Ilya Darkbloom’s Hot Dogs: The Dark Flower of Russian-language Rockabilly

One of the most difficult tasks, along with a completely original billboard album, is a completely Russian-language rockabilly album. We’ve heard many times, mostly from each other, that the great and mighty is completely unsuitable for the rockabilly-rockabilly aesthetic, and the calculated adaptations look very “not very good.” Ironically, the best examples of Russian speakers did not originate from Russia. But Ilya Darkbloom managed to master the Russian language, although the advantages of his debut EP “Hot Dogs” do not end there.

Who is Ilya Darkbloom? This pseudonym hides an experienced musician Ilya Egorov, whose work we are familiar with from the Rusty Sharks album “Sexy Demons”. How often have the Sharks mentioned this week! Anyway, there are a lot of Ilya’s songs on that record. But, as Ilya himself says, it is this project that “finally meets my internal criteria of self-sufficiency and quality.”

As a native inhabitant of the Tyumen, I’m pleased for Ilya is based in Petrozavodsk, and not in St. Petersburg or Moscow. It’s just nice to once again refute the thesis of a dead zone outside the capitals.

The mini-album “Hot Dogs” is as “homemade” as possible, in other words, DIY. Guitar, bass (except for the first track, as far as I can tell) vocals, authorship, mixing, mastering – all this is on Ilya. However, I can’t help but mention my percussive colleague Alexei Budarin with his charming steel brushes.

So, let’s go directly to the musical material. The album begins with an instrumental track With the devil racing. Although its name refers to Gene Vincent, it sounds much more modern and combative. The relaxed twist flows into a punk saiko prowess, and the overall sophistication of the composition with two themes and a curious bridge contrasts very strongly with the rest of the album’s material. Then everything is much less predatory and aggressive. Perhaps this is a kind of curtsy to the psycho-past of the Rusty Sharks.

Unenviable suitors are much softer. Those steel drum brushes that fascinated me appear right here, and do not leave the listener throughout the entire record. And lyrically, this is a rare case of condemning stereotypical playboyism, otherwise why are these characters unenviable suitors? Well, the overall spirit of the composition leaves a satirical aftertaste, like a series of the film magazine “Fitil”.

The New Velvet Season also mixes two themes. Musically, the intro is associated with all sorts of frivolous spy games, mainly due to the guitar, which also returns in the solo. However, the main theme of the song is the soul–warming autumn romance, with its melancholic coolness reminding me of “Radio Tea” by the band Diddley Dogs. I also like Ilya’s vocals the most here: the insinuating half-whisper sounds incomparable.

The Old Cinema Hall is made in the best traditions of Soviet jazz cinema: confident swing resonates with cheerful melodism and very old-fashioned poetry. But, like all compositions, this one hides a double bottom, which is hidden in guitar spatial effects. Here I want to mention Ilya’s production and sound engineering skills. Well, and Gaidai’s unobvious quotes to the very heart.

The final Count of Monte Carlson is perhaps the most mysterious in terms of interpretation. Who is this mysterious count and could he rent love, and what does the fat man and Dumas’ character have to do with it? And the music only heats up this atmosphere of understatement with laughter and whispers hiding behind the guitar solo.

This ends the debutant, “the first episode of the first season,” as Ilya himself says. We are looking forward to the continuation of this retro musical brew, combining many layers. To do this, it will be most convenient to subscribe to Ilya’s social networks:

https://vk.com/ilya.darkbloom
https://t.me/ilya_darkbloom
https://ilyadarkbloom.bandcamp.com

I started this post with an emphasis on Russian speaking, but there is something else. Something equally valuable that I try to mention in most publications: innovation. Yes, in the case of retro orientation, this is most often the skill of application, but Ilya managed to create a completely new work from a collage. Sometimes it is very difficult to imagine that, for example, before the band “Bravo”, there were no songs of this band. It’s like they’ve always been there. The album “Hot Dogs” creates the same feeling – new music from the past, perhaps from a different timeline.

And the emphasis here is on the word “new”. While Russia, or even the whole world, was literally struck by the paralysis of creativity, and everything new is well–forgotten old, Ilya managed to create something completely new. The dark flower begins to bloom.