Messer fur Frau Muller (translates as Knife for Mrs. Muller in German) originally started in 1991 in St.Petersburg, Russia with Oleg Gitarkin and several other band members playing hardcore and psychobilly. By the mid-nineties the majority of the the original cast had left the band. The current version, with the addition of Oleg Kostrow, takes its sound into unusual territory defining it as “post easy-listening,” drawing on samples from the 50’s and 60’s pop-culture, with addition of Gitarkin’s bass and guitars and Kostrow’s synths and programming. The band’s tracks are surprisingly favortised by German banks for licensing in television commercials. The influences on "Triangle, Dot & Devil" come from music styles as varied as surf, twist, mondo, lo-fi noise, experimental electronica, and even cartoons, children’s educational records, and sampled dialogue from Soviet cinema. According to Oleg Kostrow, there is a big mystery behind every song that gets substantial airplay nowadays - the mystery is that it was borrowed from another catchy song in the past… however with MFFM, for their every song there is about a hundred reference songs out there.
This does not mean it is “retro”. It's music of our time, while using sound elements of those bygone decades (horror/sci-fi movie sound effects/samples, Farifsa organs, Theremins) through the magic of sequencing/sampling to create a cut-up sonic portrait of that era. It really rocks, and should induce dancing despite being unconventional as a pop album. The sampling is some of the most tasteful and creative I have ever heard, i.e. when a movie scream is sampled, the musicians actually use the pitch ascents and descents in the sample to carry the melody of the song, or at least harmonize with it.
You will notice a similarity of song structure with Messer Chups – that’s because it is the side project of Oleg Gitarkin stretching the sonic boundries of craziness even further. Way groovy.
Agents and Spies
Funny Man Under Anesthesia
Karate Feelings
Ultrasound Vibrator
Rock Rock Rock
No Place for Me
Euro-Friendship
Sedative Trip
Smile, But Don't Move
Barmaley '66
I Like I
Mr. PshikIntime Service Cosmique
Cherche le Zavr
Acorns from Mars for Pigs from Earth
Hinki-Dinki Parlez Vous
Goodbye, Sea!
Some fun psychobilly with a surfy twang. Very short tho.
