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CD
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EBM 019CD
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Lyapis Trubetskoy is agitpop from Belarus, filling venue after venue in Russia and countries around. They are conquering audiences both with their heavy ska flair as well as with their addictive punk-pop hits. In 2009, they won the RAMP (Russian Alternative Music Prize) and won the Best Alternative Band award. Contagious rock melodies together with lyrics that are filled with dark humor have charmed even Western music critics who, up until now, had rarely given Eastern European rock music a second thought. Lyapis' video for "Capital" won Best International Video on MTV Portugal, where the band slams the current obsession with wealth and war and portrays defiant dictators Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Saddam Hussein and, of course, Belarus' own Lukashenko as pseudo-religious icons. The clip was banned from airplay in Belarus and Russia, of course, but won numerous awards everywhere else and is a real hit with the YouTube masses. This is what Ingo Petz, renowned German journalist and Belarus expert writes in the liner notes to this CD: "Lyapis Trubetskoy are balanced well between commercial success, underground credibility and unique expression, which is also accompanied by visually sophisticated video clips and an original image and design brand. The lyrics are still ironic, but now they often boast a new socially critical and political dimension. Capital was the first of three albums, which can be understood as a trilogy, in which Lyapis made agitpop their new trademark. Hence the title of the album, which is a compilation of the best songs from this triology. Their wild concerts have now developed into performances with frontman Mikhalok at their center, a magniloquent ball of energy and creative brain, who agitates and recites poems and slogans, using the language and symbols of Constructivism or Socialist Realism as part of a cultural heritage. I have been hoping for a long time that Lyapis Trubetskoy, one of the most powerful, creative and interesting bands from the former Soviet Union, would finally release an album in the Western world. Now it has finally happened. The fact that Berlin label Eastblok Music has done it makes me even happier, as they explicitly see themselves as musical mediators between East and West. As someone who has been travelling to Belarus for over 15 years, I am even happier that for the first time, a Belarusian band has made it onto a Western label, as Lypais is a band from a European country with a very lively music scene, which we still don't know much about." Digipack release with 24-page booklet of translated lyrics and color photos.
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