Kosmonaut - Vostok-1
ARTIST.....: Kosmonaut
TITLE......: Vostok-1
LABEL......: Independent
URL........: http://www.kosmonaut.ca | http://www.myspace.com/kosmonautmusic
RIP DATE...: Mar-15-2007
STORE DATE.: Mar-21-2007
GENRE......: Rock
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 30,6 MB
Track Listing:
01 - gimn sovetskovo soyuza 04:12
02 - revolution 03:11
03 - popcorn waltz 03:27
04 - 12:34 04:05
05 - finding our way home 03:08
06 - turn right 03:40
─────
21:43 min
Release Notes:
Kosmonaut: A Brief History
Band Members/Instruments:
Branden Kearse - Guitar
Brent Wirth - Vocals/Bass
Brian Wirth - Guitar
Chris Hampton - Drums
Danny Huh - Vocals/Keyboard
Basic Facts:
-The band name was inspired by Brent Wirth and Danny Huh's
profound interest in Russian art, culture and history and the vast
mysteries of space.
-The band originally formed in 2003. However, after writing a
mere three songs during a brief 4-month stint, the group
disbanded. After several failed attempts to establish a solid
line-up, Brent, Danny and Branden, the founding members of
Kosmonaut, gave up all hope. A few years later, in the summer of
2006, after hearing several Kosmonaut demos from years past, Brian
Wirth, Brent's brother, urged him to re-establish the band and
grant it the effort that it never received in the past.
Consequently, the line-up was completed with the addition of Brian
Wirth on guitar and Chris Hampton on drums and the band recorded
their first 6-song EP in the winter of 2006.
-The band debuts at the Underground, the pinnacle Indie rock venue
of Hamilton, with the Junction and Cain and Abel on March 21st.
Following this, the band looks forward to a series of gigs and
mini-tours in Ontario and Quebec in the upcoming months.
***note: the band does not promote the Soviet Union's brand of
communism in any way
Sound/Style:
Pop rock with an orchestral sensibility. The concept behind the
sound is applying colourful musical arrangements with
instrumentation that stretches beyond just drums, bass and
distorted guitars to the popular music genre (ie. the use of
anything from strings to clarinets to harps to even more abstract
electronic sounds). Influences ranging from Russian folk music to
the Smashing Pumpkins, Eisley and Ozma to J.S. Bach, Leo Brouwer
and Steve Reich.
Combining their intuitive musical talents and creativity with
their theoretical knowledge of music, gained through years of
formal music education, the band's principal song writers, Brent
Wirth, a music composition major at York University, and Danny
Huh, a music major at Guelph University, have successfully created
a style of music that is both technically-proficient and
memorable, the perfect compromise between traditional Western art
and modern popular music. Stylistically, the music ranges between
electronic, neo-classical, pop and country rock, hence the band's
self-proclaimed genre name, "Russian Neo-Classical Futurist Rock".
Hopes/Aspirations:
-To eventually transcend the local music scene and tour North
America and someday the rest of the world
-To prove that true artistic creativity and virtuosity can exist
in thes
realm of popular music.
-To be able to create an album in which we may truly define our
sound/band and call our "masterpiece" (but sounding way less
pretentious)
The EP:
-Beginning in early December of 2006, after dozens of demos and
versions, the band decided on what they felt was their best work
and completed their 6 song EP in mid January 2007 at the Wirth
bro's home studio "Taskforce Studios".
-The EP, appropriately-titled Vostok 1, after the Soviet space
program's first manned space mission, is the band's first effort,
their launch into the orbit of the Hamilton indie music scene.
-With colour arrangements and contrasting styles, ranging from
simple melody-driven power pop and neo-classicism to futurism and
country rock, the EP demonstrates the plethora of influences from
which the band draws from.