«Mumiy Troll: Comrade Ambassador» — Crawdaddy
Mumiy Troll
Comrade Ambassador
(Mumiy Troll Records, 2009)
Mumiy Troll is a rock band from Russia; they started in Vladivostok to be precise, a town as far away from Moscow as it`s possible to get without falling into the Pacific. Rock bands from Russia have tried to make an impact in the US before, and while they may have been revolutionary in USSR days, most of them (no need to mention names) sounded like bad prog-rock groups. Something about rock music apparently didn`t translate into Russian.
Troll has been playing since the `80s, with a brief hiatus while the lead singer served in the Russian army. They`ve released eight albums since 1997 and Comrade Ambassador includes tracks from their two latest Russian CDs. Lead singer Ilya Lagutenko is an overeducated enfant terrible who speaks Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and English, and is infamous for his androgynous style. Guitarist Yuri Tsaler is one of Russia`s premier axe men. Bass player Eugene Zvidonny has obviously listened to a lot of British and American new wave dance music, and his playing combines the bouncy thump of Tina Weymouth with the drive of Paul Simonon. Drummer Oleg Pungin nails down the backbeat without any startling flourishes and plenty of power. The band invented the name rockapops for their music, but to American ears, it sounds pretty pop, with many obvious influences from late `70s and `80s British and American rock. There`s also a soupçon of Bowie`s bemused detachment in Lagutenko`s theatrical delivery that comes across, even without translation.
Most of the Eastern European music I know—and it`s admittedly not a lot—has a gypsy flavor, from the hard punk of the New York-based Gogol Bordello to Theodore Bikel`s folky Russian albums for Elektra. I was hoping that Mumiy Troll might give us something oddly and uniquely Russian, a sound out of the Anglo-American mainstream, but it was not meant to be. Perhaps there is something in rock that doesn`t translate into Russian. It might be a lack of the blues foundation that most rockers use to build their songs, or the fact that they`re coming at the music from an alien, repressed culture. Whatever the case, Mumiy Troll most often sounds like a good cover band.
The Trolls only make one blatant commercial move, with a cover of “California Dreamin`■, translated into Russian as “California Snitsa.■ Except for the Russian lyric, it`s a straightforward copy, although Tsaler`s electric guitar is harder than P.F. Sloan`s and the backing vocals are nicely cacophonous. For some reason, they program “Pospi, Rock ▒n` Roll (Sleep Rock ▒n` Roll)■ and “Gori Jeto Vse (Burn It All)■, the two songs that sound the most Russian and least typically Western, just before the album ends. “Pospi, Rock ▒n` Roll■ has a hint of the gypsy two-step that makes Gogol Bordello so compelling, and some smooth, twangy spaghetti Western guitar from Tsaler. The groove is laid-back rock, with a dark, sleepy feel and Lagutenko singing at his Bowie-esque best. Tsaler ends the tune with a burnished, surf guitar solo that brings an ocean sunset to mind. “Gori Jeto Vse■ also has a spaghetti Western feel with 12-string work that echoes the spacious, booming sound of Jim McGuinn`s solos with the Byrds. The song conflates global warming and lost love in a way that may make more sense in Russian, but the despondent melody is one of the strongest on the record.
The band plays well, and, even without the visual element, it`s obvious that Lagutenko is a charismatic performer. There are some interesting production touches and fine playing by the band throughout, but they don`t ever transcend their influences. “Mamy Docherei (Mothers and Daughters)■ has great spaghetti/surf guitar and a laid-back country groove, but it doesn`t go anywhere. Spaghetti/surf guitar and what sounds like a banjo also turns up on “V Jetom Svete (In Our World)■, a glam ballad. “Muzykant (Musician)■ blends a reggae rhythm and new-wave synth effects, while “Yadernye Stantsii (Nuclear Stations)■ brings to mind late-period Clash and Heaven 17 with its ominous, wide-open sound and bouncy dance pulse. It`s not bad for a knock-off. “Metel (Snowstorm)■ has a nervous Talking Heads-like aura, and “Hey, Tovarishch!■ is dark and theatrical with a screaming sax solo from Oleg Tsaler (Yuri`s brother?) adding to the song`s drama. “Koroleva Rocka (Queen of Rock)■ sounds like light metal, but it`s saved by a dissonant guitar solo and Pungin`s pounding four/four pulse. Mumiy Troll may rock, but they don`t swing, and the obvious Western influences leave little originality in their songwriting.