WLVS – Torn Apart (В клочья)
A trio from Samara with a simple lineup: guitar, bass, drums. Music that goes straight ahead with force. Bassist Max Smirnov sings along. They used to sing in English ( The Last Gang in Town, 2013), but since Человек человеку волк (2015), it’s been in Russian, and thank goodness for that.
Me and You
В клочья is from Дотла: часть 1 (2016) and is more accessible than most. Despite everything, the short lyrics convey hope. Ты сможешь спасти остатки этой разодранной в клочья души: you can save the remnants of this torn-apart soul.
In essence, it’s a love song, or about something that goes even beyond love. More valuable than all the money in the universe (дороже всех денег вселенной), stronger than vodka and stronger than love (крепче водки, сильнее любви). This is the knife in the throat of a stone-cold lie (это нож в горло каменной лжи) – me and you (я и ты).
More WLVS
В клочья is also part of the following film (Дотла, 2017), featuring Дотла, Вместо монеты – гвоздь, Девятый вал, and Между сном и явью. You should be okay with pig heads, though.
Also, check out this О фильме (about the film, 5 min) and especially Последняя банда в городе (2018, 34 min) – a portrait, tour report, and interview in one.
Live and Karaoke
Live versions of the song (with mediocre sound) can be found here and here (2017). Closing out with a karaoke-in-action performance by Артём Самойлов. 5 баллов (10 points) for the effort, with risks to his vocal cords.
More WLVS on
VK, music on
Spotify and
Bandcamp.
From 2020, check out
Дорога до вечности, and read more
here.
Most of the music here is also in an
R1 playlist on YouTube (from recent to old).
Best Russian Music in the
Лучшая русская музыка.
last edited 16-01-2021
More
Music
Anyone who wants to present Russian music cannot ignore Zemfira. Popular and mainstream – millions of records sold – but also distinctly idiosyncratic. The music is usually accessible (we categorize it under Pop), but the attitude is rock.
Raw Anti-Putin punk from
Nizhny Novgorod /
Нижний Новгород. Loosely based on ‘Maggie’ by The Exploited.
From the green city of
Zelenograd /
Зеленоград. Dreamy indie-folk with a melancholic undertone. Created by
Mikhail Rodionov (1992).
The alarm blares (Ревёт тревога), the road awaits (ждёт дорога). They are many (Их немало), we are few (нас немного). We are in an unjust world (Мы в несправедливом мире) tin wolves in the shooting range (Жестяные волки в тире).
The word offret is Swedish and means ‘sacrifice’; the band Offret is Russian and makes heavy music. The link between the word and the band: a
1986 film in Swedish by the Russian Andrei Tarkovsky.
A band from Saint Petersburg that makes a kind of post-punk/indie-pop. Not for long yet, so not much material yet. However, they already have a few very successful tracks with original music videos. До свиданья, дорогая is the
Russian title for the film
The Goodbye Girl (1977), but it has nothing to do with it.
