RHINOCEROSES AND OTHER FORMS OF LIFE

Debut Estonian band's Ne Zhdali album is very atmospheric minimalist recording. By it's sound it's very similar to classic Bill Frisell's Americana/fusion recordings. Leonid Soybelman is capable guitarist, and after some years he will become one of the best former-USSR avant prog guitarist, but there he is still too safe and only shows some blueprint of his later explosive guitar works.

Music is guitar based, and cold be tagged as " DIY guitar fusion played by avant musicians". Musicianship isn't complex, but more dissonant, with some unusual time signatures and sound jams. But all " avant" elements are added in small dose, it looks, that freaky musicians tried to record album for " normal" listener. As a result all album is quite accessible listening, but too simple for jazz fusion (and in fact has it roots in quite different music), and at the same time too "normal" for being avant records. Some first elements of klezmer and Russian modern urban folk are added; they will become more important on band's later recordings.

Interesting album for fans and researchers, not such attractive for casual listener. Still 3 in my scale.

NE ZHDALI ( or in Russian Не ждали ) was one of the most innovative and adventurous experimental rock bands that arose during the last days of the Soviet Union and one of the first to emerge as an underground sensation once its untimely collapse had taken place. Led by the Moldovan born Lenid Soybelman, the group emerged in what is now Tallinn, Estonia as a bizarre amalgamation of post-punk, funk, Slavic folk, jazz and avant-prog delivered in an energetic zolo spasticity right out of the Zappa playbook. The band's name means something like "They're Not Waiting" and is purported to be a reference to a famous painting.

NE ZHDALI formed in 1987 by high school buddies Soybelman, Ilja Komarov and Andrei Kulagin and in a couple years became a sensation in the Soviet underground by adopting the extreme unpredictable complexities of bands like Henry Cow that were blended into funk rhythms, various folk musical scales and punk infused guitar heft. The band featured Soybelman (guitars, vocals), Ilja Komarov (bass), Vadim Veeremaa (trumpet, alto horn, back vocals), Oleg Davidovitch (trombone, guitar, bells, back vocals), Vitaly Redchits (drums, percussion), Avi Nedzvetsky (steinbach piano) and lead vocalist Andrei Kulgin aka Victor Bitlovsky).

Featuring a talented selection of virtuoso musicians, this allowed NE ZHDALI to experiment with more playful technical workouts while maintaining strong interconnected grooves that somewhat kept in the spirit of Soviet rock bands. After experiencing a rising popularity the band made a trip to Amsterdam where they were allowed to record this debut album that was released in two different forms. While mostly instrumental, the album was released in 1990 in Russian speaking countries as Носороги и другая жизнь with the album cover art depicting a zoom in of a rhino's temple (area on the head) and in the rest of the world as the more familiar RHINOCEROSES AND OTHER FORMS OF LIFE that featured an out of focus background with a peacock in the lefthand foreground. Both were featured on the ADM label but the album was released once again two years later on the French label Ayaa with a yet a different peacock cover.

Sounding something like a mix of avant-punk styles in the vein of the Dutch band The Ex with avant-prog weirdness of both Frank Zappa and Henry Cow with oft celebratory sounds in the vein of Samla Mammas Manna, the album ranges from playful funk guitar fueled tracks with a brass section to more homegrown folk sounds especially when the band belts out the vocal segments which pop out of the blue and don't really occur too often on this debut. The stylistic changes are often but the band maintained an even keel approach about how it rationed out these changes. This was just the beginning. The band would release several more albums before it went inactive after the 1998 release "Polio d'Oro" and Soybelman has become one of the top avant-rock guys in all of Europe after having relocated to Berlin.

RHINOCEROSES AND OTHER FORMS OF LIFE is an excellent testament to the wild and creative spirit barreling through the trials and tribulations of a totalitarian government trying to quash any such innovation and freeing of the soul. NE ZHDALI exhibits on this debut a keen understanding of the world of avant-prog, post-punk, jazz and its local folk music heritage and weaves it all together to beautifully and creative that nothing else sounds like this. There's not a bad track on this one however the closing "Bossa III The melody" comes off as a little weak in comparison to the wild and wacky procession of zaniness and technical workouts that precede. This band still lurks in the underground but for those who are seeking more of those punk fueled bands that mixed seasoned prog complexities into the mix then this is one not to be missed.