September 5–12

"House on Trubnaya"

Pago Libre
Photo: Valery Melnikov, Kommersant

Born during the Silent Film Days in the Norwegian city of Tromso, the Russian-Norwegian project will be shown in several Russian cities, mainly northern ones. Four musicians - two from Norway, two from Russia - will accompany the screening of Boris Barnet's 1928 film "The House on Trubnaya" in Murmansk, Apatity, Moscow, Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk. The music for it was composed twice, in the 1990s, first by Taras Buevsky, then by Alexey Aigi, whose ensemble "4'33" regularly accompanied screenings of silent Soviet films. Now Barnet's satirical comedy will be translated into musical language by cellist and researcher of the possibilities of electronics Bernt Simeon Lund, percussionist Eric Stifiel, guitarist, singer and ethnic wind performer Ekaterina Efremova from Murmansk and the famous horn player Arkady Shilkloper, who recently participated in a similar film music project as part of another international ensemble - Pago Libre, which played music during the screening of Alfred's film Hitchcock's "Blackmail".

Cinema "Cosmos", September 9, 19.00

Grigory Durnovo

"Our Autumn"

Glavclub launched a continuation of the low-cost project. The meaning is simple: tickets to concerts are sold for 10 rubles. Utah is performing today, and until September 14 you can listen to “Technology”, Fedor Chistyakov, Znaki, Total and Konstantin Nikolsky. The story with the “talking price” for tickets is a logical continuation of the practice of the club’s art director Igor Tonkikh, who organized Coil concerts with tickets for 666 rubles. and the anniversary of Tequilajazzz with tickets for 333. But 10 rubles is still an extremely radical solution. Confidence in success appeared in Mr. Tonkikh when in the spring he attracted a full house at the concert of the group “Adventures of Electronics” with tickets for 1 ruble. In the summer there were already ten such concerts. The so-called middle echelon played, people who were well known to the public but did not sell out stadiums. During the week, the club was visited by a number of people equal to the audience of another summer festival. “Every once-popular group has a large “dormant” audience, but there is no time, no money, no courage, no company to go to a concert,” says Igor Tonkikh. “We have created such conditions that it is impossible not to go to the concert. For 100 rubles you can go to all ten concerts or take all your friends to a concert of your favorite artist. “Glavklub” has done something that no one in Russia has yet managed to do: our low-cost airline flies.”

"Glavclub", until September 14

Boris Barabanov

Apollo Brown And Ugly Heroes

Detroit producer Apollo Brown, known for his love of hip-hop with unusual, jazz-inspired arrangements, comes to Moscow with his latest project, Ugly Heroes. Apollo is in charge of the music, and his two friends, Verbal Kent and Red Pill, rap lyrics about the harsh life in Detroit and Verbal Kent's hometown of Chicago. It all sounds like a collaboration between Madlib and rapper Doom, only much simpler and with less intricate meanings. However, it’s difficult to call this a disadvantage: thanks to some primitivism, Ugly Heroes look like a very honest team, not spoiled by commercialism. Despite the general minor theme of both music and lyrics, the rap group carries a positive charge, convincing listeners that all difficulties can be overcome. In 2013, the group released their debut album, and in mid-August they presented a new EP with 5 completely new compositions.

"Glavclub", September 6, 20.00

Pavel Borisov

Moon Duo

Sanae Yamada
Photo: Redferns via Getty Images / Fotobank.com

From the name Moon Duo one can conclude that the duo plays some kind of unearthly music, and this conclusion will be correct. Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada have been making inventive space rock with strong old-time pop influences since 2009. Johnson plays guitar and sings, Yamada is in charge of the synthesizers and pads. With such seemingly limited means, Moon Duo create surprisingly lively, although at first glance monotonous music. All of the group's albums, and three of them have been released since 2009, have consistently received high marks from the most progressive music critics, including Pitchfork, and have played at all the major avant-garde festivals. Johnson and Yamada skillfully dissect the music of bygone decades, but do not seem like a dull retro group; the main thing about them is an incredible pulsation that does not stop for a second. The groove is everywhere here, even in the pauses between songs.

"Theater", September 7, 20.00

Pavel Borisov

Betraying The Martyrs

France is not the most prominent region on the metal map of the world, so the very existence of Betraying The Martyrs, a Parisian Christian deathcore band, deserves attention. Quite harsh guitar riffs and inaudible growl vocals, traditional for the genre, are compensated for in the music of Betraying The Martyrs by unexpected pop moves. Since 2012, the band has featured Russian drummer Mark Mironov from My Autumn, who once supported the French metallers at the concerts of the tour in support of their first album "Breathe In Life". In July 2014, Betraying The Martyrs released their second disc "Phantom", which included a deathcore version of the song "Let It Go" from the cartoon "Frozen". The version is quite controversial - the music of Betraying The Martyrs already has problems with combining elements of different genres, and in “Let It Go” they are heard most clearly.

Volta, September 12, 20.00

Pavel Borisov

Maybeshewill

Brits Maybeshewill have been playing melodic post-rock for almost a decade, with an emphasis on a combination of loud, distorted guitars and airy synths responsible for the melody. As is customary in lyrics, there are no words in Maybeshewill's songs, and, unlike the luminaries of the genre Mogwai, they are often missing, and sometimes the missing vocal line itself begins to play in the head. At least with a vocalist they would be less like 65daysofstatic exploiting the same musical concept. Despite the lack of lyrics, the band manages to express their ideas, including political ones, in song titles and cover designs. Maybeshewill released their fourth full-length album, "Fair Youth," this August. The disc is filled with uplifting and thoughtful melodies and, on the whole, is not very different from the rest of Maybeshewill’s work, but this is exactly the case when no innovations are required from the soundtrack to autumn walks.

"Theater", September 6, 20.00

Pavel Borisov

Magazine "Kommersant Weekend" No. 34 dated 09/05/2014, p. 28

Main concerts of the week