Enlivened by the extension of this theme a further week, I decided to investigate a truism, at least on this side of the sea, that being that you can add "the" to literally anything, and come up with the name of a british indie band. (Add an incongruous adjective and you have an american garage band of the 60s). So into google I go and, lo and behold, not only is there a group called the Crimea, but they also produced a song called "White Russian Galaxy"! How cool is that? Here it is. It is even quite good, with a lively video, somehow a cross between, visually, Low and, bizarrely, the heads rocking part of Boho Rhapsody, which, seeing as I dislike Queen muchly, I will show only in parody. Sonically, of course, it is like neither, but has a certain minor charm. I would love them if I had bought this as a single in 1986. Unfortunately it came out in 2003. But ignore my faint damnations, it's OK. Really.
Buy it here
Reading about them, it seems they managed a good 10 years of, broadly, disinterest, outwith the support of maverick british DJ, John Peel, champion of the unwashed and unsustainable. They had a brief major label surge in 2005, following appearances at the SXSW. 3 well applauded singles, including the one showcased above, and a solitary album came out before Warner Bros dropped them, a year later. So much for nurturing promise and talent. However, undogged, the band put out a 2nd disc as a free download. And it is still available, here , at the same price. I know, 'cos I did it last week. It shows some progression from the more frantic earlier songs. And, to continue a russian theme, the original download version had Regina Spektor, spooky soviet goth chanteuse, on spoken interludes. (The current link is one re-recorded for better sound quality, it seems.)
A final release came out last year, the day before they announced they were calling it a day. Somehow I can see them as being rediscovered, 20 years hence, as there becomes an outpouring of all the other "the" bands of that day. Maybe if "Nuggets" celebrated the lost american 60s garagebands, this future retrospective could be called "The Nuggets."
