Sounds Of Sputnik ' New Born'
Muscovite Roman
Kalitkin, aka Sounds of Sputnik is one man who clearly benefited from
Perestroika during his formative years as a sea of previously frowned
upon Western music headed east, waking up his sleepy Russian hometown
of Rostov-on-Don. His appetite whetted, developing a taste for that
classic British indie guitar sound of the shoegaze era (recently
recreated by Real Estate in such fine fashion), he needed no further
encouragement, spending the next couple of decades in an assortment
of bands before setting up on his own, adopting a moniker that pays
homage to one of his motherland’s finest hours.
His debut long player
‘New Born’ (well I say long player….it’s actually 5 original
tracks and 8 remixes) sees him team up with Ukrainian-Canadian boy
girl duo Ummagma, and some of the results are startlingly
good. Opener ‘New Born’ sees Shauna take the vocal in a fine
track with an overblown post-rock feel. ‘Overdrive’ is even more
alluring, blending dreamily gothic vocal with swirling guitar and
urgent driving rhythm to splendid effect, one part Sonic Youth, a
pinch of Ride with a hint of Siouxsie thrown in for good measure.
Instrumental ‘Shades of the Cosmos’ has a bit of B-Movie about
it, ‘Blizzard’ goes into post rock overdrive and ‘Light Scheme’
gives us a bit of male vocal combined with a hint of Pixies….even
the remix tracks are above average…..promising.
Words - Mike Price
Sounds Of Sputnik Bandcamp
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