Comments on: Ain, tsvai, dry, shiki-shiki shvanie

Ain, tsvai, dry, shiki-shiki shvanie

jbickers — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:30:09 -0800

Arguably the most addictive song on the formidable 214-song GTA IV soundtrack is "Schweine" by Russian singer/actress Glukoza ("selling music without sex since 2003").

Unfortunately, it's not on the official soundtrack disc (which, in all fairness, must have been hell to make), but Rockstar has made the in-game station playlists available on Amazon.

By: adamdschneider

adamdschneider — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:42:31 -0800

Yep, no sex here at all.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:47:14 -0800

Heh, I was playing the game early enough that the soundtrack wasn't listed online yet, and after the first time I heard the song (at that particular moment, I was too busy being shot at by the cops to find out what it was), but it bugged me enough that I got a car, pulled into a parking lot, and let Vladivostok FM play till I heard it again and could do the phone trick to find out who the artist was. Totally worth it too, because that song is great.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:47:22 -0800

You were expecting maybe a babushka?

By: nasreddin

nasreddin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:51:22 -0800

She always has sweet computer-animated music videos. This one's from 2003.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:52:35 -0800

Isn't it "eins, zwei, drei"? I figured she was counting in German.

By: MysticMCJ

MysticMCJ — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:53:42 -0800

Quin, I believe you are correct: as the russian should be (roughly) Ras, Dva, Tree Someone correct me if I am wrong..

By: jbickers

jbickers — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:55:38 -0800

Probably right ... I took that spelling from her "transliterated lyrics" page.

By: headless

headless — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:56:03 -0800

Yeah her videos are pretty rad, better than the music maybe even they certainly work together well: Svadba Sneg Idet Танцуй, Россия!!!

By: demiurge

demiurge — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:01:49 -0800

I didn't play GTA4 much at all, but this is definitely the most memorable song on the soundtrack.

By: Malor

Malor — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:06:08 -0800

Yeah, this one caught my ear while playing, too, although I didn't go as far as quin did. I liked that whole station better than pretty much anything else in GTA4. Neat video. For whatever reason, it never occurred to me to look any of that music up in the real world -- it was kind of like it was part of the fictional Niko Bellic universe, and didn't coincide with ours or something. :)

By: nmr8

nmr8 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:07:24 -0800

so this is about world war 3? right? which is around the corner? right?

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:21:13 -0800

Yeah, this really is a great song. When my wife and I were sitting through the intro sequence for GTA4, we ended up ignoring the action for a while when it came on because we were busy talking about that awesome song playing in the background.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:25:01 -0800

When I visited Moscow a few years back a guy in a battered minivan came to drive us to the hotel. As he pulled away from the (rather soviet and gloomy) airport he turned on the radio and "The Final Countdown" by Europe started playing. Pretty much the perfect start to the trip. (Also he looked exactly like Robert DeNiro)

By: Ljubljana

Ljubljana — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:26:38 -0800

Glukoza previously.

By: Spatch

Spatch — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:38:06 -0800

It is indeed one of the best songs in GTA4, but nothing beats speeding down Not Fifth Avenue on a motorcycle, T-boning a car and flying through the air to the tune of Phillip Glass' "Pruit Igoe".

By: opsin

opsin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:54:32 -0800

And there was me disappointed that Vladivostok FM wasn't all Leningrad, and maybe some other Shnur stuff.

By: hydatius

hydatius — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:01:02 -0800

I'm not so sure those subtitles are right; I saw this video earlier in the week, and I could swear the little guy at the beginning was complaining about gas shortages.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:01:31 -0800

I don't get it.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:02:41 -0800

But maybe if it had more sex.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:02:41 -0800

By which I mean, "addictive?" I could take it for about 30 seconds.

By: Science!

Science! — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:18:03 -0800

I beat the game and I've never heard of this song, but then I listen to PLR and WKTT exclusively.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:20:30 -0800

It's no TaTu...

By: box

box — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:23:13 -0800

Possibly because my GTA-IV life consists mainly of shooting pool and, uh, working on my friendship with Little Jacob, I think the most addictive song on the soundtrack is Buju Banton's 'Driver A.'

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:40:36 -0800

I think I have developed a new crush. Looked at live footage on YouTube. Thanks for the post. I do not play video games, so I may never have known.

By: Ziggy Zaga

Ziggy Zaga — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:43:53 -0800

I beat the game and I've never heard of this song, but then I listen to PLR and WKTT exclusively. You must have heard it; it's the first song that plays when Roman picks you up at the docks.

By: jeff-o-matic

jeff-o-matic — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:46:16 -0800

Why oh why did GTA4 have to go from pretty easy to IMPOSSIBLY HARD in one mission? I can't get past the warehouse with Little Jacob... Too freakin' hard, I tell you. Up to then I think I only died once.

By: mattholomew

mattholomew — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:44:29 -0800

I fell in love with "The Journey" radio station in GTA4 and purchased all the songs. This game has the best soundtrack ever, including Guitar Hero and its ilk.

By: abulafa

abulafa — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:12:01 -0800

@Quin, @MysticMJ - It's both - the majority of the lyrics are Russian but the "one two three / swanky pigs" is in German. You'll also note the pigs are Nazi-looking with a Hitleresque leader, I'm guessing that's related.

By: Spatch

Spatch — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:15:58 -0800

I can't get past the warehouse with Little Jacob... Too freakin' hard, I tell you. Up to then I think I only died once. If you stopped there, consider yourself lucky. There's a few more missions after that which will make you grind your teeth down to fine powder in frustration. On the other hand, you can totally ignore the story missions if you want, do all the side missions you can, and just mess around in the city. But as far as open-ended fun goes, San Andreas has this one beat.

By: Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:37:35 -0800

Wow, the video for Sneg Idet linked above is pretty damned good.

By: xypher

xypher — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:01:09 -0800

Will definitely be adding this song to my playlist. Thanks.

By: neuron

neuron — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:00:32 -0800

Addictive and insipid at the same time.

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:13:43 -0800

I've loved that "Schweine" song ever since the video first showed up here in the post Ljubljana mentioned. I played that station most of the time to so I could, you know, stay in character and shit (and also, honestly, I liked the soundtracks of Vice City and San Andreas better as far as the overall song selection went.) There's a few more missions after that which will make you grind your teeth down to fine powder in frustration. Take your time. Lead with your gun, especially on stairs, don't run if you don't have to and make sure you sweep all the corners. If everyone you can see is down and no one else is shooting at you, poke around for health packs. The bank job mission was the one I had to replay the most. I think the biggest fun-killer of the game for me wasn't so much the lack of in-mission save points (GTA's never really had those) but the inability to buy/aquire more places to save the game outside of the missions. Having to do the same long drive to start the mission over and over started getting old after a while. Still loved the game, though.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:46:23 -0800

Sucking up your pride and taking taxis = the only way to fly. Save the long drives for the rare irreplaceable vehicle.

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:41:18 -0800

Hrm. I never really remembered I could do that. Unless I was drunk. Which brings up my other major quibble. The Maintain Friends And Influenced People aspect was annoying and rarely useful.

By: lampoil

lampoil — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:49:53 -0800

Yeah, I'm so uncool but I miss K-ROSE. Nothing like singing DEAR JOHN, PLEASE, Johnny, PLEASE COME HOME at the top of my lungs while vigilante'ing out in Bone County. Also I miss not losing a ton of health every time I crash my motorcycle. Because...I crash a lot. Taxis help.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:09:33 -0800

True, the Mandatory Hangout Time thing is obnoxious, but again you can sort of resolve to just be a lousy friend and only see them once in a while and it's not too bad. It just goes against the ol' micro-managing instincts to let something be imperfect. Like ignoring a sidequest, etc. Nowhere near the pain of the gangwar shit from San Andreas; I stopped playing as soon as that became a major strain on my gameplay time, so I have no idea how SA finishes or if I was even close to done.