Fjodor and Radar Men From The Moon @KSET 12May2015

On Tuesday evening I went to see Fjodor play at KSET.

I’ve already seen them perform and have already written about them here when I first heard them and here when I wanted to further express my admiration. I also did my homework before this gig and listened to that evening’s headliners Radar Men From The Moon to be informed of the program.

I got to Kset little bit before planned start of the program, as published on Facebook, so I managed to get a beer (they are selling Medvedgrad beers now, w00t!) and mingle a bit, even get introduced to some new people. Guys from Fjodor passed us on their way to the stage and some of us nodded to each other in recognition.

Gig was absolutely awesome.

Fjodor @KSET 12May2015  - Magic from the very start.

There are two things that got burned into my memory during that gig.

First: it was just like meeting an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time. Tension is high, excitement translates to elation and before a minute you are already wrapped in exchange like no time has passed at all from the last episode you spent together. The joy of shared experience wipes out any and every other feeling that would slow this summit down or make the exchange non-seamless.

Second: there is this organic quality of their music I find completely wondrous. Strong pivotal position of rhythm like the one of a beating heart is complemented with huge array of additional sounds provided by all kinds of knickknacks/pedals and it is very hard, at times, to believe all this sound is created by just three guys, three instruments. Just like before, I was especially smitten with drummers mad skillz but could savor more of complete picture now. I loved how their performance was very relaxed and seemed effortless and yet they were very emotionally expressive; exchanging glances, speaking without words, smiling and frowning to the instruments and to each other. They played for a long time, we even got an encore, and their music was still fresh and rapturous, not at all tiring but like a tireless spring overflowing with auditory novelty. 

Fjodor @KSET - pedals! A place for everything and everything in its place :)

It makes me happy even to write about that. I warmly recommend checking out their music and supporting them by purchase of the album here from bandcamp.

I may be a bit biased but after that Radar Men From The Moon seemed like an anticlimax.

Radar Men From The Moon @KSET

They were not bad; they were technically well presented and their music had powerful feel but they were also bit flat and repetitive. At times I wondered if their songs were not actually envisioned to have a vocal over the music as couple of beginnings sounded just like something U2 or alike could play. I’m not exactly sure that is a good thing. That “feel” of cover band was so pervasive and it went so well with nonverbal cues of their performance I just cannot let go of that impression. You can check their music here to check if they rock your boat when they failed to rock mine.

Even though it was Tuesday that was one excellent night out and I don’t regret any effort I spent to be there. I hope there will be even more Fjodor gigs in time to come.