RATIONAL DIET

1. "From The Grey Notebook - Intro" (0:23) 2. "From The Grey Notebook - Part 1" (5:05) very smooth flowing Avant Gard/RIO in the vein of many of France's most adept and adventurous jazz explorers. Definitely music that involves more rock instrumentation and form than UZED or Present. (9/10) 3. "Stop Kolpakoff!" (9:57) now this has more in common with the work of AFTER CRYING and FIVE-STOREY ENSEMBLE as well as Claudio Milano's NICHELODEON: performance art and cabaret noir. (17.66667/20)

4. "I Refrained From Closing My Ears" (12:15) Far more similar to dissonant, boundary-pushing 20th Century classical chamber music than avant prog. Not an electrified rock instrument to be found. A little too lacking in melody for my tastes, but interesting from a theatric, cinematic noir perspective. (I kept waiting for more narration.) Becomes more Eastern European in the second half--almost klezmer like. (21.25/25)

5. "An Order For Horses" (8:52) This one reminds me of early UNIVERS ZERO music--especially the first two albums--though the slurring violin and electric guitars are different. Vitaly Appow's bassoon is like a distant swan or goose squawking incessantly in the background. Maria Lagodich's frenetic peasant vocals in the fourth, fifth, and seventh minutes are interesting--an offshoot of Yoshimi P-We's work with OOIOO, perhaps? Again, I would love to see the stage or film expression to accompany this music. (17.5/20)

6. "Don't Swing The Wheel" (10:37) by this point in the album I am struggling to make out the differences between the songs, especially this one: it feels and sounds exactly like the previous one--even down to more of Maria Lagodich's crazy peasant rants. What is the band's intention here? Thankfully, there is a change in motif and, a little later, pace starting at 2:45, but this just makes the music feel even more as if it is more likely intended as accompaniment to a a narrative, short story, film, or stage performance. Like the more cinematic music of UZEd and Present, I find myself enjoying this--more if I allow my own vivd imagination to conjure up the silent film footage to attach to this music. (Fritz Lang, of course, though images from films by Orson Wells and Alfred Hitchcock also arise.) (18/20)

7. "From The Grey Notebook - Part 2" (13:48) I like the smoother, more drawn out nature of the weave of this one--at least, until the 45-second mark when the band most-assuredly counters my sentiment with some fast-capitulating note salad making. Settling back a bit, the chaos again takes over at the two-minute mark. Again, for some strange reason I feel myself comforted by the presence of the familiar rock instruments--especially the electric bass, electric guitars, and drum kit. The militaristic morale-boosting anthem that begins with Cyrill Yelshow's singing at 4:45 is another interesting and unexpected turn. Again I am reminded of some of the more odd (and, I'm guessing, colloquially Eastern European inputs similar to those of Hungarian band AFTER CRYING). Barroom piano helps transition the music through one venue to another: the streets; a chase scene! Electric bass, guitar, bassoon, and drums convey the elements and agonists involved in the run and hide--and it is a stop and go affair through the darkest, dirtiest, and most clandestine alleys of old Minsk (pre-WW2, of course). More (purposely bad) narrative singing from the military man telling the story in the 13th and 14th minutes brings us back to the present--to the story's finish. Interesting. Another situation in which I wish I could have a band member's insight into what is really going on here or that the story's printed words could be found in a good English translation. The music is okay. The story is unknown to me but, I have to admit: I am curious. (26.25/30)

Total time: 60:57

This is the last album before the arrival of young keyboard player, vocalist, and composer Olga Podgaiskaja which, after two albums, resulted in the eventual leadership struggle that would lead to the band's demise (and eventual creation of two bands: FIVE-STOREY ENSEMBLE and ARCHESTRA).

B/four stars; a very solid display of cinematic avant gard/RIO music in the tradition of and of the level of Univers Zero and Present.

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