'Station Europa' is taken from 10 000 Russos' new 'Superinertia' LP, out now on Fuzz Club
About to set off on a UK/European tour in support of their newly released ‘Superinertia’ album, Portuguese experimental trio 10 000 Russos are today sharing a new video for ‘Station Europa’. Following on from 2019’s ‘Kompromat’ LP and tour-dates around the UK, Europe and Mexico in support, the Porto-based band describe ‘Superinertia’ as a record addressing the “state of inertia that humans live in the West nowadays. It isn’t a record about the past or future. It’s about now.” Taking aim at the bureaucratic inertia that’s rooted in our ruling political and economic institutions, the video for ‘Station Europa’ is available to watch below.
The inertia of the album’s title, they say, is one deeply-rooted in the Western condition – in which ‘common sense’ masquerades political impotence, culture is largely dominated by pastiche and nostalgia and life itself is reduced to an endless cycle of work-consume-repeat. Although, for all that ‘Superinertia’ might take aim at a world without motion, the same cannot be said of 10 000 Russos themselves. On the one hand, since their 2013 debut LP and the three that have followed on Fuzz Club since (2015’s self-titled, 2017’s ‘Distress Distress’ and ‘Kompromat’), 10 000 Russos’ music has always been about as kinetic as it gets: a truly unrelenting, motorik sonic force.
On the other hand, ‘Superinertia’ also sees the band itself move into whole new musical territories – aided especially by the recent addition of synth player Nils Meisel to the line-up (who replaces former bassist André Couto.) “The synths really opened up the sound of the band and gave more routes for the music to journey down. The most important thing on this album was to not repeat ourselves. A new arc in our sound is coming to life”, drummer and vocalist João Pimenta explains. On said arc, the Russos sound is expanded to include moments that invoke Ry Cooder’s ‘Paris, Texas’ soundtrack (‘Mexicali/Calexico’), dancey outbursts that transport you to the 90s Summer of Love (‘Super Inertia’), the closest thing Russos have ever done to a pop song (‘A House Full of Garbage’) and even a touch of banjo (albeit one that sounds like a country band on amphetamines playing over a feedback-blasted Stooges beat.)
Whilst the sound might be transforming, one constant is in the band’s founding mission to make “submersive music with subversive lyrics”. Evidence of their not wanting to shy away from uncomfortable truths, ‘Station Europa’ certainly fulfills on both fronts – with guitarist Pedro Pestana describing it as “a twisted anthem for the end of Europe, in which the once-sacred French words Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité are contradicted by a heritage of bureaucracy that gets in the way of a fellow member’s call for help.” ‘No more French words!’, Pimenta sarcastically quips, amongst such other lyrical highlights as: ‘The remains of the Romans / Toga ghosts discussing ethics, beauty and how to cook a Flamingo’; ‘Hi Brussels, this is Greece, you have a problem, we need help / Arrange a meeting / You need a suit / You need a briefcase / You need shiny shoes’.
10 000 RUSSOS UK/EU TOUR-DATES
29/09 - Madrid (ES) - Wurlitzer
30/09 - Barcelona (ES) - Sala Upload
02/10 - Grandfontaine (FR) - La Brasserie De Framont
03/10 - Le Havre (FR) - McDaid’s
04/10 - Brighton (UK) - The Prince Albert
05/10 - Bristol (UK) - The Crofters Rights
06/10 - Manchester (UK) - The Peer Hat
07/10 - London (UK) - The Shacklewell Arms
08/10 - Rouen (FR) - Le 3 Pièces
09/10 - Ghent (BE) - Café Charlatan
10/10 - Lille (FR) - La Buellé
11/10 - Paris (FR) - Supersonic
12/10 - Brussels (BE) - Magasin 4
13/10 - Nijmegen (NL) - Merleyn
14/10 - Hamburg (DE) - Hafenklang
15/10 - Copenhagen (DK) - Rahuset
16/10 - Berlin (DE) - Bi Nuu
17/10 - Gdansk (PL) - Dizzy Grizzly
20/10 - Wrocław (PL) - Akademia Club
21/10 - Krakow (PL) - Klub Re
23/10 - Esslingen (DE) - Komma
24/10 - Prague (CZ) - Underdogs
25/10 - Ostrava (CZ) - Gospoda
26/10 - Vienna (AT) - Rhiz
28/10 - Lyon (FR) - Le Farmer
29/10 - Bordeaux (FR) - Astrodome
31/10 - Oviedo (ES) - La Salvaje
