Split Before,Together Now is a split album by Belarusian rock bands Hair Peace Salon and Jitters released on the initiative of the West Records label on October 25,2007. The disc consists of two EPs:Gipsy by Hair Peace Salon and Pick Me Up by Jitters.
By the end of spring 2006,two bands of Hair Peace Salon and Jitters decided to unite on a single disc.[1] In fall 2006 Jitters presented the single “Pick Me Up,”while Hair Peace Salon was preparing a maxi-single on 5 songs,but since a full album would not work out from such a number of tracks,the friendly bands decided to put together a split album.[1] According to Artur Luchkov,drummer of Hair Peace Salon,it had had already accumulated material,which would be enough for a solo album,but the band had not “matured for an album” yet.[2] Already in the early spring of 2007,in a conversation with BelGazeta,impresario Jan Busiel pinned “high hopes” on the next single of Hair Peace Salon.[3]
After the attempts of Hair Peace Salon to play with session keyboardists for a few quarters,including on stage during the festival “Acoustics of Spring”in March 2007,in connection with Konstantin Karman's six-month foreign business trip,at the end of 2007 the number of official band members increased.[4] Konstantin paused the existence of his band Jitters and was invited to play in Hair Peace Salon on a regular basis.[5] The ex-leader of Jitters was very pleased that he played music together then.[6] It is noticeable that the former bassist and vocalist became keyboardist and vocalist of Hair Peace Salon,because the band already had a bass player,while the artist who had been known to the guys from joint performances bought a Roland JP-8000 synthesizer during a business trip to Scotland,which served as the material basis to positively respond to the proposal of the colleagues to change his profile.[7][8]
At its time,Jitters recorded and mixed its songs on a recording studio in Baranavichy for only 2 months,while Hair Peace Salon decided to record by itself,experiment,and seek its sound,so the whole recording process took a lot more time.[9] The concert boom of Hair Peace Salon of 2007 allowed to put the finishing touches to new songs that would be included on the single “Gipsy”and then on the split.[10][11] That mini-CD was released on October 28,2007,and spread through contact with musicians.[12]
During that time,Jitters managed to present its record,give a final concert to the audience,and scatter all over the world,but the idea of a split album not disappeared and was transformed into a conceptual CD.[13]“The disc is a little story of two friendly bands that were previously on their own,then united,” Konstantin Karman recalled the friendship of both groups for the music portal xlam.by.[13]
On October 25,2007,a joint album compilation entitled “Split Before,Together Now”was released on the record label West Records to promote new cooperation.[14] Aleh Vial,leader of Hair Peace Salon,said Aliena Skarabahatava from Tuzin.fm that the main idea of its songs was a spiritual search of the man,and answering the same question on what is its part of the CD about,Jitters’frontman Konstantin Karman added that its tracks represented dissatisfaction with what we had then.[15]
The bands become henceforth officially united.[16]“We decided to temporarily „freeze“the Jitters project,” Konstantin Karman told the republican portal of alternative music xlam.by on the eve of the presentation of the joint album. “And since we have been acquainted and on friendly terms with Hair Peace Salon for a long time,there were no obstacles for unification. We have been „exchanging“musicians previously. There will be two voices in HPS now.”[17]
The compilation was presented on November 18,2007,in Minsk at the “Goodwin”club with the support of the bands Open Space,The Blackmail,and other artists,and,as Alena “Aresha” Sobolevskaya from the music portal LiveSound.by stressed,there was a beautiful concert,without superfluous people and “off-topic” music.[18]
Critical reception
“Despite the abundance of bands that play in the style of Brit-rock,this musical trend in our country has long remained in the shadows. And now a breakthrough came about,” the music portal LiveSound.by embraced the release of the compilation.[19] Through the prism of the review of the album Gentleman by Hair Peace Salon,Siarhei Budkin,music critic over at Budzma Belarusians!,expressed sadness that “the outstanding works” “Hover,”“Gipsy”did not make its cut.[20]
“Belarusians desperately jar guitars and bawl:it turns out into Brit-rock with the dizzy weaves of harmonies àla The Mars Volta,technically good guitar arpeggios àla Muse,and neurotic and sensual intonations àla Travis,” Tat’yana Zamirovskaya,journalist from the weekly BelGazeta,wrote about the Hair Peace Salon’s portion of the disc,putting up a takeaway that the band’s melodies in an incredible way resemble the Radiohead’s album of 2007 “In Rainbows,”which came out after the material of the disc had been recorded.[21] In her review,Alena Sobolevskaya from the Muzykalnaya Gazeta shared the opinion of the colleague on the musical tune and reflected upon the hysterical vocals,depressive bright melodies,and clever minor emotions.[1]
In her review of the album “Split Before,Together Now,”Tat’yana Zamirovskaya described the music of Jitters with the words “annoying,authentic and blues-like eccentric –it has a crazy dancing Gomez-like and Happy Mondays-like style,and there are no pretentious reflections.”[21] On the pages of the Muzykalnaya Gazeta,Alena Sobolevskaya appreciated the naughtiness and dance guitar rock of Jitters and compared the music of both bands with the works of Travis,Radiohead,Muse,Blur,and Coldplay.[1]
CD layout
As Aleh Vial recalled to xlam.by,the initial idea of the cover,which reflects the concept of the disc (tied together black and white shoes),came to Konstantin Karman and Eugene Vial,the first of drummer Jitters.[13] Musicians said Aliena Skarabahatava,journalist over at Tuzin.fm,they had a lot of cover ideas,but bound together different boots were the most interesting solution,because “we are different but interconnected with laces like those boots.”[15] Band members were looking for shoes that would suit for shooting,carrying away by the sight of Minskers’plimsolls,and then went to the section of children's shoes and realized that this is what was needed.[22] It turned out that no photographing was allowed in outlets,so they had to rent a pair of the children's ones in a secondhand store in Zhdanovichi.[13] As Alena Sobolevskaya from the Muzykalnaya Gazeta evaluated the choice of cover,this design fitted the bands well,since they preserved funny spontaneity and inner kindness.[1]“The result was such a nice cover here,which is very pleasant to all,” Aleh Vial summarized a result for the Belarusian Students’Association.[23]
Awards and nominations. Commercial success
The first song of the collection “Hover”became the triumphant anthem of Hair Peace Salon,which allowed to successfully pass the qualifying rounds and take the first prize (recording in a professional music studio) of the «Russian:ИдиНаРок»contest in 2007.[24][25] With the program basically made up of songs from the split album,musicians successfully participated in other music competitions,such as the “Musical Playoffs”(semi-finalists),[10][15] the “Rock Sparring”(the prize of studio recording owners),[11] the “Golden Acoustics”(the winners).[26][27]“We are very pleased that listeners chose us as the winners of this competition,” Aleh Vial,Hair Peace Salon’s frontman,remembered the peripeteia of the competition for Tuzin.fm and revealed the idea further,“The Acoustics had success among the audience. But we are not satisfied in this regard. Of course,it is nice to win,but,personally,I am ready for anything.”[28]
Owing to the album and concert-competitive activities on the basis of the songs from it,the band Hair Peace Salon was nominated in the category of “Breakthrough of the Year”at the “Rock Coronation 2007”ceremony in February 2008.[29][30] According to Charter 97,the CD was put in the list of top 50 discs as to sales for its year.[31] In general,audio materials were included in radio rotation,boosted the presence of rockers in the information space.[32][33] Weighing in on the expansion of the company’s catalogue with the released disc at the end of 2007,Siarhiej Jasiučenia,director of West Records,noted that his label was trying to “keep an eye on musical trends.”[34]
Tracklisting
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Artist
Length
1.
"Hover"
Hair Peace Salon
Hair Peace Salon
3:55
2.
"Through The Dark"
Hair Peace Salon
Hair Peace Salon
4:30
3.
"Gipsy"
Hair Peace Salon
Hair Peace Salon
4:45
4.
"Enemy"
Hair Peace Salon
Hair Peace Salon
4:45
5.
"At Your Side"
Hair Peace Salon
Hair Peace Salon
2:29
6.
"Pick-Me-Up"
Jitters
Jitters
3:47
7.
"Staggering"
Jitters
Jitters
4:23
8.
"Sapphire"
Jitters
Jitters
4:13
9.
"Dint"
Jitters
Jitters
3:06
10.
"Pixies"
Jitters
Jitters
3:15
Personnel
Hair Peace Salon :
Aleh Vial — lead vocals, guitars.
Konstantin Karman — back vocals, synthesizer.
Maxim “Gandibober” Devichensky — bass.
Artur Luchkov — drums.
Jitters:
Konstantin Karman — lead vocals, bass.
Ivan Barzenka — guitars, back vocals, keyboards.
Syargey Kondratenka — guitars.
Pavel Kudrin — drums.
Guest musicians:
Ivan Barzenka — keyboards (1, 2).
Olga Malko — keyboards (3, 5).
Andrey Kozik — keyboards (4).
Production:
Valentin Borisevich, studio «HWNL» — mixing and mastering (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
During the filming of the show “Musical Playoffs” in fall 2007, impressed by the performance of the band director Anatoĺ Viečar made an offer of creative cooperation to the members of Hair Peace Salon.[35] Already in early 2008, the band's frontman Aleh Vial told Tuzin.fm on the plans to shoot a music video, “We are now convinced that we need it. In February, we will begin work and take something from the new for video-embodiment.”[11] The official video for the eponymous lead single “Hover,” which presented the new look of the band that was together with Konstantin Karman then, was shot in February 2008 and aired on TV in the program of the LAD channel “Pro движение+” before long.[35] In the analysis of the Silent Hill-esque music video, X from “LiveSound.by” noted an interesting directorial and cameraman work, but also pointed out shortcomings in acting.[36]
Belarusian man of letters Vital Voranau acted as the author of the literary translation of the lyrics; “This is a three years old composition and we are no longer satisfied with some fragments of the text. When translating, Vital wrote the text anew,” musicians drew attention to the joint-work.[39]“The Belarusization of non-Belarusianlyrics by Belarusian bands is a great advanced training school,” the poet explained his approach to work and added that the results of Belarusization allow musicians to more gracefully integrate into the domestic context.[39]
As a result, expert of Tuzin.fm Ihar Nazaranka highlighted that to listen to the song in Belarusian suits him more.[40] He was also echoed by Siarhei Budkin, expert staffer over at Experty.by, who in 2012 warmly remembered “quite successful experiments of musicians with the Belarusian language” on the example of the same song.[41]“Vital made a very successful interpretation of the original text,” Konstantin Karman, singer-keyboardist on the song, said and added, “Now there is a feeling that the „understandable“ lyrics is more thoroughly conveys the true atmosphere of the song.”[42] Another music critic over at Tuzin.fm Sieviaryn Kviatkoŭski put into words that “Ciańki” reminded him the works of Polish rock band Czerwone Gitary and Paul McCartney touched up in the contemporary Britpop style.[43]
The song “Ciańki” was charted in the charts of Tuzin.fm, but stopped in the pre-final part of the “Megatour-2010.”[44]
Related Research Articles
Basóvišča is the festival of Belarusian alternative and rock music, which is annually conducted by the Belarusian Association of Students since 1990.
Parason is a rock band from Belarus, one of the winners of Basovišča in 2006. Leader of Parason is Andre Karp. Being interviewed by Muzykalnaya Gazeta in 2006, Aleh Vial, frontman of Hair Peace Salon, admitted that the band is close to his one in terms of musical style.
beZ bileta is a Belarusian alternative rock band from Minsk active since 1998.
Open Space is a pop rock and indie rock band from Minsk, Belarus. Formed in 2006 with an English repertoire and a few Belarusian songs, they later adapted mostly Russian lyrics. The band has released two full albums and several EPs and singles, but in recent years the musicians play together mostly as a cover band. Since 2017, frontman Vitaliy Matievskiy has focused on his synth-pop duo Days of Days, and since 2018 he also writes music for his solo electronic music project MATIVI.
Bristeil are an indie rock music band from Minsk, Belarus. Their music is often referred to as "intelligent rock". The group was formed in 2013 by lead vocalist and guitarist Aleh Vial. They released the debut EP Cyruĺnia Svietu on 26 May 2014. At present, Vial mostly focuses on songwriting for his solo electronic music project Helaiv, launched in 2017, while guitarist Max Bykau in fall 2018 began to play in the acoustic pop duo Maks & Lera, while playing part-time in the cover band Miami.
Cyruĺnia Svietu is the first studio EP by Belarusian intelligent rock band Bristeil released on May 26, 2014. The first track "Heta Mahčyma" was released as a single on December 2, 2013. All four tracks were written by Aleh Vial in the Belarusian language.
Vital Voranaŭ is a Belarusian-Polish playwright, translator, writer, academic, and poet. He is a co-founder of Belarusian Cultural and Scientific Centre in Poznań and the publishing house Bely Krumkacz. He was born in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR and now lives in Poland. He completed his doctorate at Masaryk University in Czech Republic and teaches Irish literature and history of Belarus in Southwestern College in the United States.
Hair Peace Salon is a power pop band from Minsk, Belarus, influenced by Britpop bands and British indie rock. Hair Peace Salon's music is notable in Belarus rock music by its use of English lyrics. The group was founded in 1998, and they have released one full-length album Gentleman, and numerous singles and EPs. In 2013, the members took a break when frontman and co-founder Aleh Vial created another band, Bristeil.
Gentleman is the first studio album by the Belarusian indie rock and power-pop band Hair Peace Salon, released on March 21, 2012. The CD contains 10 tracks recorded in the period 2009–2012. All songs were written by Aleh Vial and Konstantin Karman.
Jitters was a rock band from Minsk, Belarus, which played mostly rock and post-grunge. The band was formed in 1998 and released the album Split Before, Together Now, as well as several EPs. In 2007, Jitters broke up and its members joined other groups: Konstantin Karman teamed up with Hair Peace Salon, and Ivan Barzenka and Pavel Kudrin joined beZ bileta.
Hover is an EP by Belarusian rock band Hair Peace Salon recorded at the Gennadiy “Gena Dee” Syrokvash’s X-NOISE Factory studio and released in 2005. All of songs were performed in English.
Tuzin. Perazagruzka is a compilation album by a dozen of Belarusian bands and solo performers who usually sing in Russian, English, and Italian but made covers of their songs in the Belarusian language. The CD was released by the public movement Budzma Belarusians! together with the music portal Tuzin.fm with the support of the World Association of Belarusians “Baćkaŭščyna” and the Belarusian Radio Racyja in December 2009. The idea of the project belongs to Siarhei Budkin.
Budzma The Best Rock / Budzma The Best Rock/New is a two-disc compilation album by Belarusian rock bands. Both invited musicians and the winners of selection were put on the compilation. CDs were published by the public movement Budzma Belarusians! together with European Radio for Belarus in November 2009, and a few months later all of the FM-radio stations, regional and district Houses of Culture of Belarus received them. The compiler and mastering engineer is Slava Korań, the frontman of the ULIS band.
"Rolz'n'Rulz" is the second single from the album Gentleman by the Belarusian indie rock and power pop band Hair Peace Salon released on September 15, 2010. It consists of one song “Rolz'n'Rulz” written by Aleh Vial together with Konstantin Karman.
Tuzin.fm is a private non-profit Belarusian web-portal, which was created in 2003 to cover musical creativity in Belarus. Among its objectives, the site promotes music written in Belarus and motivates to listen to Belarusian songs as large an audience as possible. It initiates and implements music projects and is the information partner of the most significant events of the Belarusian independent music scene. Independently determining its information policy, the nature and content of the information, advertising, audio, and video materials, in 2009 the mass media had more than 50 thousand monthly visitors who downloaded more than 80 thousand songs.
Rock-kola was a Belarusian rock festival held annually from 1990 to 2007 in Polotsk and Novopolotsk. At the Rock Coronation 2004–2005, it won in the category of “Festival of the Year.”
West Records is a record label in the Republic of Belarus.
Rusya is a Belarusian vocalist of the band Indiga, a "rock-princess" according to the results of the tenth Rock Coronation. She is additionally the vocalist of the band Šuma and also takes part in the bands such as Akana-NHS.
Volha Samusik was a Belarusian rock singer and journalist.
Pick Me Up is an EP by the Belarusian rock band Jitters recorded at Vyacheslav Bankevich's studio in Baranavichy and self-released on June 1, 2006. All songs were written by Konstantin Karman in the English language. The presentation of the mini-album was held on October 25, 2006, at the Minsk club “Russian: ЁЁ.” In 2007, the EP was re-released as part of the split-album Split Before, Together Now by the band's Hair Peace Salon and Jitters.
↑ Сарокіна, Кася; Скарабагатава, Алена (2007-11-16). "У Менску зноў будзе брыт-поп"[Britpop will be in Minsk again]. Tuzin.fm (in Belarusian). mpby.ru. Archived from the original on 2019-03-17. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
↑ Тыневицкая, Юлия “Ju” (2007-06-13). "ИДИнаРОК. Финал"[IDInaROCK. The final.] (in Russian). xlam.by. Archived from the original on 2017-04-24. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
↑ ТГ (2008-01-24). "Шорт-ліст «Рок-Каранацыі-2007»"[Short list of the “Rock Coronation 2007”] (in Belarusian). Tuzin.fm. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2019-02-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
