!Forward Russia! Viva La Revolucion!

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!Forward Russia! Viva La Revolucion!

June 6th 2006 03:11

The phrase "Never judge a book by its cover" comes to mind in many situations, but never really within the context of music. Of course, while there are always exceptions, it is true in some cases that a band name can determine their style. Panic! at the Disco have that emo flare, while "Disco" refers to the use of computerised dance beats to add that certain dimension. Blink 182 and Sum 41 both use numbers to differentiate them as punk bands. The Strokes, The Killers, The Rakes, The Bravery - all indie rock bands. And of course, we come to the crazy indies - Architecture in Helsinki, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah!, Animal Collective, I Heart Hiroshima. So when you hear about a band named !Forward Russia!, (yes, with an exclamation mark at the beginning and the end), you can only imagine what they must be like.

Well, in truth, the only similarity that this band share with the wierd-indie group is the wierd bit - to the point that their debut album, "Give Me a Wall" does not have conventional track names, but rather random numbers - Thirteen, for instance, is the first track. But what a first track it is - beginning with a synthesised riff, introducing the vocals with a choir-based "Choose Life" reminiscent of George Michael's glory days in "Wham!" before queuing a very punky drum beat. The vocals throughout the song are rough and on the edge of screaming throughout, mixed with fat riffs characteristic of heavy punk - I suppose thats why their myspace page includes "post-hardcore" amongst their genre descriptions.

The second track, Twelve, has more of a Bloc Party feel, whereas Fifteen Part 1 unleashes the true hardcore soul of the band, an extremely wierd mix of indie and hardcore that is somehow listenable. The tracks alternate throughout the rest of the album between very hard punk and an indie style seemingly influenced by bands such as Bloc Party, We Are Scientists, Franz Ferdinand, and even some Bravery-influenced electronica to mix it up. There are some regrettable influences, with Nine showing a hint of Scissor Sisters, which I didn't really appreciate. Nevertheless, the album's wide variety and ability to stretch across various genres proves a success, though this can be taken a little too far. The constant changes of tempos within particular songs, while occasionally effective, sometimes makes them sound like they just learned how to play drums at different speeds and showing off this new technique.

It isn't hard to say that Forward Russia isn't everyone's cup of tea. They are the wierdest of wierd - sometimes merely for the sake of it - and what is musical genius and originality can often be misunderstood as an inability to write "music" in the conventional sense of the term. Forward Russia is, in all essence, the merging of indie-rock and indie...wierd? Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! certainly have the ballpark when it comes to wierd indie, but Forward Russia have managed to take a slice of that and incorporate it into the style of Bloc Party, while mixing some hardcore in there to spice things up. They are a truly unique band in all aspects, to the point that they started their own label, "Dance to the Radio" simply because they were sick of waiting for labels to do what they're supposed to. With determination like this and an ability to unleash music in all its forms, this band, and their label, have the potential to make a dent in the music scene.

Links

Official Site

Dance to the Radio Site

Myspace Profile -
Doesn't have their best stuff, but listen to Eighteen, Seven, and their non-album track Two.

Last.Fm Profile -
They actually have a little following

!Forward Russia! Viva La Revolucion!

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