9-string gusli by Theodor Bastard designed in collaboration with the Mir Gusley manufactory. The body is made of alder, the resonance soundboard is made of spruce, the bridge is made of beech. The design of the resonator rosette was made by Yana Veva. The size of the gusli is 79x19x4cm (excluding tuners), and the weight is only 1.4 kg. The gusli kit includes a tuning key and a gift Theodor Bastard “Volch’ya Yagoda” CD. Initially, the gusli is a primordially Russian multi-string plucked instrument, the history of which goes back several millennia. And this is one of the most frequently used instruments of Theodor Bastard both in the concert program and when recording albums.Check out how beautiful this instrument sounds and looks when performed by Theodor Bastard on our YouTube. You can buy the gusli at our bandcamp. Or write to our email.
Category: Новости
Branded gusli by Theodor Bastard
9-string gusli by Theodor Bastard designed in collaboration with the Mir Gusley manufactory. The body is made of alder, the resonance soundboard is made of spruce, the bridge is made of beech. The design of the resonator rosette was made by Yana Veva. Initially, the gusli is a primordially Russian multi-string plucked instrument, the history of which goes back several millennia. And this is one of the most frequently used instruments of Theodor Bastard both in the concert program and when recording albums.Check out how beautiful this instrument sounds and looks when performed by Theodor Bastard on our YouTube. You can buy the gusli at our bandcamp. Or write to our email.
Review of the album “Volch’ya Yagoda” from the French magazine Soilchronicles
The French magazine Soilchronicles has written an impressive review of our album Volch’ya Yagoda released by Season of Mist this year. For some reason, with quotations from Depardieu and Churchill about Russia. This is curious. But the European view of Russian music and our work in general is interesting. Link to original: https://www.soilchronicles.fr/chroniques/theodor-bastard-volchya-yagoda
Love’s Secret Domain. Coil tribute by Theodor Bastard
Studio version of the song Love’s Secret Domain recorded by Theodor Bastard has become a part of a tribute compilation “Channeling The Solar Lodge” published by the US labels Coitus Interruptus Productions and Crunch Pod. It gets released in the studio-quality for the first time. Originally the track was issued on the compilation “…It Just Is (In Memoriam: Jhonn Balance)” in 2005 but since then it has gone through a lot of changes. It’s a very personal and important composition for us. The band Coil was a source of inspiration for us for many years.Even then, there was no doubt that this very composition from Theodor Bastard would be included in the tribute. Love’s Secret Domain (LSD) has become a psychedelic anthem for us at one time. Quotes in the song refer to the poem “Sick Rose” by William Blake:O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bedOf crimson joy:And his dark secret loveDoes thy life destroy.In our version, we tried in our own way to embody the symbolism of this poem in the form of a dialogue between a fragile and vulnerable rose (Yana’s vocals) and animal and passionate power (Fedor’s vocals). In 2005 we were lucky to meet the founder of the project, Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson and shown him our interpretation of the Love’s Secret Domain. Sleazy also heard the live performance of this song and gave it his warm approval, which was very important for us. To the great sorrow none of the members of the COIL project are with us any more, but their music always is. And that is wonderful, music is eternal.
THEODOR BASTARD:
Yana Veva – vocal
Fedor Svolotch – vocal, sampler,Drum
Kusas – percussion, marimba, kalimba
Andy Vladych – drums
Alexei Kalinovskiy – keyboards
Vasil Davletshin – bass
Ekaterina Dolmatova – back vocal
Slava Salikov – cello
Interview with Theodor Bastard (translated from Italian)
All questions by Roberto Alessandro Filippozzi for Darkroom Magazine
▷ It took five years for you to write & record the new album, but I think it’s plausible, considering the amount of details and the actual perfection of the new songs: what can you tell us about the making of this new masterpiece of yours?
◁ This is not a simple question. Time is a very relative thing. It’s very difficult to say where it goes when you make music. Probably, listeners can imagine that we are constantly sitting in our studio-laboratory and tormenting instruments. I want to assure you that the real picture is very far from this. Most of the resources are needed to tune the state of mind, to find inspiration, to travel, to create a concept, and of course, to search for sound. It is not so easy to describe in words how it happens. Sometimes it’s some kind of trip to nature, or watching a movie, or a discussion within the band – “brainstorming” when we discuss certain ideas. Sometimes, of course, this is playing music together and searching for some things. Sometimes, the acoustic sound of something in the nature outdoor. I remember the case with one of the tracks: I had heard the sound of a tree squeaking in the wind and this sound prompted me to create the whole composition “Pozhato”. If we knew what the album consists of, of what type of works, if we knew our creative secret ourselves, then theoretically it would be possible to create some kind of universal technology to make powerful and hit albums. But, as we can see, none of the composers and none of the bands in the world have ever had such technology. Because no one (neither the listeners nor the musicians themselves) knows where it comes from and how it happens. The craft is of course important. Of course, we learn and know how to do many things. It is important to know the instrument and material or sound production. But it is very difficult and impossible to own the energy that passes through you from somewhere. It is not yours. All you can do is to be open enough and wait for this flow. Do you understand?
Continue reading “Interview with Theodor Bastard (translated from Italian)”
New merch on our Bandcamp store
Dear friends, we are happy to introduce a new merch on our Bandcamp store – Pendant (amulet) “The burning sickle above us not knowing sorrow”.
Amulet was designed by Alina Kuzmina (Teoterra) and us, it is inspired by Theodor Bastard’s song “Serp” with these words in the lyrics: “The burning sickle above us not knowing sorrow”.
Pendant (amulet) is handcrafted from padauk (one of the rare wood species), covered with acrylic varnish, with a necklace made from artificial suede, without clasp, so it can be adjusted to any length you wish. Padauk is a rare wood, the core of which has this bright reddish shade. Previously, padauk wood was used to make battle drums and xylophones.
Our merch page is here: https://theodorbastard.bandcamp.com/merch
THEODOR BASTARD – LES (contemporary dance version)
Many people asked us about the dance in our music video “Les”.
Our friends – the dance group Futhark Dans – have been preparing this dance within many weeks. So we thought it would be interesting to release an alternative dance version of this music video, with the dance only.
I hope you will enjoy.
Director: Fedor Svolotch
Editing: Sergey Petrov
Cameramen: Vyachaslav Salikov, Sergey Petrov
Drone Operators: Oleg Makoseev, Philip Grigoriev
Dance production: Elizaveta Antonova & Futhark Dans
Dance: Futhark Dans
We discovered an interesting playlist of northern music in Spotify
We discovered an interesting playlist of northern music in Spotify and find two tracks by Theodor Bastard – “Urzala” and “Les” there, in a very good company of other musicians. We recommend: An interesting and actual selection for winter mood. We really like it.
Theodor Bastard band has become a part of the world of Season of Mist label
We are very happy to share a great news with you – Theodor Bastard band has become a part of the world of Season of Mist label. It is a very big event for us.
We were an indie band for over 20 years and all our lives we learned and did everything ourselves. From recording albums to selling them. From manufacturing merch to organizing tours. We have a lot of experience in this, but Season of Mist is the first label really attracted us with its concept and its approach. And we entrust them our music and our future. We know that together we can achieve more. Living in the deep of the wild Karelian forests on the edge of the Ecumene, we can now reach the audience all over the world and tell the myths and legends of our North through our music. We thank the whole team of Season of Mist so much.
Season of Mist is the oldest worldwide famous label, formely metal, but now dark folk and neofolk too, where our beloved friends and colleagues are signed: Heilung, Garmarna, Árstíðir, etc.
The label will re-issue the “Vetvi” album (2015) and the recently released “Volch’ya Yagoda” (2020) and will release the brand new album of Theodor Bastard.
“Volch’ya Yagoda” and “Vetvi” albums will be available for purchase on Bandcamp only until October 18, 2020
Dear friends, please don’t be alarmed if you don’t find our “Volch’ya Yagoda” and “Vetvi” albums on streaming services – this is associated with very good news, but we will tell about them a bit later. It’s a secret for now. The albums will be back soon. At the moment they are only available on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/TheodorBastard.
Another important news: “Volch’ya Yagoda” and “Vetvi” albums will be available for purchase on Bandcamp only until October 18, 2020. After that, they will disappear from sale from this service forever. If you want to purchase these albums in high quality on Bandcamp, you can do so in the next two days.
Our bandcamp: https://theodorbastard.bandcamp.com
Hurry up!
Video art for our classic track “Satori Aisha”
Dear friends, we are happy to present you this video art for our classic track “Satori Aisha”, which was released over 15 years ago within the album Pustota. Hope you enjoy!
Yana Veva sing in the upcoming single by Kati Rán
Yana Veva – vocalist of Theodor Bastard – sing in the upcoming single by Kati Rán – Dutch paganfolk singer and multi-instrumentalist. This epic song is inspired with Icelandic sagas.
Other recording artists are remarkable: Icelandic composer Borgar Magnason and Norwegian vocalist Kristian Eivind Espedal.
Borgar Magnason is one of Iceland’s leading musical figures having worked with the likes of Sigur Rós, Björk, and Brian Eno among others.
Kristian Eivind Espedal is the founder of Norwegian black metal band Gaahls Wyrd.
And Theodor Bastard is well-known in Russia musical band has been working in the genre of nordic folk / electronic music for over 15 years.
“Working with the Nordic vocalist Yana Veva was something I have wanted to explore further, ever since hearing her during a live concert in the Netherlands.
It needed the right song, the right moment and the right circumstances and for this new body of work all those components fell into place.
I am very grateful for her most personal contribution to my new work” – said Kati Rán.