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Russia gave the world vodka, black caviar, matryoska, balalaika, garmoshka, ushanka, valenki, piroshki, Chaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Nabokov, Nizhinsky, Kalashnikov with his famous machine gun, Malevich with his black square painting, Gagarin, orbital station MIR, Kommunizm, Chernobyl, konstruktivism, beautiful russian models, Sharapova, Myskina, Dementieva, Kournikova, Plushenko, Shevchenko, brent and urals oil, aluminium, SS20 rocket complex, H-bomb, Russian seasons in Courchevel, Abramovich, Berezovsky, Putin.
Finally, Russia gave the world THE OLIGARHCS. Enjoy!
THE OLIGARCHS is one of the most noticeable Russian bands outside the Russia based in London, UK. The band plays a hedonistic cosmopolitan style of urban music with hip hop beats, groovy bass, bright melodies, crunchy guitars, ironic samples and strong Russian flavor, hanging around the Manu Chao’ anarchistic backyard, after having the party with the Happy Mondays and visiting the Stereo MC’s and the Fun Lovin’ Criminals in the neighborhoods. Same time they sing about how it feels to be Russian, while their country selling out gas and oil. They declare their own point of view, a bit ironic and sometime even sarcastic without any political correctness or prejudice. As true cosmopolitans themselves, guys are open-minded and multi-cultural, but they seem to never forget where they came from. When asked, they usually call themselves a "self-ironic patriots".
The band started out in 2005 in Camden, London by 3 former Russian citizens, who prefer not to reveal their real names or even faces for some reasons. Their first track “Made In USSR” grabbed a huge attention through myspace and became a sort of an unofficial anthem (it contains the samples of the real Russian National anthem, by the way) for all the Russian communities in both UK and US, and has been played on hundreds of Russian parties all over the world. The precision combination of irony and sincerity in the lyrics of “Made In USSR” left deep impression, sounded very honestly and became a reason for the band’s popularity inside the English-speaking Russian immigration audience. The next track – sarcastic “Model Girlfriend” showed off their deep knowing of some hidden specifics of the model business along with the personal experience in relationship with the models. “Out Of Here” combined traditional Russian street “bard” guitar technique with quasi-hip hop beats and, this time, absolutely serious lyrics about escaping the suburban life. Every new song they made since the beginning was different and brilliantly unexpected. Thanks to tabloids, paid attention for the lyrics but not for the meaning of it, THE OLIGARCHS were treated as a political act, than as the sarcastic indie heroes, as the entertainers, the Russian musical export, the singing criminals, the money makers, the Courchevel residents, the fakes, the celebrities and every next track ruined the previous image of this band. It’s rumored that now THE OLIGARCHS are about to record a football song for Chelsea FC, their favorite UK football club, after they’ve been asked to do so by the club owner himself, a famous Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich which isn’t that untrue at all.
The Oligarchs are about to release their first CD this year.
