Wayside Music

From Moscow, the group's name is actually in Cyrillic and most closely comes out as "Vezhliviy Otkaz". The group is a six piece with vocals, acoustic guitars, grand piano, electric violin, trumpet, double bass and drums. Their songs are mostly in the five minute range and while there's a lot of vocals, there's also a lot of intricate, interesting instrumental sections. I had heard of them but had never actually heard them until now and their reputation as the most original and unpredictable band in Russia seems to be well deserved! This is a Russian release but is packaged for sale outside of Russia, with English credits and is distributed by AltrOck, whose output this easily fits into and who deserve a big round of applause for making this interesting gem easily available. Highly recommended!

“Vezhliviy Otkaz, which means “polite refusal” in English, is one of the most original and erratic rock bands in Russia. They have never gone for pop stardom or tried to establish themselves as an underground “cult” act. Around 1986, they did perform in ripped tuxedos and throw pieces of raw meat into the audience, but this was a passing, and nearly forgotten, stage in their career. The band was formed in 1985 with a then-popular reggae/ska blend. Since then, they have gone through numerous stylistic changes, flirting with everything from free jazz to Russian folk. Their sound, however, has always been unique and immediately recognizable. Suslov’s rhythmic guitar work and unusual high-pitched vocals gives Polite Refusal’s music a precisely constructed, crystal-clear sound that is completely devoid of any of the extra noise so typical of rock-n-roll. The sound is so well organized that sounds almost academic.” In fact,” says Suslov, “we’ve always aimed at creating orchestral music, but guitars, piano and drums are the only instruments we have. People usually label us as post-modernist, but we are not. All of our songs bear very little irony and are based on real-life experiences,” Suslov says. "I’d rather call our work ‘naturalism’.”-Artemy Troitsky/Moscow Times