Ersatzmusika

“Eager to outwit history” declares the back cover manifesto of Songs Unrecantable, Ersatzmusika has proclaimed an “old wave” of music from the late Soviet period in the face of “inevitability and progress.” The joke is on the old Marxist-Leninist ideology and the Russian group performs with the resilient weariness (and wariness) of musicians burdened by such a system. Written in Russian but sung in English translation, the songs incorporate world-weary cabaret, touches of edgy electric guitar and new wave keyboards, melodic '60s pop as misheard through the static of the BBC and Latin rhythms shuffling across the scuffed floor of a workers recreation center. The context is lightly ironic but the moody music has a substance most contemporary American retro acts could never achieve.