurepop, Glam, Indie rock, Indie-pop, Pop rock, Post-punk, Power pop, Rock, Soft Rock

http://www.mumiytroll.com/
http://www.myspace.com/mumiy
http://twitter.com/mumiytroll_
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mumiy-Troll/168763752888
https://www.facebook.com/mumiytrollUS

Local Pride: Mumiy Troll, Lyapis Trubetskoy, Blotto Tapa, and the Frozen Orchestra

A comparison of two small and two major publications reveals differing attitudes towards the spaces where they're made. A romantic avoidance of geography morphs into patriotism... and then endless critique.

Love Songs as Correspondence: Sansara, Dolphin, and Chaos in Heathrow

New recordings from Dolphin, Sansara, and Chaos In Heathrow all use the symbolism of correspondence or "dialogs" as a thematic constant. Love, in other words, is faced with a geographic and communicative challenge.

Lo-Fi, High Hopes: Gornostay, My Private Hospital, and Joga

Raised in the city of Vladivostok, nationally famous singer Il'ia Lagutenko has launched a side-project known as Gornostay. Together with some other releases this week, the band's new album highlights a very local form of lo-fi.

Dreams of Somewhere Else: 4 Positions of Bruno, AETC, Curd Lake, and (((О)))

A number of new lo-fi, drone, shoegaze, and even witch-house releases paint a picture of faith in modern society. Or its absence. Taken together they suggest that escape is a reasonable option - in physical or chemical forms.

The First FFM Compilation: New Russian and Belarusian Minimalism

One of the new changes at FFM involves regular compilation albums, free for downloading and (wide!) distribution. The first of these albums is designed to celebrate new minimal works from both Russia and Belarus.

A Golden Glow: Sansara / Sex in Space / Zemskov and the Morons

Several releases of late have been inspired by the ironic and self-mocking tones of The Smiths (overseas) and Mumiy Troll (at home). Rather than embrace that chilly aesthetic, however, these younger musicians make room for some sentiment

Looking for Friends: Modul, Anton Zap, Lay-Far, and Mars Needs Lovers

Various EPs and remixes this week touch upon the role of friendship, networking, and collaborative culture in an environment where the role of profit is diminished. Today's trust can form tomorrow's institutions, perhaps

The Dramatic Evolution of "Rokapops": Mujuice and the Mumiy Troll Covers

The new album by Mujuice has been associated with aspects of '90s songwriting in Russia. In particular it is compared to the work of Mumiy Troll, whose catalog is currently reinterpreted by a major Moscow magazine

Stubborn Steps Forward: Magnetic Anomaly and Alterday

Magnetic Anomaly are from an industrial town in Western Russia; Alterday are from Moscow. Although they enjoy different professional opportunities, the theme of endurance persists in both their catalogs

A Soundtrack for Moving House: Dasha Rush and Mars Needs Lovers

Dasha Rush and Mars Needs Lovers are performers whose lives are tied to places very far from Moscow. Their music and thoughts provide some impressive reasons why

Synthesized Tales with a Fatal Ending: Sansara, Stoned Boys, and A Headphones

Three new recordings from A Headphones, Sansara, and Stoned Boys use the tools of synth-pop to tells some very dark tales. The forces of Russian commerce and physical geography conspire in ominous ways...

Working Hard: The Re-Stoned, Slezy Morgany, and Marakesh

Sales of rock music have slowly declined in Western markets, which offers a challenge to bands in that genre. We take a look at three unrelated collectives from opposing ends of Russia - and Kiev, too - in order to show the importance of hard work

Dancing on the Edge of Primetime: Kira Lao, Pilar, and Artemiev

The realm between mainstream and independent music in Russia is very vague. For those bands who remain somewhere, say, between radio and television coverage, life can be rather nervous

Mumiy Troll: Mapping the "Rare Lands" of the 1990s

Mumiy Troll, Russia's best-known rock/pop outfit, this week cast a glance over their collective shoulder at the last ten years. From the depths of multiple calendars they have gathered fourteen compositions and pulled them (back) into the public view. Although the resulting CD includes a few new...

Mumiy Troll: Carefully Choosing One's Words - in Order to Reject Them

Vladivostok's Mumiy Troll are continuing their tour around the United States, moving on occasion southwards to Mexico - or in a northerly direction to Canada. The band recently appeared at one Mexican festival that caught the attention of local press outlet Enelshow.Com: “Few people could join...

Bi-dva: "Luna Park." Fun, Games, and Nostalgia at the Fairground

It seems fair to say that the most recent album by Mumii Troll, entitled "8," will be remembered as a final hurrah for all the gloss and glamor of Russia's pre-crisis economy: a double CD, the fruits of lengthy labor both richly produced and expensively packaged. That same packaging was commen...

Steppenwolf '09: Cash, Creativity and "Trash-Freaks"

Yesterday we covered the recent discussions at the Moscow International Open Book Festival, designed to fashion a philosophy suited to the current economic climate. On the same day - June 14, 2009 - the central courtyard of the same building was given over to six hours of music; the afternoon's...

The Future of Russian Music: Not for the Indifferent or Fainthearted

Last week, within the framework of Moscow's International Open Book Festival (held in the above building), a series of discussions were hosted by the entertainment magazine Afisha, dedicated to the nation's changing cultural landscape. These changes, needless to say, are primarily being effec...

"NauBum": The Nautilus Pompilius Tribute CD

In Valerii Todorovskii's recent musical comedy "Stiliagi," there is a scene in which humorless members of the Soviet Youth Organization or Komsomol berate the film's hero - Mels - for choosing decadent, dangerous rock and roll as an influence in his life. In a steeply banked, claustrophobic a...

Mumiy Troll: "Comrade Ambassador"

In anticipation of some upcoming tour dates in the US and Canada, Mumiy Troll have just announced their first release in the US, a bilingual collection of songs taken primarily from their last two CDs, "Amba" and "8." Published together with English-language sleeve notes and translated lyrics,...

Navigation: Establishing a Mainstream

A couple of weeks ago, a CD with a slightly unfocused cover was released, bearing the title "Navigation" (Navigatsiia). This designation comes from a series of club-based festivals that have been used to showcase several up-and-coming rock groups. In a country like Russia, the first question...

The Slides: More Important than a Washing Machine

A new EP has appeared from an excellent but little-known band, The Slides (Slaidy). The group hails from Russia's Far East, more explicitly from the town of Komsomol'sk na Amure - a place so far from Moscow that it only became part of Russia in the mid-19th century. Now, with a few hundred t...

Tonight: "Prostitution"

Yesterday in Moscow a fourth album was released by the St Petersburg band "Tonight" (Segodnia noch'iu). The first thing to note here is that Tonight use the Russian name exclusively, but it's a bit tough on English speakers, so we've gone for a (significantly easier!) translation. The second...

Mumiy Troll: 8

The celebrations above at the 2008 Olympic Games were planned by Chinese authorities to coincide with the date 8:8:08, thus maximizing the good luck associated with that number. Appearing simultaneously, and for similar reasons, is the new album from Mumiy Troll, "8." Music critic Artemii Tr...

Mumiy Troll: The New Album

The new Mumiy Troll album appeared this week, and judging by the picture above, its makers are happy with the result. Entitled "Contraband" (Kontrabandy), it was released free(!) with the magazine "Afisha," thus mirroring Prince's famous gesture of July 2007, when he gave away almost three milli...

Mumiy Troll: An Introduction

Mummii Troll' are a four-piece: Il'ia Lagutenko (vocals and guitar), Iurii Tsapler (guitar and keyboards), Evgenii Zvidennyi (bass), and Oleg Pungin. Formed in 1983 in Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific coast, they struggled for many years in local clubs. Given what happened to them in subsequent y...

Moscow Grooves Institute: "Zub-Zub"

MGI are two people: Boris Nazarov (left) and Arkadii Marto (right). They formed in 1995 and before their debut album in 1997 were slowly establishing a name for themselves via weekly radio performances. The status of their debut cassette album, "Surround Wednesday." is such that it has now been...