Album review: Mr Russia - Training for the Gameshow Host

MR RUSSIA
TRAINING FOR THE GAMESHOW HOST
(Lens Records)
www.mrrussia.net

I'm a sucker for anything released on cassette, so when I received a bright yellow tape in the mail from a band called Mr Russia, I was excited. However, my stereo's tapedeck has been broken for ages, so I was equally relieved that the album is available for free download on the band's website. Strangely, the track list printed on the cassette is only five songs, and website version contains six. The difference is a cover of Radiohead's "The National Anthem."

Covering Radiohead is an interesting choice for this band, because it's hard to figure out any similarities between Radiohead and Mr Russia. Though they pull off a pretty decent cover of the Kid A opus, Mr Russia lack any further comparisons to Yorke and co. The band's vocals are too gruff; the distortion is too grungy. Maybe they're trying to pull off something that's truly their own, but they have a long way to go to match Radiohead's greatness.

I'm also not sure if this is the most appropriate artist for a cassette release. Putting something on tape automatically generates certain preconceptions about a band. I expect something noisy, lo-fi, or dissonant...maybe all three. It's hard to separate the media from the message, and I probably didn't even give this record a fair shake based on what I expected from even before the first listen.

That being said, there were moments on this EP that were actually alright, never great, but certainly passable.