The Fat Angel Sings

10000 Russos (pronounced ‘dez mil russos’) are another Fuzz Club band who seem to have emerged from nowhere this year with an amazing debut album that is both immediate and keeps on growing. Like many Fuzz Club bands they play music that it intensely dark and brooding, but perhaps unlike most of their label mates, take some of their primary clues from The Fall, the album opener ‘Karl Burns’ is even named after a Fall drummer. The Mark E Smith style vocals are obvious throughout the album, along with other sonic clues from early Krautrock, punk and post-punk (notably the Sex Pistols and Cabaret Voltaire), as well as the two Fuzz Club common denominators of Joy Division and the Jesus and Mary Chain. This was a massive surprise when I first played this album and I have continued to find new things to enjoy here; 10000 Russos are also one of the best and most innovative bands that I have seen live this year. when they played an awesome set with brilliant visuals at the Musician in Leicester.