N.O.M.

This article is about the Russian rock band. For other uses, see Nom (disambiguation).

N.O.M.
Background information
Origin	Saint Petersburg
Genres	Art-rock Avant-rock
Years active	1986–present
Labels	Фирма "Мелодия" SoLyd Records General Records Caravan Records SNC Records[1]
Associated acts	Avia
Website	http://www.nomzhir.spb.ru/
Members
Andrey Kagadeev Yuriy Saltykov Nikolay Gusev
Past members
Sergey Kagadeev Dmitriy Tikhonov Sergey Butuzov Nikolai Rodionov V. Postnichenko

N.O.M. (also, NOM: Neforma′lnoye objedine′nie molodio′zhi - The Informal Youth Association) - a Soviet/Russian experimental rock band, formed in 1987 in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad), known for its highly eclectic avant-guard mix of art-rock, folklore, classical influences (including occasional bouts of operatic singing), innovative arrangements, and theatrical stage shows. According to A. Burlaka’s Russian rock encyclopaedia entry, N.O.M. - "eccentric, multi-faceted and defying all categorization" - have become "one of Russian rock’s brightest phenomena of the 90s".^[2]

The band’s most striking feature has always been highly literary (somewhat baffling, occasionally offensive but always hilarious) lyrics which according to one source, continued “the tradition of Russian surrealism and absurdism which was made famous by authors like Nikolai Gogol and Daniil Harms.^[3] NOM songs’ characters were being compared to those of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Zoshchenko.^[4]

N.O.M.'s national breakthrough came in the late 80’s when LenTV started playing the band’s bunch of highly controversial videos, most of them making fun of all manner of a Soviet taboo. Short-time heroes of post-Perestroika alternative culture, N.O.M. have never been accepted neither by the massive pop/rock audiences, nor by the New Russia media, since it soon became clear that mellowing down and conforming to either mass market demands or the new ‘liberal values’ is exactly not what they’re gonna do. Having chosen to stick to the underground and appeal strictly to the sarcasm-friendly intelligentsia, NOM nevertheless have more than once proved their ability to fill whatever venue they chose to play.

The band split into two in 1997 but the 21st century's first decade saw the (unofficially tagged) NOM-Zhir and NOM-Euro gradually reintegrating, the official reunion concert having been held on the 20 April 2007 in SPB "Port" Club.

Band history

The band was formed in Pushkin (near St. Petersburgh) in 1986 by the company of friends (all of them students of technical colleges and young engineers) who shared the same interest in music, literature and theatre.^[5] The name - Neformalnoye objedinenie molodozhi - was taken directly from the Perestroika media lexicon and referred to the (generally derided) umbrella term by which the feverishly 'reforming' Communist party tried to 'unite' (and control) whatever youth communities they deemed 'informal' (and therefore potentially dangerous).^[3]

N.O.M.'s founding members were: Sergey Kagadeev (born 20 October 1964, v. Rybnoye, Ryazan, vocals), Andrey Kagadeev (born 9 July 1961, Leningrad, bass guitar), Dmitriy Tikhonov (b. 6 August 1964, Vladivostok, - keyboards, vocals), Sergey Butuzov (b. 10 June 1962, Leningrad) and Nikolai Rodionov (drums, flute).^[2] Exotic monikers, used by the musicians (Ivan Tourist, Alexander Liver, Hafizula Sagitdulov, etc) later became their stage alter egos.^[4]

N.O.M.'s debut demo was made in February 1987. Initially intended to serve as a kind of musical/theatrical illustration to Andrey Kagadeev’s short story Протез (Protez, "Prosthetic"), it was recorded at his home on the primitive Soviet 'Astra' tape-recorder and very much followed the Pyotr Mamonov (of Zvuki Mu) tradition of ironic/absurdist rock. Soon after that N.O.M. took part in the TV musical competition, performed there (dubbed 'risky' then) Ламца-Дрица satyrical couplets ^[6] and were surprised to find themselves among the laureates.^[2] It was at this point that the band chose to turn professional and declared as their artistic credo - "...idiotization of all the dramatic sides of our everyday and cultural life, as well as over-dramatizaton of <life’s> most idiotic aspects." ^[5]

N.O.M. joined - first the alternative rock association called Мост (Most, "The Bridge"), then, in January 1988, the Leningrad Rock Club. In October 1988 Rodionov left to be replaced by Vladimir Postnichenko on drums. One of their early associates, Postnichenko (alias Starikan/Gotlib Ulrich Tuzeast - born 10 December 1961, Svaliava, Zakarpatje, Ukraine), who, having spent some of his post-graduation years in Lvov (where he played with two cult bands Orkestr Deda Mazaja and Bratja Gadiukiny), returned to St.-Petersburg to rejoun the band he was jamming with in his student years. Rodionov occasionally appeared with the group (playing flute), but retired after his health deteriorated (he died in the 90s.^[2]

Breakthrough

After the band’s appearance on the 6th LRC Rock Festival many have instantly classified them as the followers of AVIA, at this point a well-established conceptual art-rock band from Leningrad. The parallel later proved to be flawed, but the two bands indeed bonded together a lot. Both embarked on the massive nation-wide tour and 'officially' agreed to consider each other ‘allies’ (having signed humorously worded Molotov-Ribbentrop-type 'non-aggression pact').^[7]

In 1989 a percussionist (and extravagant performance artist) Yuri Saltykov (aka I.N. Turist, born 14 June 1964, Ленинград) joined the band, thus completing what many consider to be its ‘classic’ line-up. With him the debut Брутто album was recorded in the Dvoretz Molodiozhy Studious by producers Sergey Yelistratov and Andrey Novozhilov.^[2] Officially released 2 years later on the Leningrad Melodyia record label ^[8] it became an instant underground hit and (quoting an official bio) “made the band one of the most original phenomena of Peter’s new rock scene”. By this time (according to the same source) “…NOM’s musical language, initially fashioned in a rudimentary folk rock/cabaret style, started to harden and quickly evolved into a totally integral post-punk meets rhythm and blues kind of sound”.^[5]

It was about at this point that - first the Petersburg - Channel 5, then the nascent Moscow Vzglyad TV Show started playing the band’s videos, thus providing NOM their short yet impressive bout of nation-wide fame. In 1990 the band toured Spain and France (in the course of the next 5 or 6 years they would gig in most of the European countries, excluding for some reason Scandinavia) and appeared in the 7th LRP Rock Festival line-up.^[5]

Golden years

By the time the sophomore К Чортям Собачьим (K Chorty`am Sob`achjim, To Dog’s Hell) was recorded and self-released in 1990 (three years later Melodiya followed suit^[9]), Sergey Butuzov departed, leaving a certain gap in the overall sound, which AVIA’s Alexei Rahov (Алекс`ей Р`ахов) as a guest guitarist struggled to fill.^[4] Despite the loss, the album's got rave reviews. Anatoly Gunitzkiy wrote in Roxy Express (1990):

At the background of NOM’s every single opus some kind of an absurd plot can be found. Music - a set of multi-coloured stylizations – is nothing more than a brilliant, expressive background for these short stories. Noticeable is the progress: everything here <compared to the debut> is perfectly constructed, worked out and honed down; nothing is superfluous, everything’s meaningful – from vocal equilibristics to tricky arrangements… What specific rock genre this belongs to, I wouldn’t venture to guess, but it’s still heartening to think that it was rock culture that’s been able to give haven to all of these incongruous – Odlopezes, Airman Kamyshins, Samba Hopkinses and other inhabitants of NOM’s panopticum... Finally, vocal artistry should be mentioned: the concept of ‘theatricality’ is very much central to the group’s aesthetics… and vocals here are of the most sophisticated quality. Whether it's NOM’s solo vocal performances (and every member of the group does indeed sing) or NOM choruses – everything sounds wildly grotesque. All this brings to mind an idea of – some inside-out kind of punk, mince-meated through the mental absurdist machine… ^[5]

"The second album, К Чортям Собачьим, is my all time <NOM > favourite, - Andrey Kagadeev told the press-conference in July 2009. - It was the band’s finest hour. We were sort of deeply feeling each other. Noone ever tried to ‘pull the quilt’ as it were, there were no superstardom ambitions. We were just bursting with new ideas and felt - so easy, so good… It was little later that the unity cracked and the problems began".^[7]

In February 1991 NOM played at the Leningrad Rock Ckub 10th Anniversary concert; featured in the compilation was “Samba Hopkins” with A. Liver on vocals. In May the band performed in Novosibirsk with, among others, The Shamen.^[2]

Due to AVIA’s temporary inactivity Rahov became the band’s semi-official member and played (sax) on the band’s 3rd, appropriately titled Супердиск (Superdisc) LP, loaded with such NOM classics as Чорт Иваныч, Город, Душа и Череп.^[10] Of the opener, Nina (by this time a massive live favourite), A. Gunitzkiy wrote: "…combining cool electro sound with fragments of delightfully crass phrases… <it> never fails to throw every possible kind of audience into the state of deep mental prostration”.^[5]

It was in those days that N.O.M. became joined as residents the Vasileostrovsky Youth Center (later - TaMtAm Club). According to A. Burlaka, NOM's self-promotion style was quite consistent with their image: they regularly decorated the city walls with self-published quasi-sotzart posters, mostly teaching fans the code of behavior at the self-proclaimed Kings of St.-Petersburg's concerts, but also spreading lots of jovial or outright false information about the band.^[2]

Сенька-Мосгаз (Senhka-MosGaz, the band’s 4th vinyl LP and first ever CD) was shelved due to the economic crisis and released in November 1996. Video for the controversial "7 %" was filmed in France. The album proved to be the last one for Tiknonov/A.Liver as a full-time member ^[11] who pursued a solo career in 1995. The latter took him as far as France (where he married) and Geneva Opera (where he continued to sing through the next decade).

Several musicians tried to fill Liver's shoes, among them jazz musician Yuri Sobolev (ex-Pangei) and Ivan Sokolovski (ex-Nochnoi Prospekt, Miagkie Zveri). In 1995 NOM redislocated to the Wild Side Club and played in Rock Side Festival, recruiting Alex Rahov and A. Liver for the occasion.^[2]

The greatest hits Ультракомпакт (Ultracompact) compilation release by General Records was made possible largely due to rock critic (and NOM fan) Art Troitski's help. It was followed by the concert album Live is Game (sic).^[12] Among those who played in the studio were Nikolai Gusev (keyboards), Zhenya Zhdanov (flue, AVIA), Alexey Popov (sax, from Doo Bop Sound). Rahov returned to AVIA to be replaced by Vitaliy Lapin (ex-Myshi), from then on a full-time guitarist with the band.

In 1996 NOM released Хозяева СССР, или Обезьянье рыло (Masters of the USSR ot the Monkey’s Muzzle), a short 'film' (first in the series of eight) which was actually no more than a compilation of early videos. The next one, Made In Europe (1997) documented the group’s European voyages. Their Skotino-Rap (Bestiality Rap) video has been awarded the special (“for radicalism”) prize at the Festival of video art staged by the Moscow Exotica Magazine. In 1996 NOM opened for Laibach in LDM (Leningrad's Palace of Youth) and celebrated Ukrblues' winning the prestigious MIDEM Grand Prix in the Low budget video nomination.^[2]

The split

In spring 1997 NOM premiered their new sci-fi conceptual show Во имя разума (In the Name of Intelligence) in the Black Dog Club whuch was followed by the album of the same name (released by SNC Records). On 20 March the band celebrated its 10th anniversary with the grandiouse circus-like show in St-Petersburg.

Later in the year, though, NOM fans were shocked by the unexpected announcement. Both the Kagadeyev duo and the band itself split into two: Euro-NOM (Sergey Kagadeev, Postnichenko plus Nikolay Mayorov who contributed to the filming of The Masters of the USSR) and Zhir-NOM - Andrey Kagadeyev (bass, vocals), I.N. Tourist (vocals), Nikolay Gusev (keys) and (later, occasionally) A.Liver.^[13] Lapin first found himself between the two camps, then started recording with both. According to A. Burlaka, it was ‘the battle of egos’ that caused the conflict: Kagadeev-junior was at this point posing as a frontman, while his senior brother did most of the songwriting.^[2]

Euro-NOM

NOM-junior (augmented with Denis Medvedev of Dva Samoliota), debuted in October 1997 with the concert in the Ne Bei Kopytom Moscow club, on the Infer-Fuzz Festival stage. Quite a lot was made of this gig. Sergey Kagadeev found himself on the Fuzz magazine sleeve while the Music shop Saigon’s owners were impressed enough to actually finance his group’s album Euro which was released in November 1997. The record received mixed reviews and caused controversy, it’s major theme being anti-globalism (verging on anti-Eurounionism). The album’s most memorable track (according to A. Burlaka), though, was the cover of Gavrila Lubnin’s song poking fun at David Copperfield's Russian tour and the uproar the latter's been causing.

Euro-NOM (as it has been known since then) presented the album at the Lensovet theater: the group members not only changed their aliases (S. Kagadeev adopting a ‘Leopard’ moniker) but also proposed the new way of NOM abbreviature's interpretation: ('Новые Основатели Мира' – Novyje Osnovateli Mira, The New Founders of the World). In March 1998 bassist Vladimir Khanutin (ex-Barbuljator, Chizh & Co, actually, the drummer in in both bands) joined Euro-NOM.

Zhir-NOM

The NOM-senior (as it’s been known for some months) debuted on 30 November 1997 in the SPB Zorro Club where it presented the Zhir album material, the latter’s title being the only reason why the group was being called Zhir-NOM (occasionally - NomZhirProject). Valery Kuteynikov (ex-AVIA) joined the band and Vassiliy Pavlov perlaced Rahov (after he departed to join the Deaduski project).

Zhir album was officially released in the spring of 1998 and premiered on 18 May in the Spartak Club (with A.Liver guesting). The show, recorded by Alexandr Mironov (of Strannyje Igry, AVIA fame), was released as the 1999 Liveжиr album.

For some time the two fractions lived parallel lives, but EuroNOM’s activities soon whittled down. Lapin departed to PepSee (to be replaced by Alexey Lysenko, Kacheli). In August 2000 after the South of Russia tour EuroNOM were sent to ‘indefinite vacation’ and another NOM dropped its Zhir-tag (which, as the band members insisted, had never been adopted officially). Kagadeev-Jr. moved to Moscow to become a tradesman. Medvedev started DJ’ing in Griboyedov Club as Re-Disco. Postnichenko opened his own Tzynik Club.

Zhir-NOM’s efforts were more fruitful. In 2000 Terra Fantastica published A.Kagadeev and S.Butuzov’s book Чудовища (Monsters), two novels and a screenplay included. The same year A.Liver published his book Рельсы и шпалы (Rails and Ties); by this time he's had no less than least six solo albums under his belt.^[2]

In 2002 NOM’s assiciation with Caravan Records (which released the group’s 3 LPs and two Liver’s solo albums) resulted in a lucrative joint project when Max Susloparov (Caravan’s boss) opened the Orlandina Club with NOM as residents and decorators (via Nikolay Kopeikin’s Kolhui art group, it’s ‘artistic’ wing). In May 2002 NOM’s first movie Paseka (a 'fairytale thriller', as it has been defined) was released, with Kagadeev-Sr. and Kopeikin getting credits as its script writers, Liver and Turist - as the leading actors.^[2]

A renewed contract with с SoLyd Records resulted in another bunch of studio albums: Экстракомпакт (2000), Очень отличный концерт (2001), 8уе (2002), accompanied by three compilations - НОМ-15: 1987-2002 (2002), MP3 Коллекция (2002) and Russisches Schwein (2003). The 2004 Альбом реального искусства (The Album of Reality Art), using Russian oberiu poetry (Oleynikov, Kharms, Tchukovsky and others) was released on NOM's own Yazbetz Records.^[2]

On 20 April 2007 in SPB 'Port' Club the official reunion concert took place with Kagadeev brothers, Liver, Turist, Lapin and Gusev performing.^[14]

On 28 February 2009 N.O.M. performed in St-Peterburg’s Главклуб, playing songs from the forthcoming album Кирпич в живот (Kirpi′tch v Zhivo’t, Brick into Stomach). A week later the Moscow Икра Club hosted the show. The album is expected to be released later in the autumn.^[15]

N.O.M. lyrics and linguistics

From the very beginning NOM came out with their own brand of highly eclectic, strikingly sharp poetry, blending in equal measure Soviet propaganda cliches, elements of folklore, sci-fi, clips from films and children’s songs, all contributing to the extraordinary tales of absurd comedy full of whim, charm and pomposity. One of the best-loved examples was Gorod ("City"), the fantastically overblown ‘pro-Siberian’ paen (rich in 1930’s truisms, including the famous: "But do you really know what Lenin means?!") with the 2-word refrain 'Nakati piatachy′nu' (roughly translating as: 'now do produce a fiver, will you?', an idiom used in aggressive begging).

Another example of NOM’s lack of respect for all things politically correct came in 1996 in the form of the now legendary 7% video, a ‘confession of a fag’, sad and sarcastic at the same time. It was the only reason why the band (members of which were filmed there naked) have got their rather dubious '1996 Russian rock sex symbols' title.^[3]

Strange words and sounds

Some of the NOM lyrics sound indecypherable even for a well-trained Russian ear. Words like «ainu», «кutzurubki», «aurelui» etc. are (according to the NOM’s officaial site’s FAQ) of romany origin. (Another enigmatic word, ljuy, is clamed there to be 'a Romanian suffix, good for any a Russian word'^[13]: a linguistic statement, never meant to be taken, apparently, at its face value).

One of the best known early songs, U Karytzu Mashek lyrics is based on an obscure ‘riddle without any answer’, found allegedly by a Russian folklorist Kyreevsky. The name for one of the most outlandish NOM characters, estreterrestrial priest Одлопез (Odlope′z) has been attributed to Sergey Butuzov (yet later found in one of the Stanisław Lem novels, Butuzov allegedly never heard of). ^[13]

Along with the outlandish quasi-folkish ‘found words’, strange phonetics are being there exploited too. The pronunciation used in the song «Svinukh» is that of a ‘deaf person who’s learnt to speak’ but is unable to hear himself (according to the band, that was how the character named Anatoly, played by Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, was speaking in the Soviet film "Professiya – sledovatel", "Profession - a detective").

Non-musical projects

Andrey Kagadeev is the author of two novels (Страус, Танец Ханумана, both included in compilation Чудовища, "Monsters", in 1999) co-written with Sergey Butuzov.^[16] Kagadeev, also a published poet, is a member of a designer collective called MW Art.^[13]

Since 1991 NOM have been releasing a series of shorts films, the last (and 8th) of them being Коричневый век русской литературы (The Brown Age of Russian Literature, 2008).

In May 2002 NOM's first movie Paseka (a 'fairytale thriller', as it has been defined) was released, with Kagadeev-Sr. and Kopeikin getting credits as its script writers, Liver and Turist - as the leading actors. In February 2004 NOM’s second film Geopolypy (a kind of global political analysis) followed.^[2]

In July 2009 Andrey Kagadeev told the online press-conference held by www.lenta.ru that the major film, a 'cosmic epic' called Звёздный ворс (Zvio′zny Vors) is in the process of being made, featuring, alongside N.O.M. members, past and present, Shnur (Leningrad, Rubl), Mikhalok (Lyapis Trubetskoy) and Oleg Skripka (Vopli Vidoplyasova).^[7]

Discography

Albums

• Брутто (Brutto, 1989)
• К Чортям собачьим (K Chortya′m Soba′tchjim, To Dog's Hell, 1989)
• Супердиск (Superdisc, 1992)
• Сенька-Мосгаз (Se′nhka MosGha′z, Senhka from MosGaz, 1994)
• Ultracompact (1995)
• Звуки Северной столицы (Zvu′ki Se′vernoi Stoly′tzy, Sounds of the Northern Capital, 1995)
• Live is Game (1996)
• Во имя разума (Voi′mia Ra′zuma, In the Name of Intelligence, 1996)
• Euro (1997)
• Жир (Zhir, Fat, 1997)
• live жир (1998)
• Extracompact (2000)
• Очень отличный концерт (Otchen Otli′chny Kontze′rt, A Very Excellent Concert, 2001)
• жбан дурака (Zhban Duraka, The Fool's Zhban, 2001)
• 8 ye (2002)
• Пасека (Pa′seka, Apiary, 2002)
• ном 15 (2002)
• Russisches Schwein (2003)
• Альбом реального искусства (Alhbom Rea′lhnogo Isku′sstva, The Album of Reality Art, 2004)
• Более мощный (Bo′leje Mo′schny, More Powerful, 2005)
• Превыше всего (Prevy'she Vsego', Above Everything, 2009) ^[1]

Films

• Хозяева СССР, или Обезьянье рыло (1991) ^[17]
• Сделано в Европе (1996)
• Жбан дурака (2000)
• Пасека (2002)
• Геополипы (2004)
• Белорусская быль (2006)
• Фантомас снимает маску (2007)
• Коричневый век русской литературы (2008)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} www.nomzhir.spb.ru Н.О.М. Дискография
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} NOM. ROCK-N-ROLL.RU
3. ^ ^{a b c} Russian Studies, 2004: Russian Popular Culture and Underground Russian bands A - Z
4. ^ ^{a b c} www.peoples.ru/ NOM
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f} www.pripev.ru: NOM bio
6. ^ http://www.nomzhir.spb.ru/music/brutto/brutto.php?lang=ru#text9 Lamtza Dritza Russian text
7. ^ ^{a b c} NOM press-conference: 17 07 2009
8. ^ Discography. Брутто
9. ^ Дискография: K Chortyam Sobatchim
10. ^ Discography, Superdisk
11. ^ http://www.nomzhir.spb.ru/music/mosgaz/mosgaz.php?lang=ru
12. ^ NOM Discography
13. ^ ^{a b c d} www.nomzhir.spb.ru FAQ
14. ^ NOM's golden line-up celebrates the band's Anniversary
15. ^ http://lenta.ru/news/2009/03/04/nom/ Lenta.ru: Музыка: НОМ презентует новую программу в "Икре"”
16. ^ www.nomzhir.spb.ru Published literature
17. ^ Хозяева СССР, или Обезьянье рыло fragment #8

External links

• НОМ-ЖИР NOM-Zhir official site
• Александр Ливер A. Liver’s page
• a.liver.free.fr

See also

• 7%, N.O.M. 1996 video