Russian Association Of Independent Genres

Light Upon Her Mysteries: KALUTALIKSUAK's Tales

The purpose of the "Light Upon Her Mysteries: Kalutaliksuak’s Tales" free-mp3-series is to shed light upon the obscure and unfairly forgotten page of the Russian avant-prog-rock music history associated with KALUTALIKSUAK. The band's origin and existence throughout the 90’s is tangled and confused as the musicians played simultaneously in many other groups, gathered together irregularly, and often used different band-names to arrange gigs. Most of the KALUTALIKSUAK members’ joint and autonomous recordings are still unpublished, just a few works appeared at extremely rare vinyl-only releases or limited compact-discs compilations. We are happy and proud to re-discover the KALUTALIKSUAK's archives and bring their music back to your appreciation: step by step, in small portions, as it takes time and energy to find and restore materials from original tapes. Enjoy!

RELEASES

Light Upon Her Mysteries: Kalutaliksuak’s Second Tale / Nuance vs X-Rays / 1995 (2009, AT011) / F R E E - T O - D O W N L O A D (zip-file w/ artwork)

Styles: Art Rock / Album Oriented Rock / Neo-Prog

Tracks: 6

Timing: 32 min.

Size: 61+ mb

The second Kalutaliksuak’s Tale is about two Russian art-rock bands whose founders – Sergei Titovetz and Alexei Ohontsev – completed the current line-up of KALUTALIKSUAK.

Formed in 1983, NUANCE were the first Art-Rock group from the USSR who came into international prominence in early 90's touring France, Norway, Poland, and Czech. They recorded 3 cassette-only-albums, and did the “Homeless” vinyl LP for SNC Music in 1989. They also published a CD-single “Hey, La-La” under the contract with the Soyuz Studio in 1995 that turned to be the final recording by the band. Courtesy to Sergei Titovetz this ultra rare single is available now as free-download.

X-RAYS were formed in 1988 and recorded 4 cassette-only-albums, but kept mostly in the background. In 2001, their vocalist Oleg Litzkevich was signed up by the SNC Music to sing and perform in the musicals “Hair” (as Berger) and “Jesus Christ Superstar” (as Judas Iscariot). The three songs granted as free-download were picked up by the band from their mid-90's materials, and re-recorded in the studio especially for this release. The current line-up is: Oleg Litzkevich (vocal), Pavel Freychko (keyboards), Andrey Rubchenkov (guitar), Alexei Ohontsev (bass), and Vladimir Feschenko (drums). Sound-mastering and artwork by Alexander Chuvakov (KALUTALIKSUAK).

Light Upon Her Mysteries: Kalutaliksuak’s First Tale / GB vs Kalutaliksuak / 1994 (2008, AT006) / F R E E - T O - D O W N L O A D (zip-file w/ artwork)

Styles: Avant-Prog / Psychedelic / Experimental Rock

Tracks: 4

Timing: 29 min.

Size: 55+ mb

Here goes the first Kalutaliksuak’s Tale. It’s about the band-extravaganza GB by Alexander Chuvakov (founding-member, guitarist, flutist, and vocalist behind KALUTALIKSUAK). Formed in 1991, GB were also known in Moscow underground as GRIEN BALDUNG, GOOD BOY, GREEN BUCKS, GO BUGS, THE GOODBYES, GOS BEZOPASNOST, GESTAPO BAND, etc. In 1994, they unexpectedly broke up leaving their debut studio-album unfinished. Of 3 recorded compositions, "Two kinds of strangers" was taken for Andrei Suchilin’s cd-compilation “Cat’s Food” (OMCD0595) in 1995 while "Circus" and "Hi, there" remained unpublished. The featured line-up on these tracks is: Alexander Chuvakov (guitar, vocal), Mikhail Shashkov (guitar), Sergei Krasin (drums), Maxim Nikolaev (bass), and Eugeny Kryuchkov (violin) with guest appearance of Olga Klimova (cello).

It’s for the first time that all three GB studio-compositions are put together. On "GB vs Kalutaliksuak" mp3-EP they are reinforced with "Sled to the Orion". This instrumental track is one of the studio out-takes by the duo of KALUTALIKSUAK founders: Alexander Chuvakov (guitars) and Vladimir Konovkin (keyboards, synthesizers). Recorded in 1993 and restored now from the original tapes. More tracks from that session could be found at the KALUTALIKSUAK self-titled debut cd (R021, RAIG). Original artwork by Alexander Chuvakov.

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