You don't know how lucky you are, boy

With regard to this Russian octet, I'm just going to rip this off directly from a 2005 article by my dear friend Zach Dundas: "Of all the things a person could do in 1983 -- get heavy into legwarmers, write a bestseller about coke-snorting stockbrokers, whatever -- forming an avant-garde Russian rock band ranked very, very low on the advisable-activities list. Soviet authorities... well, they took a dim view. After all, Marx said very little about how jazz fusion/folk/psychedelic/punk/performance art (mp3) might help build True Socialism [emphasis added].

"A bunch of artsy Leningrad boys decided they didn't care. More than 20 years later, Auktyon -- the band they formed and, arguably, built into Russia's most critically acclaimed -- has outlasted both the old regime and its home city's old name. In Russia, Auktyon is famous for its absurdist stage show, blue-hot musical intensity (another mp3), fearless genre-splicing and slavishly devoted fans. In a place where entire geopolitical systems have gone to die, this band endures as a godfatherly influence on a whole rock nation." Nuff said.

Pioneer, the band's first US release, is due out later this year. Auktyon plays Carribean Lights on Sixth Street at 10 p.m. on March 16 (part of the KUT World Music showcase). Thanks Z.