Pes i Gruppa (Пёс и группа) - "The Knife of the Table (Нож на столе)". Gods in a boxing match, binding cities onto their fists. ПППППП wears New York City, as is his right. Manhattan is strapped to one glove, the other four boroughs to the other. He faces жжжжжж across the stretched canvas. ПППППП knows that he will win. He knows that nothing can stand in the way of the Coney Island jab, his subway-car hook. So what is most important to ПППППП is the moment before the first bell rings. When the crowd is roaring in the corners of the amphitheater and the lights are shining on his laced boots, and he takes his deep breath, godblood in his veins. ПППППП takes this moment to remember the day he got his gloves: that first night stumbling up Broadway, drunk on vodka, taking every blind alley; flagging taxis and riding them across bridges; dancing in some basement; buying sticks of pepperoni at a bodega in Queens, shooting shit with the guy behind the counter. "You're not from here, are ya?" ПППППП is made of magma and thorns, potash and tundra. "Not yet," he says.

[Pes i Gruppa are from St Petersburg and Krasnoiarsk / info at Far From Moscow / the band's livejournal / an excellent video of this song, performed on the street]

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I discovered Pes i Gruppa through the extraordinary website Far from Moscow. It's the best online resource I've ever found for contemporary Russian (and Estonian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Latvian...) music, leaning toward indie rock and electronica. Beautifully designed, with tons of (thoughtful) editorial, and hundreds of samples. It updates almost daily! Check out their terrific samplers on Bandcamp - and please pass on the treasures you uncover!

(photo is of last month's Soyuz capsule landing in Kazakhstan)