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• Pustota Slipcase + 16-page booklet (rare, latest copies)

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  The reissue of “Pustota” is a result of thorough reconstruction and restoration of the compositions the audience first heard and remembered from the original version of the album, recorded by Theodor Bastard in 2004. Today, after 10 years, it can be said that “Pustota” became a real creative experiment that broke the stereotypes created by the band’s previous works. Despite the fact that by the moment of the first release the discography of Theodor Bastard included several works, the members of the band have good grounds for calling “Pustota” their first album.
  
  In 2004, “Pustota” was released by several labels at the same time, such as Pandaimonium (Germany), The Art Records (Mexico) and Muzikal Yapim (Turkey). In Russia the album, as other works of Theodor Bastard, was released by Fulldozer Records.
  
  The original release included a cartoon video to the title song, “Pustota”, by Kol Belov, a flash cartoonist from Moscow. This work appeared to be wonderfully consonant with the world of musical images created by Theodor Bastard. Back in 2004 the video was acknowledged by the critics as a masterpiece cartoon and became a symbol in itself, the classics of the band’s heritage.
  
  According to the members of the band, it was in “Pustota” that they found an extremely harmonious combination of electronic beats and ethnic instruments, and that was the main reason behind the album’s success. It was here that Yana Veva found her unique singing manner, combining the Oriental motives with Balkan and Russian tradition. The lyrics were experimental, too. In “Pustota”, along with texts in Russian and English, you will find songs in Pushtu and Urdu. In some compositions Yana uses so called glossolalia, the combinations of words and sounds which lost their original meaning. Such a technique can often be met in traditional spells and in folk song refrains, and is a part of many sacral traditions, both Christian and Pagan.
  
  The live performances of Theodor Bastard of that period visually developed the idea which lay the foundation of the album. Each gig was a real ritual performance, with the musicians appearing on stage dressed in strange clothes and hats, making the whole event look like a magic rite.
  
  “Folklore multilinguism or polystylistics at the level of the collective unconscious” (according to Karlheinz Stockhausen) has always been a part of the musical concept of Theodor Bastard. Alfred Schnitke, the author of the term, emphasized the “fusion of the external and the internal“ in polystylistics, “the external implying the peripheral stylistic influences, flashes and reminiscences of the outer world, and the internal expressed in the personally coloured individual style”.
  
  The album “Pustota” by Theodor Bastard is not only an outstanding example of the band’s work but also probably the best Russian ethnoelectronic album. However, after the release of “Pustota” the band continued their ethnoelectronic experiments and concentrated more on live sound, expanding the palette of live instruments in their arrangements. Although the sound the band has today differs from that of 10 years ago, the acoustic and ideological concept of “Pustota” surely lay the strong foundation of the modern sound concept of Theodor Bastard.
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Pustota (2014 edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. ... more
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