Why I love Anna Nyrayeba - whoever she is!

First a little background:

Back when I worked in a recording studio, Lloyd Maines turned me on to two different acts.
The first was a album that he had just (at that time) produced in New York by Ned Sublett. Now, Ned was loosely known as the "Rapping Cowboy", although he really didn't rap all that much. Mostly he just mashed disparate genres together in a melange that shouldn't work, but oddly did. Rumba, western swing, heavy metal...it was all fair game in songs like Cattle Mutilation Blues and Cowboy's are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other.

The other artist was a more famous one. He handed me a red vinyl album of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, with the words "You have to understand, this isn't a joke. He's completely serious about what he does." The Legendary Stardust Cowboy originally hailed from Lubbock and, in the wake of Tiny Tim's brief popularity, almost achieved a sort of fame with his song "Paralyzed," which was widely regarded as the worst record ever made. The 'Ledge, as he was affectionately known, specialized, heck - even invented, as form of music known as "Psychobilly", and his wild performance abandon was legendary (no pun intended). David Bowie was even a fan and reportedly had the 'Ledge in mind when he created Ziggy Stardust.

Personally, I really like Ned Sublett's music. It's hard to categorize, but it works in a wierd but intriguing way. The Ledge... well, mostly his stuff is just a hoot. Yeah, it's funny in an unintentionally way, but you also marvel at his fearless abandon. When people come to my house and I pull out the Ledge, they know it's time to go home.

So, anyway, I'm always looking for what could most charitably be described as "unusual" music. This past weekend I hit the jackpot.

I was at Half Price Books in Dallas, scavenging through their bargain CD bins when I came across a disc that was tough to identify. This was because it was Russian. The artist was (as close as I can come without Russian Alphabet characters) Anna Nyrayeba. Since it was all in Russian, I couldn't tell anything about the song titles or any other relevant information. But the cover was a day glow green and silver, so I'm thinking "Hmmm, probably techno or disco." Russian Disco?! Sounds like a must have, so I added it to may already large stack.

Well, as it turns out, it's not disco or techno, but something more like Russian bar room cabaret. Needless to say, I kind of like it, but most everyone else hates it. I put it on briefly at the last magic tournament and was quickly asked most emphatically to turn it off.

But, hey! If you come to my house and plan on staying late - you'd better pull out that Russian-English dictionary. You can translate for me and we'll boogie to a little Russian Cabaret!