Quit Smoking Monday

Ole Lukkøye is an ethno-trance-psychedelic-prog-rock band from St. Petersburg, Russia (I think it was still Leningrad when Boris and Andrei split), created by Boris Bardash (keyboards, guitars, voices), Andrei Lavrinenko (bass, percussion) who were also the founders of the Russian prog group Rainy Season [USSR/Russia/Lithuania] aka Sezon Dojdei or Sezon Dozhdei of the 80s and 90s.

Utterly mesmerizing, not unlike Korai Öröm, with the same kind of appeal as the Ozrics. I hear prog rock handling of ethnic themes from many parts of the ex-Soviet Union. What makes them stand-out, as with Korai Öröm, is the superb and relentless-trancy percussions, which could easily whip you into a wild-eyed dancing fiend. Western rhythms are mated to Tuvian throat-singing or Russian elegy. Sometimes the sound reaches beyond the exotic and turns dark. The overall feel, although there's significant variation, is that of shamanistic psychedelic trance rock. I spent 3 hours listening to several of their albums and I was left tired, but very relaxed. And, somehow, I turned my son into a cockroach.

CRYSTAL CROW BAR