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WOMBA is a very intimate project by Tikhon “Hee-Haw” Kubov who could very well be one of the most versatile and talented rock singer, poet, and showman in modern Russian independent music. Born in Moscow on March 31, 1976, Hee-Haw discovered his vocal talents when he studied piano at the Music College. Soon came out a few teenaged punk-groups; and in 1994 – his first professional band, psychedelic funk-grunge JAZZLOBSTER. Four years later, Tikhon jumped at the invitation from the hard-core pioneers, I.F.K. with whom he recorded three albums as a leading singer. Around 2002, Hee-Haw manifested much desire to bring strong experimentalism in rock music and together with like-minded associates from the rising ZveZdaZ art-movement formed WON JAMES WON. The band produced two albums and obtained a loyal and constantly growing fan base. Kubov maybe most valuable musician as well, since he has divided the time between JAZZLOBSTER, I.F.K., WON JAMES WON, MUX, etc. The WOMBA project rise up from the occasional home manipulation with tapes, loops, samples, various electronic devices and effects which first started somewhere in the mid 90s. “This was a sort of my personal musical day-to-day diary, where I could express my vision of the reality or reflects certain situations and happenings without limitations of any particular genre,” – says Tikhon Kubov. The result is very disturbing minimalist-drone aggression which resembles psycho-collage sampledelic and dark-cinematic music. Exalt nervosas sublimation – totally unpredictable!
Womba / Montagna Futuro (2012) / pro-duplicated CD-R w/ art-object - $50.00
“Montagna Futuro” (17 tracks – 79 min.) is the 3rd album by Moscow-based experimental project WOMBA. It was conceived several years ago as “litersonic” homage to the cultural phenomena of the 1950s known as The Beat Generation movement (Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and others). Construction, performance, and all wording by Tikhon S. Kubov (except where indicated otherwise). Recorded between April 1995 and March 2010. Mastered in May 2012 by Dan… All fragments of this psyche-noise collage correlate specific textual pieces which are codified within the package which was lovingly elaborated by ZonderZond… There are 67 handcrafted sets (“Piece Goods” line by RAIG | ZonderZond). Each set is packaged in an oversized 6.3 x 6.3 x 2.0” cardboard box which includes 9 cubes of printed unbroken wood (1.85x1.85x1.85”) and a 40-page full-color manual (in English and Russian)… Available exclusively through RAIG's web-store (Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds).
The author comments: “This game is pretty easy. Press the play button and start turning the blocks over. Whatever cube faces you choose – you will get a specific literary message… And you have 54 cube faces, so the total number of possible messages is good enough to survive Womba's sonic trial…”
The designer tells: “Why the cube size is 1.85x1.85x1.85”? Well… this is not a standard size. Doing wooden cubes for children, manufacturing plants normally offer whether 1.57” (too small) or 3.14” blocks (too big). Both are close to the cross-section sizes of timber they have… But we wanted to get real ergonomic cubes which - as we felt - should be 1.85”… After all troubles with plants, we finally got what we needed. Few weeks later, I was in Dresden and went to the Meissen-Porcelain Museum. Suddenly, I saw a porcelain cube there, just an ideal geometric object! And curiously enough, it's size turned out to be exactly 1.85x1.85x1.85”…”
The album was reviewed at: Aerial Sounds (Russia), Ondarock (Italy), The Cookshop (Moldavia).
WOMBA / Evidence Of Letta (2006) / CD $13.00
Fascinating allure of sound sculptures, organic and industrial flotsams of WOMBA origin catalyzed by the shed manipulations of the local underground scene's most prolific lunatic Tikhon S. Kubov. It’s neither a return to the aggravated sonic assault of the preceding album nor a reproduction of the kind of noise you would expect nowadays, but somewhat more soft, if at all possible. This sounds like a refined post-industrial symphony of nostalgia, sentiment and lust. Normally, it works without breaks as one single piece, but the montage specific character allows a listener to spin one's own web of twenty four audio-cells by programming the Letta tracks to playback in any order. Make your own Evidence! (24 tracks - 75 min.)
PRESS CLIPS
"It's always a challenge to try and describe pretty much anything that comes out on the Russian label R.A.I.G. The label's whole aesthetic revolves around completely genre-defying sound art and challenging, progressive heaviness, and so much of the stuff that I've picked up from them is so far-out there that it can be tough to navigate. I've yet to come across a RAIG release that I thought was less than fantastic though, and this newest disc from the eccentric Russian outfit Womba is one of the more surreal and evocative releases to come out from the label's core circle of artists. Their last album, the utterly confounding The 27th Baku Commissar from 2005 was a dreamlike collage of sound, and Evidence Of Letta develops their meticulous cut-and-paste style even further, creating a mysterious collection of found sound collage, gorgeous industrial drones, snippets of cartoon, folk, and classical music bleeding through slow, rhythmic loops of noise, mutant radio transmissions intercepted from another time, maniacal cartoon voices, and spaced-out neo-psychedelia, all of the sounds chopped up and sped up/ slowed down and recombined into an epic half-waking hallucination divided into 24 chapters. This is also mant to be a kind of interactive CD, with the intent of having the listener listen to the entire album on shuffle, which creates a nearly endless number of sonic possibilities. A cool, trippy symphony of cassette-splicing/plunderpunk dreamscapes. The packaging for this disc is something else, too... the disc is presented inside of a oversized chipboard folder sleeve with embossed/silkscreened artwork, and on the inside there is a 12 page booklet that is bound into the sleeve, with the CD pocket glued to the inner back cover. The booklet is filled with high contrast images of strange cultural detritus, and the terrific design and imagery is a perfect accompaniment for Womba's psychedelic, post-industrial plunderphonic visions. Highly recommended." – by Crucial Blast (USA) (August 2006).
"From the moment I saw the packaging for this latest release from Womba I just knew it was going to be something special. Call it a hunch if you like. The Russian Association of Independent Genres (RAIG) record label don't do things by half. This latest release from them comes enclosed in cardboard folder with a 6 page booklet attached. This booklet has some fascinating photo montages coupled with written passages from selective authors and sets the scene for what to expect musically. A madhouse of experimental cut-ups and avant-garde weirdness that sounds like an drug induced cartoon playing from the stereo. This form of music is normally very hard going and accessible to only the hardiest of souls. No-one though does the whole experimental thing quite like the Russians. His manipulation of sound and samples creates a musical panorama that delves into cinematic ambience and drone work whilst still retaining an unconventional slant over proceedings. By looping and cutting & pasting continually from a variety of sources his musical collages are beautifully created. The aural equivalent of a television flicking through 100's of channels over an electronic backdrop. If you can't grab that concept then imagine putting a whole load of old records onto an iPod. Then snatching random tracks at will from it and twisting and turning the sounds into ever convoluted shapes. Then adding crackles and fizz and assorted electronic noises/effects. The end result would sound similar to Evidence of Letta, but not as good because you're not Tikhon. The music works whether listened to from start to finish as a single piece or by randomly playing back the tracks in whatever order pleases. Playing the tracks randomly... letting the CD player make your choices for you... actually adds to the longevity of the recording by making it sound completely different time after time. To say Evidence of Letta is a strange recording is an understatement. Whilst it takes a softer approach to avant-garde/experimental music its appeal is very limited. Not everyone will fully appreciate the sheer unpredictability of the music generated. Those of you into the more obscure aspects of individual artistic licence will be enthralled by the carefully and skilfully crafted sounds that abound from Evidence of Letta and should make this your number one priority. Inquisitive souls searching for that -something different- are also most welcome to explore the inner workings of Tikhon's mind. Best I go and track down a copy of The 27th Baku Comissar before its too late." – by ANM of Aural Pressure (UK) (September 2006).
"Did anyone see the episode of the Simpsons where Homer took that chilli and has a freaked out hallucinating experience? Where he sees things melt and meld into each other then reform into something completely different. Evidence Of Letta is the musical equivalent of that. Twenty four tracks of that to be precise. If any recording deserved the accolade of -out there- recording of the year then this would win that hands down. The artist, and you need to be very talented to manage this feat, has taken a whole multitude of sound sources and basically scrambled them around, speeded them up, slowed them down then joined them together into a form of music that deserves a straight jacket. Where he found these sources only he knows... although radio and television stations would make up a fair majority of them I would surmise. Snatches of conversations in Russian and other languages abound. Various different pieces of folk, music hall, military, funfair and other musical styles are fused against their will together in mutual disturbance. All of which tells you that this is a recording not for the unadventurous amongst you. The rub though comes with the fact that even playing the tracks randomly, which is the way the artist envisioned it to be played, it still sounds totally cohesive. Crazy as well mind. Definitely crazy. By playing the recording this way you are in effect getting a new recording every time you listen to it. Bargain. Evidence Of Letta takes the whole tape splicing scene and mixes it with Avant-garde sensibilities to go forth into areas it has never ventured before. The yellow, red, blue, and green brick road beckons. Can you hear its call? Those that do will encounter an experience they will never forget. A recording that stays so rooted in the memory long after it has stopped playing comes around once in a blue moon. Evidence Of Letta shines like the fullest biggest bastard ever seen." – by Alan Milne of Heathen Harvest (USA) (January 2007).
The album was also reviewed at: Chain D.L.K. (Italy), Gothtronic (The Netherlands), Mechanoise Labs (France).
WOMBA / The 27th Baku Comissar (2004) / CD $13.00
In accordance with the album title, "The 27th Baku Comissar" – 26 Baku commissars were Azerbaijan revolutionists who formed a sort of people’s governing body, the Soviet in 1918, but were arrested and shot soon after by interventionists from the British Task Corps – offers 27 fragments of minimalist drone aggression which shrives fleshes down and shakes bones up. Not noise, but a textured and tangled experiment schemed to subdue tympanic membranes and seduce one’s numbing consciousness. At times, a paranoiac voice is added to sampled natural and found sounds, and the creation can suddenly change to harsh-beating industrial paranoia. (27 tracks - 72 min.)
PRESS CLIPS
"A pretty fun album, really. Total acid tripped out stuff. It's got 27 tracks, with the first and last ones being 27 minutes each, and all the rest in between lasting between 2 minutes and just several seconds long. How are reviewers suppose to give anyone an idea of what this sounds like? Strange and intriguing." – by Scott Heller of Aural Innovations (USA) (June 2005).
"Loaded with mega acid-trip electro psych genre-mash... a blast of brutal mutant electronica and weird genre splicing as it drifts from fuzzy, glitched out minimalist synthesizer drones to weird lopsided beats accomapnied by ferocious Russian ranting, to crushing digital blastbeats and somber piano lines. Womba uses alot of vocal cutup, samples, and drunk cheerleader rants to add a thick veneer of paranoia to everything, and the album gradually takes on a hypnotic, trance inducing vibe as you're relentlessly hammered with their noisy electronic collage and nightmarish voices. But then Womba takes another left turn with brief passages of woozy indie-pop, sloppy disembodied proto-metal riffing, ambient post-rock, and other unexpected weirdness before shifting back to their bizarre nightmare electronica. We're reminded of a much weirder, much more textured take on the loop heavy scum-psych-trance of Dead Husbands... Political techno-noisecore-cheersquad-industrial-deathfunk-pop cutup? This is pretty difficult to describe, but it rules. Way recommended to fans of aggro mutant electronica and superweird post-rock forms. Like the other R.A.I.G. CDs The 27th Baku Commissar is packaged in this really cool, very unqiue thick cardboard case with silkscreened, handassembled printing and cover art." – by Crucial Blast (USA) (July 2006).
| Artist/Title | Media | Price |
| CD (RAIG) | $13.00 | |
| CD (RAIG) | $13.00 | |
| pro-duplicated CD-R (RAIG) | $50.00 | |
| MP3-file (Bandcamp) | free download |
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