A brand new release – the opening of the debut album of the noise rock band “Stabs” took place on Monday, May 6, in “Barona’s boudoir”. It is the place where the musicians of these special associations compose and “in every other way develop their creative activity.”
“Stabs” is a trio of best friends, consisting of drummer Aleksandrs Barons, bassist Uģis Jansons-Krastiņš and guitarist Roberts Šūmanis. Of these three, the best known to a wider audience is Aleksandrs Barons, who is a versatile poet and musician – his debut poetry collection “Vientulības Labyrinths” and his second contemporary folk music solo album “Waiting for Snow” will also be released this year. Uģis Jansons-Krastiņš or Ug Ug Ugg Ugg is a sound engineer and producer who released five (!) solo albums in different styles in 2022 alone, and at the end of 2023 “Igrek” was released, which was made together with Aleksi Luriņa (ritunsiic). On the other hand, Roberts Šūmanis, better known as Svete, is the founder of the tape label “Sāpes sūnas” and the group “Velnezers”, also part of the rap group “New Wavy”.
“”Clash” is a message about 21st century Riga as a place where Western values clash with the ubiquitous Soviet heritage every day. These are expensive cars and bad roads, empty buildings and ever new and bigger supermarkets, the grandiose trauma of the previous generations and the indifferent faces of the descendants illuminated by blue light, hatred at first sight in public transport, the most colorful swearing and the most blatantly expressed love,” the band’s album says. .
The first singles from this album were released with explanations of the message that these old works need today. For example, “Everything evil is eternal – everything eternal is evil” is said to be “an epigram to the eternal presidents of Latvia’s eastern neighbors, who are only tyrants under grotesquely chosen masks of democracy”, but the source of inspiration for the title of the piece is a Dadaist cabaret performance that took place in 1921, which was presented as a lawsuit (it is recommended to read more about it on the Internet – quite an interesting thing). On the other hand, the single “Hunger and Greed” is based on Ainārs Šleser’s life story – from a harsh childhood in Ķengarag to a supermarket millionaire and a member of parliament. How the trio sees such or other messages in their noisy musical sounds is hard to even imagine, but the reviewer would like to know what the stories of other compositions are about.
Opinions will be divided about the band’s musical contribution: some will consider it to be ordinary noise created with the help of musical instruments, others will find some subtexts and deeper thoughts in it, perfectly dressed in mood music. For the first, compositions such as “97 Vainagi” and “Rīga ir gatava” will speak for them, others will be able to oppose, based on such compositions as the aforementioned “Hunger and Greed” and a couple more. In his assessment, the author of these lines will probably be closer to the first than the second, although in concerts “Stabs” is able to bring you into a kind of hypnotic trance, making your thoughts travel to unknown distances. Yeah, and the track “Sphinx in a Tracksuit” is cool!
PS Believe it or not, but this review was already prepared when “Stabs” came out with a new and effective video and – exactly for the song “Sphinx in training clothes”! This too has its own explanation, which can be read in the attached clip link.
