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http://www.lookatme.ru/cities/moscow/events/72233

Событие на LOOK AT ME

Получасовой CD из восьми песен, где половина - бонусы? Это мы встретили альбом группы Слайды "Все Цвета Радуги" по одежке - в смысле по обложке, нарисованной чуть ли ни капиллярными ручками. Только вот после знакомства с собственно музыкой команды, ни ее саму, ни этот альбом не хочется "провожать"...
В основных четырех треках альбома группа обрушивает на слушателя лавину жизнеутверждающего гитарного шума. Гармонии песен "Встретимся Позже", "Глубина" и "Вне Реальности" - пост-битловские или около-брит-поповые (что, в общем-то, почти одно и то же). Тональность - мажор, песни построены на цепких риффах, ритмы ломовые, драйв зашкаливает за все разумные пределы. Вот только нет особого смысла повторять четыре раза подряд некоторые проигрыши - так даже самый ядреный рифф способен набить оскомину. Да и тексты песен грешат некой абстрактной бесцельностью: лучше бы тупо про любовь. А еще лучше - про секс, наркотики и мотоциклы... пардон, мотороллеры: уж очень по-английски все звучит.
Первый "выход за рамки" группа совершает в песне "Софиты" - забойнейшем образчике гаражной психоделики. Тут и мелодия более зловещая, и гитаристы отрываются на всю катушку, и лирика исполнена угрюмого, но смысла. А лучше всего, как это частенько бывает, звучат бонусы. В ломовом пост-панковском диско "Эфир" Слайды прикидываются Franz Ferdinand на амфетаминах. Боевик "В Движении" - ультимативно-бесстыдный сексуальный призыв. Круче в нашем стыдливом самогонном краю может быть только прыжок со стометровой скалы в Северный Ледовитый океан: в том смысле, что если выжил после такого экспириенса - уже ничего не страшно. "Аксиомы" - трехминутный брит-панк с припевами из одних лишь первых долей. В заключение - баллада "Течение" - намеренно акустическая, соответствующая, скорее, основной части альбома, нежели бонусу.
Да, "провожать" команду по прослушивании этого диска не хочется. Хочется послушать, что будет дальше. Парни, еще немного, еще чуть-чуть - и русский текст на все сто впишется в контекст брит-попа. Слайды обязательно будут среди тех, кто посрамит уже доставших своей непроходимой глупостью любителей англоязычного пения на просторах Великой, Белой и Малой... если продолжат в том же духе.

29.05.2009, ДМИТРИЕВ, Арсений (ЗВУКИ РУ)

Вконтакте
ЛукЭтМи
Ласт ФМ

http://www.moscow.ucla.edu/?p=2418
Это в калифорнии.

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 thousand residents, it’s a regional center of industry. The Slides provide a very energetic sound to escape the grim realities of distant chimney stacks. In fact they themselves moved, at least temporarily, all the way to Moscow. That must have been a major culture shock.

The band’s basic line-up is a foursome: Egor Berdnikov (vocals and guitar), Andrei Netovannyi (guitar), Aleksei Shorin (bass), and Aleksandr Anikeev (drums). This traditional, no-nonsense arrangement is reflected in the kind of Brit-pop or college rock influences that the group usually credits: Oasis, Kula Shaker, The Vines, and Sigur Ros in particular.

The Slides - prior to any move westwards - were formed in 2002. During that six-year period, in their own words, they’ve traveled the distance from “lo-fi to noise-pop.” They’ve also got a decent number of gigs in their CV from touring the Far East, especially in the clubs of Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, which is home - of course - to Mumiy Troll.
In one interview the band starts poking fun at these provincial outings and they begin making up the names of leafy, backwater villages where they’ve supposedly performed; they’d translate as “Slobsville” and “Lower Hanky-Panky,” among others…
These difficult, unrewarding road-trips were necessary tests for material that would later be committed to disc, namely the mini-albums “Stereo” (2007) and “Velour” (”Velur” in Russian) early in 2008. The third recording has just been released, and consists of the audio files in this post: it’s entitled “All the Colors of the Rainbow” (Vse tsveta radugi).
It can be downloaded here. We serve to please.

When asked about the origins of their name, The Slides reply that “it just sounds pleasant. Lots of vowels.” And on the subject of style - after joking that they see themselves as an emo band - we get a slightly more serious response: “We play a mix of indie, rock, pop, and pure noise. It’s become fashionable nowadays for groups to call themselves ‘indie,’ but we’re not really sure what that means: Indian girls, maybe? How about turkeys [’indeiki’ in Russian]? It’s hard to say if we play in any one style.

They claim - with dubious seriousness - to have received a positive letter from the national rock station, Our Radio (Nashe radio), assessing the band as “cool.”
Allegedly the same letter also likened The Slides to some emo outfits, which left them in a state of horror: “It’s all so dumb. ‘Emo’ means ‘emotional music. So does that make [Soviet crooner] Mikhail Boiarskii emo, too? What about [late Soviet pop-composer] Arkadii Ukupnik?”
Probably not.

The severe discipline and self-sacrifice needed to drag yourself all the way from the Pacific to Moscow - and then slave away in the hope of public interest - means that The Slides are not patient people. They do not suffer fools gladly.

Take the example of their erstwhile drummer. Instead of giving up everything in the name of music, he chose a stable, private life. The band was unamused. “Before moving to Moscow, we had another drummer back in Komsomol’sk. He didn’t come with us… because he was having nicer windows installed in his apartment. He wanted to start a family. He wanted kids, a car, and an apartment. He wanted to do some renovations at home; he wanted a washing machine, a microwave, an iron… and a board for that, too.”

They later found a replacement with sufficient self-control, but he went too far in the opposite direction. “Everything turned out well to start with, but he had one problem. He neither drank nor smoked. He had a steady girlfriend.”
Needless to say, he didn’t last long, either.

Reaching the capital, unfortunately, didn’t mean that normal working relationships were guaranteed. One of the band members was reading a book on the Moscow metro - Knut Hamsun’s “Hunger” - when he was rudely interrupted.

“I’m sitting there, on the subway, and reading. There’s loads of empty seats, but this bloody great hulk comes and sits beside me. Turns to me and says: ‘You wot? D’you wanna say something to me?’ ‘No,’ I replied. ‘I was just reading.’ ‘Well, go on then. Read.’ A minute passes by and he starts up again: ‘Wot you readin’, pal?’ ‘Hunger.’ ‘Any good?’ ‘It’s alright.’ ‘Come on then, tell me wot’s in it. Or I’ll beat the crap out of you.’”

Welcome to the Big City. Suddenly smokestacks on the edge of a Mongol Empire don’t seem so bleak.