Archive for the 'music' Category

Moscow Notes

Published on March 10, 2009 in Varia and music. Closed Tags: .

Ten totally subjective notes from my visit to Moscow, the capital of Russia, last week.

Tallinn Airport
The flight to Moscow on Estonian Air is a delightfully short one.

1. The flight from Tallinn to Moscow takes just one hour 15 minutes. Unfortunately it’s not a daily route, and I had to fly back via Stockholm.

From Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport it’s about 30 km to the city. Your best bet is the Aeroexpress train, which costs 250 roubles one way and takes half an hour. Unfortunately, there’s a 2 hour break in the schedule between ca 10 and 12 AM. If you arrive ca 9.30 Moscow time as I did, and have to wait a bit in the passport control and customs, then it’s a hard choice. Whether to try to kill two hours in the airport, or to take a cab, which costs many times more, and is really not any faster, because the traffic on Leningrad Road is usually heavily congested.

2. Many currency exchange points in Moscow city are open for 24 hours. I do not talk from personal experience, but some locals told me that at night the exchangers drop the value of dollars/euros by a few %. It’s a sure thing that at night the clients are just the people who *really* have to get roubles. You know, the party must go on, the girl needs one more drink etc etc. The ordinary guy exchanges his dollars during daytime.

I was told that usually people keep their hard-earned savings in western currency and exchange roubles just for daily needs.

For European visitors the exchange rate of the rouble is at the moment very comfortable. It’s good time to consider visiting Moscow, which is usually one of the most expensive capitals in the world.

The birds
Nice colourful birdhouses on the balcony of a Moscow city house. The place is near Estonian embassy.

3. Small automatic payment kiosks can be found in many places. Local people pay their phone or internet bills in those using cash (roubles).

4. The distances in Moscow are appalling. Better schedule some 1,5-2 hours for transportation, if you need to use Moscow subway and to change lines several times. The subway (Metro) is working very well, one way journey (you can change lines as many times as you need) costs 22 roubles.

Novyi Arbat
Kish-Mish oriental restaurant at Novyi Arbat.

5. There is a surprising amount of Japanese restaurants and eateries in central Moscow. I had time to try out just one of them, named Japosha. The service was not great, but the miso soup tasted fine. But if you are from US or Western Europe, you’d better try out some Azeri or Uzbek food. I bet that this stuff you can’t find in London or NYC. Do names like Sesh-Besh or Kish-Mish ring a bell?

6. I noticed a kiosk with a banner “Address Bureau” or something similar. During Soviet times it was a place where you could ask for the home address of any people living in town. It was not open, and I’m still wondering if such a service really exists in 2009? Is there any demand for a place, where a clerk looks up someone’s home address in a thick book? This should be the age of  Google (there are of course Yandex and Rambler in Russia), and of personal data protection.

7. In newspaper offices in Moscow you’ll find that security precautions are taken very seriously. There are checkpoints, metal detectors etc. But if taking into consideration several high-profile murders of journalists in Russia, this is very natural

8. The Moscow City Government is using some of its resources for an extensive PR campaign. You can find billboards with the pictures of government at work – social services, street improvement etc. Also there are names and reception schedules of local officials.

9. The small vendor stalls are everywhere. They offer various goods: jewelry, watches, knives, lingerie, small icons, T-shirts with “Che Burashka” or “I’m your free sex instructor” banners. Many such kiosks can be found in or near subway stations.

Arbat
Arbat.

10. Car parking in Moscow seems like total chaos. On smaller streets, there are many parked cars in the middle of street! Even just beside the famous skyscraper of MID – Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

PS. Just one more note – I saw several Moscow girls walking around, wearing foxtails, of brown or silver colour fur, as accessories. Where’s the PETA in Moscow?

Pictures by Argo Ideon

Opeth In Tallinn: Abundance Of Variety, Somber Mood

Published on February 24, 2009 in Tallinn and music. Closed Tags: , .

Opeth

Opeth’s gig in Rock Cafe, Tallinn, Estonia, February 23, 2009.

In the course of their ca two-hour set, these original Swedish prog-metallers varied their sounds from tender, like a flute on the green field, to hard and tough, in the meantime depressively somber and dispirited.

Their finishing effort rolled over Estonian fans like a Swedish-made Bofors tank.

I believe no-one regrets the buying of the ticket – Opeth’s performance in Tallinn was really professional and strong. Not only maximum decibels, Opeth has  also strong content, both technical and creative. And this could be heard through their amps, loud and clear. The relatively young crowd had a great time, and recognized the strong performance.

The soundmix was quite adequate. Well-known Opeth sounds from the albums were well recognizable. If during the first minute the bass drum wanted to kick you straight through the wall, the mix was then balanced right away.

I must admit that I haven’t been a really big fan for Opeth. The death-metal style growling vocals, plenty to be found in Opeth albums, were putting me off first. Also, the overall morbidness of their compositions could be tiring.

Even so I have listened to this band last 3-4 years, and have several of their albums. Opeth’s prog-oriented compositions are mostly developed not bad at all, quite free of cliches and using exciting song structures. Most important, these tunes are not boring.

Plenty of variance was offered also at the Tallinn gig. Softer sounds varying with tougher, attacking audio avalanches. Only the mood stayed all the same: Opeth’s harmonies are mostly dark or wistful, and either dance around the minor scales or just sound hard and dissonant. For example, Dream Theater’s spectre of moods varies a lot more.

But I think not so many people came to see Opeth, who were not aware beforehand that this band has very little to do with mainstream music, even if talking about mainstream metal or prog-metal. Several parts of their performance sounded unabashedly jazzy, and some moments, abundant with Mellotron sounds, could be taken straight from from a Flower Kings gig.

Don’t expect me to give you the setlist, although I think that some of the fellow listeners could do this in a second.

I’m off now to acquaint me better with the great music of Opeth, and to give their latest effort, Watershed a spin. If the band wants ever to play here again, very welcome.