Padla Bear Outfit

RU

Adult contemporary, Baroque Pop, Chamber Pop, Chanson, Coldwave, Cuddlecore, Folk, Indie rock, Indie-pop, Neofolk, Pop, Post-punk, Singer-songwriters, Twee

http://www.myspace.com/hellopadla
http://www.last.fm/music/Padla+Bear+Outfit
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Padla+Bear+Outfit
http://wearehttpww.blogspot.com/

The Beauty of Epic Failure: CMYK, Sonic Death, IWKC, and Trud

Four bands from Moscow and St. Petersburg ponder the meaning of difficulty and failure. It transpires that an apparent slacker aesthetic is, in fact, tied to more complex issues of local history.

Volition and Volume: Avias, Klad Yada, InVerse, and Slow Suicide

The issue of destiny emerges clearly in some new releases from Russia and Belarus. Over four separate publications, we see the role of "fate" increase. It is first countered with volume - and then met with grim resignation.

Distortion: IAMF, Karaoke Vomit, Lo-fi Futu:Re, Padla Bear, and Dull Product

Exponents of harsh sound across Russia have shown a certain unity of late. Despite the apparent disorder and discord that resonates through these recordings, a manifest harmony exists on the level of worldview.

Quarter Tones: USSSY, Elephants from Neptune, and Pes i Gruppa

These collectives live in varied surroundings, ranging from an Estonian forest to the noisy streets of Moscow. Nonetheless, they all seek alternative, sometimes complex registers to match their disorienting experience.

Slipping Out of the Picture: Padla Bear Outfit, AWOTT, and Twilight Owls

This week a webinar takes place in Kiev, dedicated to issues of networking among young performers. How, in other words, might artists better collaborate? Judging by the outlook of some ensembles, those problems are indeed serious.

New St. Petersburg Songs: Padla Bear Outfit, The Warner S., and Iamthemorning

Three bands from St Petersburg help to define the possible parameters of a local sound - one that's lo-fi, deliberately amateurish, and would rather avoid anything electric

New Kirpichi Songs: Stoner Rock, Hip-Hop, and Witty Indolence

The St Petersburg trio Kirpichi have just published a new collection of witty, worldly songs about the value of deliberate indifference to pomp and circumstance. Humor and laziness become powerful tools

Big Cars, Coke Bottles, and Surfboards: The Songs of Sablia and Luau

St Petersburg duo Sablia have just managed to produce a seven-track EP. Many of the songs are dedicated to issues of daily drudgery and its ability to stifle all forms of romance. Moscow duo Luau play a similar game - without recourse to words

Padla Bear Outfit: Smirking on the Shoulders of Giants

At a time when Russian music is increasingly divorced from hard media and instead floats aimlessly through the ether - to scant financial benefit - some performers still insist upon tying their work to vinyl or CDs. The former practice persists, for understandable reasons, in the realm of dance...

Pes i Gruppa: Some Greeting Waves from Under the Water

Three months ago, the image above appeared online from DIY outfit Pes i Gruppa. Next to the mock-confrontational air of this photograph was an equally playful promo-text. "We're a group from Saint Petersburg and Krasnoiarsk. We sing about boys from Michigan, dogs in the morning... and so forth....

Sablia: The Difficult Choice between a Mortgage and "Miniature Music"

"Sablia," the Russian word for "Sabre," might suggest that we're dealing with a loud, hirsute and aesthetically challenged ensemble. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. We turn immediately to Mr. Oleg Nesterov, owner and spiritual guru at Moscow's Snegiri Records. He has the follo...

Padla Bear Outfit: A Move towards Synthesizers by the "Russian Intelligentsia"

No sooner have we published a review of the second album by St Petersburg's Padla Bear Outfit... than another has appeared. As if that were not surprising enough, this new LP - released last week - marks a shift by the band towards an electronic register, following the wholly acoustic, "kitchen...

Padla Bear Outfit: Lots of Songs - in Praise of Absolutely Nothing

Padla Bear Outfit from St Petersburg first came to our attention in April of this year. At that time, we drew a number of parallels with Western notions of anti-folk, in that this band sings of minuscule, almost childlike events and interests, yet does so in a most contrary way. They, in other w...

Padla Bear Outfit: Anti-Folk, Pro Daydreaming

It is hard to imagine a more deliberately amateurish ensemble than Padla Bear Outfit. Even their name has an aura of complete incompetence: "Padla" will usually be translated - in more cultured dictionaries - as "worthless scoundrel." Cruder versions in English are also an option. If we as...