Track of the Day: Sounds of Sputnik – Light Scheme feat Ummagma

Track of the Day: Sounds of Sputnik - Light Scheme feat Ummagma

Rooted in a shared love of melodic dream pop and shoegaze with a taste of the 80s-90s, Sounds of Sputnik has teamed up with the German label to bring the bands’ influences – from Lush, Curve, Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain – into familiar Emerald & Doreen disco & synth wave territory. The result is an unlikely, unfathomable but always brilliant “dream house disco noise experience” for the more adventurous listener.

Earlier this year, Sounds of Sputnik re-released their debut LP ‘New Born’ feat. Ummagma through hallmark U.S. shoegaze label Moon Sounds Records. Showcasing a palette of clever guitar lines, powerful drums, lush bass and gossamer female vocals, it also features Graham Bonnar (Swervedriver/ Brian Jonestown Massacre), psych rock producer Fran Ashcroft (Damon Albarn, Lords of Acid), Russian producers Morozov and Oleg Mezherovsky, and Brazil’s Mind Movies.

The band has just released two new videos for ‘Blizzard’, which was produced by British videographer Jason Sheppard, and ‘Light Scheme (Sputnik Remix)’, filmed by Roman Kalitkin himself in Barcelona.

On ‘New Born Remixed’, apart from the original versions of ‘New Born’ and ‘Light Scheme’, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s own Malcolm Holmes contributes a highly emotional New Romantics-infused version of ‘New Born’. His remix spirals into an eternal night sky crescendo of noisy guitars and Shauna’s stunning voice.

The EP kicks off with highly acclaimed Red Bull Academy laureate and Tokyo producer Haioka with an intelligent and catchy masterpiece, where Japanese electronica meets a wall of sound. This is followed by Headpocket’s relaxed deep house interpretation.

Irregular Disco Workers contribute a series of remixes to the release, turning two original tracks ‘Light Scheme’ and “New Born’ into a funkier soulful experience with another deeper into 80s melodic house territory. After Dim Zach’s journey into Nu Disco, we once more return to the more guitar heavy trade mark drone pop of David Garcet.

Fronted by Roman Kalitkin, Sounds of Sputnik now includes Oleg Mezherovsky, Oleg Luzhetsky, Dmitriy Bobrinev, Anastasia Berezovskaya, and Almaz Gaifutdinov. Now based in Canada, Ummagma collaborated with Kalitkin while living in Moscow circa 2004 and reunited with him after a decade of living in Ukraine. Their collaborative project went into overtime when military conflicts began between the two countries, as a decisive and loud symbolic act of cross-border comradeship.

In 2014, Sounds of Sputnik received a Jagermeister Indie Music Award, the highest music prize in Russia, and claimed Best East European Video at the 2014 Independent Music Video Awards in Australia. ‘New Born’ also remained in CMJ’s American College Radio Charts for a massive 7 weeks, the first time this has been achieved by a Russian indie artist.

Emerald & Doreen Recordings is run by avid audiophile vinyl-loving DJs. Their motto is “we release nice songs and great remixers. Genres do not matter, only awe-inspringity counts”.

TRACK LIST

Light Scheme (Haioka Remix) – (4:58)
New Born (Headpocket Remix) – (5:30)
New Born (Irregular Disco Workers Summer Rebirth) – (7:06)
Light Scheme (Irregular Disco Workers Remix) – (6:39)
New Born (Dim Zach Remix) – (6:56)
Light Scheme (David Garcet Remix) – (3:50)
New Born (Malcom Holmes’ OMD Remix) – (4:39)
New Born (Irregular Disco Workers Summer Dub) – (7:06)
New Born (feat. Ummagma) – (4:57)
Light Scheme (feat. Ummagma) – (3:53)

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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