Grazhdanskaya Oborona

Ever since I first got into punk I have always entertained the fantasy that somewhere in the Eastern Bloc there was a homegrown punk movement making the kind of sound that I wanted to hear. Since then, after years of research and building the magical moment of discovery still hasn't come. I'm not sure whether it's the communist repression of rock sounds or the unfortunate handicap of a cultural obsession with the Doors and Depeche Mode but listening to the music feels like this....huuuuuuurrrrrrghhhhhhhh....

I recently heard this song by Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Civil Defense) that has thrown some extra HOPE into this dream. This group's leader and mastermind, Egor Letov and his brother began playing in the tiny and isolated Siberian town of Omsk. Ironically, though not entirely unsurprisingly their influences were also "Thee Fackeeng Doorsss. One was immediately sent to an insane asylum and the other travelled the country releasing samizdat (self-made) tapes and accruing crazy Russian fans (one of whom was my 23 year old dad). His politics which essentially consist of a so-called "opposition to everything" got him into trouble with the Soviet state and he was forced even further underground. At this point the story gets a little convoluted Some of the articles I've read state that G.O. are now the most prominent voice of the Russian Neo-Nazi movement while others still champion them as Russia's torch-bearers of sid vicious free speech. Ultimately, all of this is irrelevant because most of their stuff is totally unbearable, and I can't understand most of the words anyways. HOWEVER their first ever recorded song magically ends up sounding like some sort of awesome Spits/Misfits hybrid that is totally RIGHTEOUS considering where it's from, and this very song is what I have provided for your today.

Grazhdanskaya Oborona- Ya Vyduman Naproch

P.S. If anyone has gotten their hands on any Soviet (especially Soviet bloc i.e. Hungary, Czech Republic, etc.) comps that don't sound like warbled Flock of Seagulls hook a brother up! Also, if you have a cache of radical commie sound tapes hidden in your cookie jar let's put that shit out on TRUE PANTHER SERIOUSLY