Russian neo-indie-disco from Pompeya

July 17, 2011 10:05 PM

Pompeya is a band that is hard to describe, especially if you go by their videos and sound. For example, if you started with Power (Simple Symmetry & Lipelis Remix), you might think it's an act from the the late eighties, complete with break dancing and dated fashions. If you first came across the Barbarella Chisinau Teaser, you might imagine that they're something from the early 1990s, or a new band goofing with vintage video. And then they drop Power II, which could be some kids playing neo-disco akin to the US band VHS or Beta (wiki). But wait! Check out Cheenese (NSFW moment of nudity 2:58 to 3:05), and you think they might be professional musicians with a sharp-looking video. In fact, Pompeya is a mix of various things: they're four young Russian guys who play indie-disco. [more details after the break]

Starting as a Moscow trio circa 2007, the group added a member somewhere along the years. They released an EP in 2010, and recently their debut album (streaming on Soundcloud), plus collections of remixes on CD (streaming) and limited edition vinyl (streaming). They have more tracks streaming on Soundcloud, and a bunch of videos uploaded on YouTube, plus a couple on Vimeo (bonus: Cheenese in HD, from the director of photography, Pavel Beklemishev).

And the usual: official website, Tumblr, MySpace, and Facebook (group)

posted by filthy light thief (22 comments total)

What dated fashions?!
posted by Nomyte at 10:24 PM on July 17, 2011

Thanks for the heads up!
New to me and this is right up my alley.

Sadly, this FPP will probably not get much traction. But Im glad at least :)

Great stuff
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:40 PM on July 17, 2011

Just procured the album. Yeah this is gonna be nice. Thanks again :)
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:58 PM on July 17, 2011

Of possible interest: a Russian tribute band to schlocky surf rock.
posted by Nomyte at 11:06 PM on July 17, 2011

indie-disco.

Always room for another hyphenated genre!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:40 PM on July 17, 2011

Always room for another hyphenated genre!


There has been, yes. For at least a decade now.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 11:42 PM on July 17, 2011

Just noted your post title, though... it's "neo"-indie-disco? This presupposes there was an old indie-disco, and if so, I should listen to that first, no?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:43 PM on July 17, 2011

Thanks for setting me straight on that Senor Cardgage.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:43 PM on July 17, 2011

That video for POMPEYA is блестящий.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:49 PM on July 17, 2011

Sadly, this FPP will probably not get much traction.

Empath will probably like it.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:50 PM on July 17, 2011

When I first started working at the music site I work for I had a laugh at the antiquated dance genres we had. What is '2-step'? What is 'HI-NRG'? And why, in 2005, do we actually have a 'disco' tag?

I still haven't used the first two but it seems like every second indie and dance act is actually proud to call themselves 'disco' these days. Strange times we live in.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:51 PM on July 17, 2011

Of possible interest: a Russian tribute band to schlocky surf rock.

Messer Chups! Jay Katz from the Mu-Mesons used to talk about them all the time!
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:52 PM on July 17, 2011

That video for POMPEYA...

Sorry, should've called it by its proper name, not the name of the band... I mean the clip for "Power".
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:52 PM on July 17, 2011

This is enjoyable! Also Messer Chups which I missed earlier.

As for the genre derail which I should probably be ignoring: You have to describe your band somehow. You have to describe other people's bands somehow. It's fine, people, even helpful, since we're at the point where just "indie" is practically meaningless.
posted by bobobox at 4:26 AM on July 18, 2011

we're at the point where just "indie" is practically meaningless.

Absolutely, no argument there. I mean, it only really ever meant "independent", anyway, and apart from that there is no indication of genre or style at all that's inherent in the term. i suppose it was only the primacy of "rock" in western pop music culture that made "indie rock" able to just become "indie" (period) for a brief while. But I always thought it was a stupid term, outdated almost the minute it started being used.

Also, you know, just for the record, my original "always room for another hyphenated genre!" comment was really not meant to be especially nasty or snarky. It was actually just light-hearted, and it was unfortunate that Cardgage responded to it so defensively, and used it as some sort of chance to 'put me in my place' or something. To update me on what the kids are up to, you know, since I'm obviously so not with it.

All that said, now, how about back to the music at hand? Well, I like Cheenese. And the video for that is really fun.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:24 AM on July 18, 2011

The return of the sound of Disco is an interesting thing, which I've noticed but not given much thought. VHS or Beta first came to mind, who (according to their Wikipedia page) have been a group since 1997, though released their first EP in 2002. They're a live band who have a distinct disco-type sound, plus some house style and rock sounds.

As for Indie, they're unsigned, but also have some indie-rock sounds to them (indie vs. alternative rock of the 1990s, and other sub-genres of rock from decades past).
posted by filthy light thief at 7:50 AM on July 18, 2011

NSFW moment of nudity 2:58 to 3:05

/me skips to 2:58

Ohh arty.

(Nice band too :D)
posted by The Devil Tesla at 8:16 AM on July 18, 2011

This presupposes there was an old indie-disco, and if so, I should listen to that first, no?

Absolutely, if you're into that kinda thing.

VHS and Beta have really had a different sound from record to record, at least for the first 3: Le Funk, Night on Fire, and Bring Out the Comets.

If I remember, Night on Fire was like Cure dance music. Le Funk is funkhousey, and BOtC is pretty much classic glam synth pop. The new one sounds pretty disco.

And the usual:

It's funny that I still use MySpace as the first stop for any new band. These guys should improve the songs they have on MySpace. ;)

I don't know about the "return of disco" -- I though Daft Punk's Discovery was straight up modern disco (or post-disco, I suppose.)

All that said, I didn't like pompeya too much. I need more hooks.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:14 AM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

mrgrimm, thanks for the VHS or Beta summary, it's been a while since I really checked out their albums, but I remembered the general feel from them.

As for Pompeya, they're more of the Baelric feeling that the Swedish have mastered. If you're looking for hooks, check out Baby (Daddy) and Power, though I'm still really fond of the Baelric sound of Cheenese.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:41 AM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is pretty sick. Thanks!
posted by cman at 12:34 PM on July 18, 2011

Whoa, something in the air-- I just found out about this band today and downloaded a song of theirs for a mix I'm making. Good stuff, I didn't know anything about them. Thanks!
posted by chaz at 12:57 PM on July 18, 2011

Mmm. If you're going to compare to VHS or Beta, I'm gonna have to check this out.

VHS or Beta played one of the most surprisingly awesome shows that I've ever seen. They managed to pack a tiny venue full of people who had never seen their music, and got them to dance like hell (in a town where I'd never really seen anybody really do much dancing at all to live music). They won me over right there. Night on Fire is a frickin' phenomenal album.
posted by schmod at 8:46 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]