Georgia

Post Industrial Boys - Shmazi

Something a bit different today, from a place I know very little about, Georgia. I'm not talking about the Peach state. I mean the small-ish country on the Black Sea, sandwiched between Russia and Turkey, and nuzzled up beside Armenia and Azerbaijan. Georgia had a golden age in the 11th and 12th Centuries, but was under the thumb of various "empires" and was part of the USSR until its dissolution in 1990s, so it has only been part of the modern "free market" world for about a decade and a bit.

Perhaps this has something to do with the fascinating sounds that Post Industrial Boys, aka Gogi Dzozuashvili (aka Gogi Ge.Org), lays out on his new full-length album, Trauma. Gogi is part of the musician-and-artist collective Goslab, based in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Post Industrial Boys is primarily the creation of Gogi - Trauma is actually the second album bearing the PIB name, the first of which was started, with the Goslab, in a squatted studio in the early 90s. The new album features a number of other Goslab collaborators, and six different vocalists that appear on the twenty songs.

The record has a bizarre, slightly dark feeling to it, using minimal electronics and traditional (both western and "eastern") instruments - there is a lot in there that reminds me of Massive Attack's second and third albums, especially along the dub and strange electronics lines. At the same time however, the songs remain playful and full of pop-hooks. The vocals are in English and, I can only assume, Georgian, and are split just about evenly between Gogi and his numerous collaborators. From the first listen, I knew I wanted to share this with you all, because it comes from a region of the world that I just have no grasp of. None. Yet I find it a totally enjoyable listen, actively, as I am now (again and again), or burbling in the background, sending at you imagery of young, hip Georgian musicians you will probably never ever meet, that are totally different from you, yet probably very much like you at the same time.

Trauma was released by Thomas Brinkmann's max.Ernst label last week, and is available via our friends at Forced Exposure (here US), or via Boomkat (here UK) - RIYL: Massive Attack, Mum, Stereolab