XXVIII  ANKYLYM "V Moloke (In Milk)"

Tape in a milk package

The club Moloko (Milk) was renowned for being the last one in the tradition of the 1990-s' St. Petersburg venues. It was not very friendly though to experimental sound, being mostly oriented on ska/reggae/ska-punk: however, Ankylym had been accepted after submitting a demo and performed there several times in various lineups. This tape features dictaphone recordings of 2 of those gigs — while it's hard to call them really oustanding (except for the fact that a rare song is performed on each of them), and I used to a cassette recorder to all the gigs I was visiting back then, and there were much better recordings both in quality and energy, nevertheless it was released rather as a conceptual object, as an example of literal understanding of the expression Ankylym in milk: for the tape was sealed in a used (washed though) milk package, with a heap of paper pieces of different colours with lyrics enclosed. See the photo for its glaring, variegated look. And also as a summing up (in a handy way) the band's transition from electric hypostasis to acoustic with balalaika (which first appeared 4 months before this gig) — as well as the existence of the Moloko club itself, closed in 2005 by the authorities. As with many other complicately designed releases, the print run was slender (by the number of possible colours of papers I guess that hardly more than 10 copies) and not noticeably in demand by the listener accustomed rather to digipacks (which is in fact expected when even at the well-played electric gig this listener comments in the vein of This is not music, this is shit!).

ANKYLYM "V Moloke (In Milk)" ANKYLYM "V Moloke (In Milk)"