I came across this band a few years ago when trawling through MySpace and they hooked me straight away. The band is called Cheese People and they are:
Olya Chubarova – vocals
Anton Zalygin – programming, vocals, guitars, sound production
Sergey Chernov – bass
Michael Zencov – drums
This four-piece hail from Samara (somewhere in Russia) and mix together funk, disco, electronica and hip-hop in a new and I think quite refreshing way. The sound is obviously influenced by European indie and electronica bands and the vocals are bit crazy – definitely must be some helium involved.
They gained some attention after their song Uaaa…a! appeared in a 2008 Russian movie hit Rozidgysh (Prank) and from trawling the net it seems the Cheese People are doing their thang in clubs across Russia.
Their debut self-titled release is difficult to get your hands on (I’ve been trying for quite a while now) and I read a piece that described some tracks as ‘post-punk’ and others as similar to The Prodigy but I don’t quite see the link.
Musically it is a bit mad and reminds me of the freshness that bands like Pop Will Eat Itself were creating in the early nineties. It may take a few listens to get into it but when you do you won’t get bored. I have a few tracks that I was able to get but from their MySpace site a while ago on my iPod and they are regularly on my playlists.
If anyone hears of them coming to Blighty, be a good sport and let me know.
http://www.myspace.com/cheesepeopleband
