Spectorbullets - Mayakovksy It Ain't (Chaos It Is)

  by John Clarkson

published: 29 / 8 / 2010

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Review

Mayakovsky Produkts is the new record label of former Fire Engines and WIN drummer Russell Burn and journalist and ex-Reaction Recordings’ boss Innes Reekie. It was formed as a reaction against what the two friends for thirty years see as the humdrum nature of the current bulk of the record industry. Burn and Reekie have opted to return to the “rip it up and start again” ethos of the Post Punk movement with Mayakovsky Produkts. ‘Mayakovsky It Ain’t (Chaos It Is)’, the debut release and single of both Burn’s new band Spectorbullets and the Mayakovsky label, certainly does that and is anything but bland, combining the pop sensibility of WIN with the quirky avant-garde of the Fire Engines. It is a magnificent combination of the old and the new, the familiar and the unfamiliar. Spectorbullets is the joint project of Burn and Swedish-born, but New York City-based singer-songwriter Gustaf Heden who met by chance in Heden’s adopted city when Burn was on holiday there. They began a musical relationship first of all by e-mail and SKYPE before finally convening at Burn’s home studio in Edinburgh. On ‘Mayakovsky It Ain’t...’ a lot of ideas haemorrhage out at once. Burn’s rattling drum work and a chugging guitar line provide a central backdrop to everything else which is happening on the single. Heden’s vocals have a similar nasal sneer to the young Lou Reed. He talks about “the revolution within” and at one point spits, “What are you going to do, rock ‘n’ roll?”, presumably in challenge to much of the rest of the industry. Sometimes his vocals are overlaid on top of each other with a distorted-voiced version of himself. At another point a girl’s backing vocals swing briefly in and then as abruptly out of the mix. The lo-fi music is interrupted at moments by sudden bangs of guitar which as quickly then stop. At the two minute mark everything crashes to a halt and then as suddenly veers upwards again for another forty seconds before breaking to a finish again. ‘Mayakovsky It Ain’t...’ is, exactly as its subtitle suggests, chaos. For all its pandemonium, however, it is clear that both Burn and Heden know exactly what they are doing. ‘Mayakovsky It Ain’t (Chaos It Is)’ is one of the most instantly compelling and exciting singles of the year. It promises much for both Spectorbullets’ as yet-to-be titled debut album which is due out on November 8th and also for Mayakovsky Produkts.

Track Listing:-