-vialka press-

Vialka is an inflatable submarine survived the commercial war. It travels unrestlessly around the world to explore the rich diversity of its cultures before it is too late. Vialka is a noisy comedy not ashamed of its own way by scorn or ridicule. It is an invitation to dance to steady explosive rhythms, terror melodies and experimental movements. It is a symphony for humble flesh through the high spirits of rock'n'roll.

Globetrotting mavericks and dynamic two piece from everywhere and nowhere, Vialka unfailingly blow the minds of the uninitiated! With the world's smallest and hardest hitting female drummer and ungodliest (un)bearded baritone guitarist, this band surpasses all expectation of the possibilities of popular music!

International Press

VIALKA: Succès Planétaire International

Guy is wearing a Peeesseye t-shirt on the inside-front cover of this rather sumptuously packaged offering from Dual Plover which is as good a sign as any of impending originality and stimulation. In fact it's a very honest, open and affectionate recording which manages to tease, frustrate, fortify and amuse all whilst being not in the least bit facetious or arrogantly ironic. Marylise Frecheville and Eric Boros' play is lovely, a constant bickering of guitars and percussion that raises musical ideas, questions and quandaries with avidity and spleen. Boros' unaffected notes are the spidery, stepwise grid underneath which Frecheville's percussion swerves and waltzes, her voice shooting off in epic tantrum or chuckling spree as the fancy takes her. The sheer joy of composition is happily at the forefront of all these pieces, "100% Hello" and "One for the Road" both like watching a game of Mousetrap in fast-forward and just as colourful. You can't help but know that a cup of tea at the merch stand with these people would be very, very nice.

An arrangement of a traditional Shona mbira piece is expertly done, referencing the mbira's cyclical patterns, syncopation, interlocking motion and repetition as key sites of exploration for both players' instrumentation, whereas tracks like "Dutar" ask you to keep track of what is being repeated yourself, to mentally arrange these non-stop offerings of disparate riff and rhythm as they're constantly juggled back and forth not in mimicry of song but in celebration of its fecund and elastic components. A wonderfully intimate rendition of "Hole in the Bucket" rounds off the record, a perfect summation of the cooperative, pragmatic and slightly mad tendencies of the music previous and testament again to the sincerity of approach that makes the rest of the album so enjoyable. Despite having some of its mania sapped by the deliciously candid production this is well worth investigating. (8/10)

Joe Luna / Foxy Digitalis (04/08/2009)

VIALKA: Succès Planétaire International

Hailing from France, Vialka tours the world (almost) without rest, spreading its music to both the unaware and the converted worldwide, on a daily basis. Therefore, it is only natural to find that the world has had its imprint on the band as well.

Succès Planétaire International, the band's new album, is virtually a trip to eclectic districts, or more precisely — presents the world as it is reflected through the eyes of Vialka. Different cultural shades are assimilated into the music, which feels more structured than on previous efforts while remaining true to the dazzling, post-rock nature, based on the duo's ecstatic baritone guitar and drums.

The opening "Premiers Pas" feels like a lunatic crusade, and might be considered as the modern answer to the '70s progressive rock epics. Clocking at just over six-and-a-half minutes, this is an impressively structured and performed suite. Opening with a merry introduction comprising joyous cries, tuba and flute, the melody is then repeated as a more menacing theme with turbo guitar and forceful drums. All ingredients blend just before Marylise Frecheville sings lyrically, and then it all turns into malevolent chants to which Frecheville vocalizes spastically (one of the most afflicted and impressive vocal performances you are likely to hear!).

Later, an Arabian flavor is bravely incorporated, suggesting that Vialka is indeed fit to conquer the world. The sonic textures are definitely at peak here, and the tuba and flute, as well as some crystal percussion, add lots of color to the general rumble.

The album continues to strike the listener with surprises throughout, as even though the pieces flow fluently and with reinforced subtlety it is impossible to predict what Vialka has in store for the next second. The derangement of Vialka is also maintained through the "atomic restructuring" of Bob Drake and slightly psychotic "sonic gesticulations" by Crank Sturgeon that appear irregularly and out of the blue, so that even on a capable yet straightforward reading of the comic "Hole in the Bucket" (originally of German origin, so we're told) the listener is constantly reminded of the nonlinear context that perpetually drives the entire, thoroughly gratifying output. (9.5/10)

Avi Shaked / Maelstrom - Issue 66

VIALKA: Succès Planétaire International

Vialka are Marylise Frecheville and Eric Boros. They make their base in a farmhouse in central France, but are residents of the world. If there's a better case of musical nomadism than Vialka, I'm yet to hear it: on Succès Planétaire International, anything they pick up is theirs, and anything they put down returns to the flux. It starts with 'Premiers Pas', an eccentric stitching of countless styles - oompah tuba, flowery pipes, xylophone, tangled splatter-drumming, keening vocals from Marylise, funereal folk laments from Eric, and invasive technology courtesy of guest noisician Crank Sturgeon, who hurls all sorts of random vocal gibberish into the fray. It lacks any discernable backbone but still dances the room on sheer vivacity and thrill for life. Elsewhere, there is dancing mbira from Duracell's Andrew Dymond ('Good Riddance'), Chinese song from Dada-inspired Beijing vocalist Xiao He ('Dutar') and a closing piece where Marylise and Eric milk the German folk song 'Hole In The Bucket' for maximum comedic effect. It's Vialka's most fragmented, silly, playful record to date, and listening to it you're reminded that what you look for in this world isn't newness per se - would you even recognise it if you saw it? - but art created with a passion for its place in the universe, are created out of sheer love for the now.

Louis Pattison / Plan B #45 (05/2009)

VIALKA: Succès Planétaire International

With their third album, this French duo has created their richest, most intricately arranged music, rife with musical surprises. Marylise Frechville's agile drumming and urgent torch singing, supported by Eric Boros' nimble, dynamic guitar work recalls the Spartan intensity and virtuosity of another mighty French band, Etron Fou Leloublan. Vialka’s wildly unpredictable compositions, full of unexpected twists and turns, combine elements of folk, prog rock, improvisation, jazz and cabaret within the group’s own eccentric, distinctly European aesthetic. Enhanced by a handful of guest players and Bob Drake's able production, "Succès" is another fascinating chapter in Vialka’s creative development.

Paul Lemos / The Big Takeover #64

VIALKA: Succès Planétaire International

Wow!  This time around, the Vialka disc finds itself cozy against a piece of black felt wrapped in gorgeous photography (Wenxi Xiong, you win!) and cool, abstract art.  Yup, here they are again - so glad to see somewhat wistful-looking pictures of these globe-conquerors, confident in their new madness... even a new swank logo!  It's almost as if they're trying to lull you into a posture of comfort, to be utterly obliterated by the waiting tones on the record.

Premiers Pas opens with some incredible brass... What, a tuba?  Gay and lovely...  Strange blasts of frothy vocal nonsense... Flute brilliance -- moving from chanteuse to big, russian-style choirs.  Oh man, they're at it again - and their musical chops are better than ever.

The new-heavy-heavy rock moments are new (to my recollection) and Boros is sounding better, stronger, faster on the vox - he sounds a bit like Jello Biafra now, which is awesome.  The surf-gypsy moments are lovely and confusing... especially with "yahoo!" staidly yelled over top... and then funk!  All this with synthesizers buzzing along at the edge of perception as well... Distorted vox clips all over the place... The end of 100% Hello is a glitch destructo clip-art fest which one shouldn't try to decode - just let it do to you what it wants to.

One For The Road starts with a yummy-fuzzy Boros high-life guitar tone and shuffle-a-gogo with Frecheville drumming the bounce to the cosmos.  It's hard to say what of this is Pro Tools and overdubbing, but the drums are sounding astoundingly tight.  What group would bother with such regulated tightness on such a mad trip?  Whether it's editing or immaculate playing, it sure packs a punch.

This duo, being effervescent world traveler magis are clearly operating on a different frequency, but rocking their chops most days and nights has translated into a recording monster-engine.  I actually wrote something similar, on reviewing their 2005 release "Curiosities of Popular Customs", and it's hard to believe how much they've further tightened up on this record.

The odd verbal 'shit, i fucked up' and similar are amazing, almost like Easter eggs among the vortex... Here they leave lots of room for solos and shared musical moments and cool little tricks.  Good Riddance features minimalist tuned perc and guitar sequence-type arpeggiated motives which circle and develop - this feels distinctly African, but the inspiration might come from anywhere.  The only other type of omni-world-music like this I can think of is generated by Dead Can Dance, where any ethnicity becomes 'every' ethnicity or perhaps The Great Ethnicity.  The eerie sense of a cosmic Other is threatened by looming presentments of thrash metal and then ends on a major seventh:  very weird.  Not music for normal folks, to be sure.

Do What Now? starts like a high-life remix (actually based on a traditional Shona mbira piece) and then ends up a pointed, more dangerous rock-out with chanting - incomprehensible and still catchy as hell.  Interjected guitar rush-rock-outs are ever present.  I think the one word for this record is "illusive".

The bass drum hits in Dutar remind you that what you're listening to is not only really fucking weird and cool, but also exquisitely engineered - the mix, with all its strange smattering of sounds is packed with character and all the parts occupy a nice, funny realm of their own, making up a highly listenable mix of musical gnomes.  Technically, this should be impossible music to listen to, but the mix goes a long way to helping the brain make sense of things.  It must have been very challenging to mix and master this stuff - kudos to Bob Drake (recording) and whoever did the mastering.  It also seems Drake was responsible for the editing; clearly, hands-down, a true genius at the controls.  The mixing treatments and edits are so subtle across the board - seemingly impossible for a project of this scope and complexity.

Always Against brings up an interesting point:  the listener disappears out of complete avant-garde abstraction for a moment to settle into what appears to be a vivid and powerful mood - quite devoid of the manic, painted blobs of half-jokingness.  So the thought is:  wow, if Vialka were to sit down to take us through a 'conventional' musical, static-for-four-minutes experience, or a whole record of that... What would happen?  Would Vialka, without the miasma, still be Vialka or would Vialka evaporate?  With the intensity and the truth of this powerful moment, one realizes 'shit this band is actually exquisite and might be hiding really intense and beautiful songs' - which, of course, is not the point of Vialka.  Is exposing this fact the demolishment of the Vialka entity?  The very fact that the question is raised is likely proof that Vialka is doing its job.  Viva Vialka!

Hole in my Bucket pretty much drives the point home - the true international experience is a world full of crazy hillbillies on fire.  Vialka has seen the world - and that's what they've written.  Trying to be legit and weirdo at the same time, Frecheville's warbling songbird tones - luscious singing apparently lost and re-found in the 1930's - make you melt.  (You've got to want to be a fly on the wall during this married couple's arguments!)  Boros as muttering Henry (Henri) is beyond great - if it doesn't make you want to listen to the whole album AGAIN and twice as loud, I'd be very surprised.

With a record like this, you don't highlight 'good songs'... this is one of those records, perhaps like those of Frank Zappa, where you say, 'wait, wait, here comes this part!'... and then mouth sing it and gesticulate to get the point across.  My favourite album moments:  Premiers Pas @ 2:39 is one of the best screams in recorded history.  100% Hello @ 2:03 ... I count the seconds until this gets sampled by hip-hop funksters.  Always Against @ 3:33 is an intense bass-driven rock out with monster fills that progs too and fro.  Frecheville's flat coaxing of Henry is fun and mental.

Vialka has presented another incredible ride through an astounding and confusing musical space - it will demand your concentration, and you won't be able to concentrate on anything else once you put it on - by far their best compositions and recording to date.  Let's hope dualPLOVER can further disseminate the genius of Vialka to a wider audience than the world-weary tot-toting duo has already done by themselves.

Karl Mohr / Multibeat (14/04/2009)

VIALKA: Succès Planétaire International

I’ve been avoiding starting this review for a couple of days now. Not because this is a bad record, because it’s not, but more that I’m not sure how to approach reviewing it. Vialka have got me stumped. My frame of reference for this style of music is pretty limited and I hate to fall back on lazy journalism techniques, but the best way I can describe Vialka is like Gogol Bordello meets Battles. There’s a hint of Fugazi in there as well. Let me try again. Vialka are a two piece gypsy folk punk band from France. Succès Planétaire International is their sixth album. Their motto for this record was “more rock, less talk.” Most bands could do with taking their advice.

The first thing that you hear on Succès Planétaire International is what can only be described as a folk waltz riff being played by a tuba. This is the first thing that confused me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a tuba being used on record. I guess there’s a first time for everything. The next thing that threw me was the drums and guitar. This is where the motto of “more rock, less talk’ comes into play. The drummer scatters around her snare drum and hi hat recalling the precise, syncopated style of Battles’ John Stainer, whilst the guitar plays a descending riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Fugazi record. Over the course of six minutes, Vialka twist and turn their way through four different time signatures, numerous stops and starts and at least three different musical styles. As odd as it is to compare a folk band to Battles, it’s not that far off the mark. ‘Good Riddance’ again showcases Vialka’s tendency towards intricate rhythms, with both guitar and drums showcasing restrained yet complex riffs, fusing both folk music and math rock seamlessly. Like a cross between Battles and Gogol Bordello.

World music is often seen as a dirty word, a genre with slight returns at best. On Succès Planétaire International, Vialka have proven not only that world music shouldn’t always be disregarded, but that you can produce interesting and thought provoking records under its umbrella, without sounding like one of those terrible bands that always get booked for Later With Jools Holland. Just remember: “more rock, less talk.”

David Pott-Negrine / Die Shellsuit, Die! (03/2009)

Gypsy prog: July 15th, 2008 - Velvet Lounge, Washington, DC

Vialka, a French husband-and-wife duo of drums and baritone guitar, played at the Velvet Lounge on Tuesday night. I previewed the show at Black Plastic Bag, complete with plenty of hype and one wildly inaccurate comparison (no, these guys do not sound anything like Ruins).

The show definitely lived up to my expectations. As I wrote in my preview, the band describe themselves, glibly, as a “turbo folk micro-orchestra,” whatever the hell that means. But what they really are is prog, albeit prog in the Etron Fou sense more than anything else, minus a bit of the dadaism. They played a number of lengthy compositions that flitted whimsically through two to three seemingly unrelated themes, most of them involving tricky but somehow bouncy rhythms, gratuitously sung/screamed/declaimed vocals (all in French), and a hell of a lot of fancy guitar fretwork.

Vialka combine the manic, stop-start spasticity characteristic of so much proggy avant-rock with a melodic sense that draws straight from Eastern European folk and what I ignorantly categorize in my head as “French music.” There’s a sense of whimsy that’s very un-American going on in their writing, which probably makes them sound ridiculous to some of the more jaded types out there, but gives them a certain irrepressible charm for me.

In concert, all the quirkiness embedded in the compositions came out in the open. I got a chance to chat with both band members - Eric Boros, the guitarist, and Marylise Frecheville, the drummer - before and after the show, and my very enjoyable conversations with them gave no hint of their stage personalities. When the show began, Eric donned a shiny metallic shirt and Marylise a sequined spaghetti strap top and the quirkiness just kept going from there. They danced around a lot - Marylise leapt up from behind her kit to dance in the middle of the crowd on two occasions, and Eric was bouncing around with a huge grin on his face the whole time - but more than that, their personalities just seemed to shine through in the vocals and the sometimes hilariously disjointed rhythms.

The reception was quite good, and they sold a few CDs, always nice to see with a band likely so far outside the experience of your average American concertgoer (even one who frequents the Velvet Lounge). Good times.

Brandon Wu / BrandonWuPhotography (07/2008)

The first time I meet Marylise Frecheville and Eric Boros, they appear out of the night, winter coats zipped up, backpacks strung with guitar and cymbals, rolled-up bedding in hand. They are tired and unhappy. They relate their last 48 hours; paired with terrible bands at some godforsaken venue up north, underpaid by a promoter, let down by the capricious scheduling of the crumbling British railway network. I find myself wondering why people might live this way, toss themselves at the mercy of a merciless world. But Marylise shrugs it off: "This is the life we chose."

Later, dressed in traditional clothes that make them look like medieval serfs, they play. Eric prances and kicks his heels, his fingers dancing exotic motifs across his fretboard, echoes of gypsy folk, Eastern melodies and African song, product of a nomadic muse. Marylise sings with an earthy, French accented voice that belies her slight size, bounds out from behind her drums to recite story-songs, and returns behind the kit to beat out mini tornadoes of percussion. That night, Vialka sleep in my lounge. We exchange email addresses, and the next morning, they leave, bound for the station, and the wide world swallows them up once more.

Twenty-nine months later, I ring the doorbell of a house in Brixton. I don’t know the woman who answers, but Eric recognises me and welcomes me in. As I enter, Marylise pads down the stairs, beaming, thirsty baby clamped to her breast. At just five months old, Ildiko – who shares the name of the last wife of Atilla The Hun, but that’s mere coincidence – is already experiencing life as part of the Vialka touring party. If this is as much a project as a band – as its creators have it, a "Social scientific experiment, attempting to meet, communicate and work with extraordinary musicians and artists from everywhere and nowhere, with particular interest in polluted dictatorships, bleak colonies and monarchic democracies" – you feel this Vialka are now, offstage at least, a trio.

After dinner, we relocate to the lounge. Eric has made me promise not to ask 'the boring questions'. "So the first," he deadpans, "is why did you start the band?" And he breaks into peals of laughter. "Stop fucking with him, Eric," tuts Marylise. So – why did you start the band? Laughter. "We played music together first," explains Marylise. "We were crammed in a car together for several tours before we were together. Together, we were in a punk band…"

"…I wouldn’t go so far as a punk band," interrupts Eric. "I was living in a squat in Switzerland when Marylise and Titi, this French guitar player, showed up. They needed a bass player, so I just started playing with them, and a month later, we recorded an LP. I just kind of jumped on that."

That band, NNY, split in 2002. Marylise and Eric, now lovers, relocated to a farmhouse in rural France, from where they practised, planned recordings and plotted more and more distant and adventurous tours, an attempt to experience the world’s underside. "I call it menestrels," explains Marylise. "There is a song on the new album called that. It is about going around and talking to people and discovering the information we get from the media can be very different from what people actually witness and do."

Vialka’s travels have taken them across Asia, Africa, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and all over Europe. "I love travelling," says Eric. "But the more I travel the more I increasingly see the limitations. When you go somewhere, you go with films already in your mind – you see the things you think you are going to see. Now, you just need to step off anywhere to see the whole world is covered in Lonely Planet-toting backpackers."

"There's something very different between travelling and touring," agrees Marylise. "Because when we go somewhere to play, we are sharing stuff with people," adds Eric. "You have this really incredible trust relationship. You’ve just shared an email but all of a sudden you find yourself on the other side of the world in their house. It gives me an incredible faith in humanity, a faith that otherwise is quite difficult to find."

As well as geography, Vialka are fascinated by history, or more specifically, lineage: oral history, the relation of tales, and the connection a band has with its forefathers, or will have on future generations. And like Sun City Girls or The Ex, their experience loops directly back into their music.

"It's hard to say we're influenced by Malian griot, or we're influenced because Marylise's mother was an opera singer in Paris," says Eric "This is important, I think. I got a tape in the mail in 1993 that blew my mind and I started doing strange stuff from it but no one necessarily talks about this stuff. It doesn’t work in a tradition. In Mali, the family that’s been playing the kora for 20 generations, there’s a context of past and continuity. Speaking of something as part of the past and making it go forward into the future."

Are people more shaped by their genes, or by their experience?

Eric: "A good question! I like it very much."

Marylise: "I can only talk about my experiences. I was raised to be a logic person, always very good at maths and physics. My parents are the perfect couple from the good years in the Sixties. We call them in French les trente glorieuse, the 30 good years after the end of the war. Two people with good jobs and a house on the outskirts of the city. I studied architecture. But suddenly I became a musician. Maybe it's the fact that my father's family were musicians, but I don’t know any of them. But my dad was abandoned, I did look for his mum but I could not find her."

So maybe there's something dormant?

Marylise: "The brain is a genetic thing too, the chemicals and the gender…"

Eric: "You can think of a human being as like empty, with no thoughts inside it, but everything in your mind comes from your experience. Genes might be there to treat the information you receive in a certain way, but there’s so much more influence from experience."

Do you consider Vialka a political band?

Marylise: "I think art in general is necessarily political. Even just form or shape itself can reveal a political aspect of the mind of the artist."

Eric: "From where I'm from in Canada, the music scene was very influenced by this identity politics thing – riot grrrls, straight edgers, Chumbawumbaism, as I heard someone say. At the time that question would have strong importance. Now, I would say no. I feel like our creative impulse and way of living could be perceived as being very political, but it’s just us trying to be as true to ourselves. If I was to say were were a political band it would be like we were removing something from ourselves and putting it on a shelf."

Marylise: "What we make is very organic, it grows in every direction. Politics is part of it. But it is intricate."

Marylise, ever-industrious, has had difficult adjusting to motherhood. "I had to give the boob all day, and I couldn’t do anything – at the beginning I was really stressed about it, I have to do something, I have to be productive! I had a really hard time getting used to it." Just months after Ildiko's birth, then, Vialka returned to the Pyrenees to complete their new album Plus Vite Que La Musique.

"The title means many things in French," explains Marylise. "But the straight translation is 'Faster than the music'. It's what you say when somebody tells you something but they don't tell you all the steps that led to the statement. It can also mean doing too many things stressfully. The title just felt like something in the air. The world is in a machine, going faster and faster, and everyone's pressed against the wall."

Maybe sometimes, the only way to find your niche is to pack your bag, hit the road, and try to keep up. 

Louis Pattison (photo: Adam Faraday) / Plan B #25 (09/2007)

DAMO SUZUKI/VIALKA: July 22nd, 2007 - The Spitz, London, England

How do I describe Vialka? If I tell you they're a duo, he on guitar, she on drums, both on vocals, you'll probably think "ah, White Stripes", but they're nothing like that, although they share a certain aesthetic that might be described as primitivist (although not primitive). Maybe if Jack and Meg had grown up listening to Magma instead of Led Zeppelin they might have turned out something like this, although it's impossible to imagine Vialka ever writing a song for a Coke ad. If I tell you their music spans genres from Eastern European folk through punk, jazz and Beefheartesque avant-blues, with the odd bit of reggae thrown in, you might imagine some sort of polystylist sound; but they never really sound like anything other than themselves. If I tell you that Marylise Frecheville wears a fantastically unconvincing blond wig and occasionally jumps out from behind her drum kit to dance in the audience while Eric Boros remains in half-shadow on the stage, encouraging us all to clap, you might have the idea that they're a "wacky" band; but there's a forceful sense of purpose behind what they do that is utterly compelling and has no trace of novelty (which doesn't preclude a wry humour coming through). The only category I feel the need to put them in (although they describe themselves as "nomadic turbo-folk") is "good music". They're one of the most distinctive and engrossing acts I've seen recently, and I commend them to you.

Having left the stage at the Spitz, Vialka come back, as this evening they, augmented by a flautist, are acting as Damo Suzuki's band for his latest appearance in London. It's a different atmosphere tonight to the last time I saw him; It's Sunday night, the audience is a sitting one rather than a dancing one, and there's the small matter of the curfew. So tonight's show is perhaps a more cerebral affair than that November night, which pushes towards a more reflective mood. What's remarkable about Damo's performances is the way that the musicians he plays with seem to absorb entirely into his vision, without ever losing their own voices, so that here we hear the sound of Vialka subtly altered to become something that is clearly of a piece with his previous performances, yet also unique. And next time, it'll be different again, an unpredictable, unrepeatable event with Damo at its centre, acting as the focus that draws it all together. What you can't fail to take away from any of his performances is a sense of the sheer generosity of his spirit.

PeteMaskReplica / Notes From A Defeatist (07/2007)

VIALKA/KRUZENSHTERN I PAROHOD: Split

This CD from Kruzenshtern & Parohod and Vialka is what sampler CD’s should be; it’s a far better way to get the feel of an artist's music rather than cramming 28 tracks of 28 artists onto a CD. While it’s only comprised of 2 artists, the boundaries both explore make you feel as though you’ve heard countless creative and individual artists.

The first of their 5 new tracks, “Bamako”, finds Vialka shifting and squirming their way with only a drum/guitar lineup. The sound is reminiscent of The Minutemen with the guitar somehow seeming to doubling the guitar and bass attack of Watt & Boon. The rhythm is nearly hypnotic. The loose limbs of drummer Marylise Frecheville bring to mind the playing of Katherina of The Ex. Throughout their brief portion of the CD it’s apparent that Frecheville should be considered one of the best female drummers of the day.

Together Frecheville & guitarist Eric Boros have created music drawing on traditional old world folk songs as well as punk rock and free jazz to make it an accessible, intriguing, and occasionally even danceable mix. When music at it’s most expressive freest form such as this, it becomes political in nature. It automatically feels open to exploring all the available possibilities in one’s surroundings. This is why such two fairly different artists can share space on the same album.

Kruzenshtern & Parohod’s music aim to open the masses to an understanding of Israeli culture. Upon the first listen of their portion of the album it’s somewhat reactionary to snicker at the sound and melody of the clarinet and accordion. Unfortunately it’s because there is such a misunderstanding and ignorance of the music of this culture that most are only familiar with the sounds through comedic ventures or, ugh, Fiddler On The Roof. To counter that, K&P put these elements in a more comprehensible situation with a pounding bass and heavy drum combination on such tracks as “Young Ones (With Accordion.)” It’s a Jesus Lizard rhythm with Steve Mackay horn bleat over the top. It’s a fine example of the use of heavy sounds (be it metal, punk or noise) being used to make a point.

For using a rather unorthodox fusion of bass, drum, and the aforementioned clarinet and accordion, Kruzenshtern & Parohod get a lot of mileage out of their instruments, never growing tired or routine. While 2 of the tracks are new, the other 2 are a reworking of previous K&P songs. The updates are as fresh and vibrant as the new material.

As the album cover suggests this is the work of new artists, soaring off into new lands. But where the 2 characters appear frightened and unsure of their new destinations, fleeing the naiveté of their surroundings, Kruzenshtern & Parohod and Vialka are charting new territories with confidence.

Matthew Smith / DOA (03/2007)

VIALKA/KRUZENSHTERN I PAROHOD: Split

The French duo Vialka concluded their 2005 world tour in Israel, where they recorded a 20-minute set at Udi Koomran's Ginger's Studio. This set is here paired with a set by Israeli Klezmer pranksters Kruzenshtern I Parohod. Taken as a whole, Vialka's five songs represent the group's strongest release so far, in terms of both songwriting and performance. The duo offers a rather unusual instrumentation, with Marylise Frecheville playing complex drum patterns while singing, and Eric Boros playing angular riffs on his baritone guitar. The result sounds like a punked-up take on Etron Fou Leloublan. "Bamako" stands among their best songs ever, thanks to a demented opening riff and striking developments, but "Gothenburg" and "Nanaimo" are also very impressive. Kruzenshtern I Parohod has always been an avant-garde party band and that is exactly what they do here: party! Bassist Igor Krutogolov, clarinetist Ruslan Gross and drummer Guy Shechter are here joined by accordion player Olya Yelensky. To celebrate the newcomer's arrival in the band, two early classics of the trio are joyfully revisited: "Tort" from The Craft of Primitive Klezmer and "Young Ones" from Songs, both given exhilirating readings. These are complemented by two new compositions, "Piratskaja", frantically swinging, and "Karate", simply frantic. Like in Vialka's case, Kruzenshtern I Parohod's set is arguably their best outing yet. Put the two sets together and you get a strong, galvanizing album on its own, and a marvelous introduction to both bands. Highly recommended.

François Couture / AMG (12/2006)

Monkeyclaus - (11/2006)

Undomondo - (03/2006)

VIALKA: December 11th, 2005 - The Patifon, Tel Aviv, Israel

"Vialka?" was my initial response when I was first notified of the band that threatened to conquer Israel in its mini tour. "What do they play?" was, of course, the question to follow. I think I have yet to receive the unequivocal answers, although on the duo’s homepage its music is referred to as "gypsy turbofolkpunk" and France is pointed as its current homeland. These, however, don’t seem to matter much once you witness the band in action. Vialka may be anonymous but they are working to the point of exhaustion in order to spread their music worldwide (and once again, a look in the proper section of their homepage reveals the duo’s extensive and highly packed touring); and judging from its Israeli gigs the outfit does that for an affordable, nearly symbolic, price of admission even when compared to the local counterculture/alternative scene. Despite the above, the word was the Israeli crowd kept its cool and did not hurry to attend the band’s previous gigs; and the closing set of the tour (discussed here) seemed, at the designated, official show time, to share the same destiny. Slowly but surely, however, the Patifon, one of Tel Aviv’s most intimate alternative clubs, got packed with one hundred people or so, before the set began. Then, the duo went on stage: drummer Marylise Frecheville went up in an old-fashioned robe and wig, failing to disguise her young looks that were later further uncovered with some more minimal clothes; guitarist Eric Boros appeared in an official suit, which could have been misleading if it was not for the fact that their power and volume did not tarry to follow. One word which would definitely come up in order to do describe Vialka is "noise," as the volume soared above any proportions to the two instruments played, mostly thanks to the layers of guitars Boros overdubbed entirely live with his sampling equipment. Another one, which might be a bit more observant to the material, is "post": folk as they blended some Balkan, Mediterranean and chansons; punk, for the music has a direct punch, and progressive for the dynamic shifts. But the duo did not fit comfortably into any of the previously mentioned genres (hence the "post") and their amalgamation was their own. At times they reminded me of Kruzenshtern & Parohod in being appealing and catchy yet unflattering. Unlike K&P though, Vialka were flirting with the audience without being limited to a frame, and their dynamics were evolving instead of deviating and regressing. The duo claimed to be exhausted after a long recording session that day, but that did not seem to affect their engaging drive and willingness to rock the house. In fact, as if she did not have enough with her wild playing, Frecheville occasionally came down from the stage into the audience to perform her own sort of ritual dance. As for the punch – you’ll get plenty of those if you go check them out yourself!

Avi Shaked / Maelstrom - Issue 41

VIALKA: Curiosities Of Popular Customs

In a time where part of the neo-folk scene is getting comfortable to “mainstream” awareness and is slowly growing to the point of being just another aseptic product, it’s surely fresh to get in touch with such a hard-working outfit as the frantic duo Vialka, comprising Marylise Frecheville on drums and voice and Eric Boros playing baritone guitar and singing. ‘Curiosities of Popular Customs’, their third tome released in their own label, spans the later-studio-treated tour recordings from 2004’s far end. Travelers by nature, Vialka embody the true musical gipsy endeavors, both in the showcased music, a frenetic mixture of everything between punk and math rock, with a certain fragile folk feeling embedded, and their DIY attitude towards touring. This record is an unmistakable example of how to make very serious music through popular parody, as illustrated by the artwork. Only the wrong survive, indeed…

Luís Oliveira / Ventrilocution.net (12/2005)

VIALKA: Curiosities Of Popular Customs

Hard-country duo with all sort of inspirations and resources from the realm of rock –progressive harmonies, electric folk, speed-metal back-beat, one-man guitar-walls or heavy-metal drum fills- striking arrangements and surrealist lyrics. Truly expressing their unprejudiced humour: “such a pity, honey; they really did look nice and young”. / Dúo Hard-country con todo tipo de inspiraciones y recursos del ámbito del rock –armonías progresivas, folk eléctrico, back-beat speed-metal, muros de guitarra sola o breaks de batería heavy- sorprendentes arreglos y letras surrealistas. Verdadera muestra de su humor sin tapujos: “que lástima, querido, parecían unos jóvenes tan agradables”.

Modisti.com (10/2005)

VIALKA: Curiosities Of Popular Customs

After two days listening to new bands pillaging post-punk sounds to which they have no cultural entitlement, I found an album in the promotional pile, by an unknown French-Swiss duo, that made life worth living. Vialka play fiddly European folk music at high volume and velocity in a White Stripes setup, with Marylise Frecheville on clattering percussion and Pyrenean polyphonic singing, and Eric Boros on speed-metal gypsy guitar and shouting. Vialka can switch styles in seconds, leaping from light- fingered folk melodies to bruising metal power chords to declamatory cabaret in one exhilarating piece. My face hurts. I can’t stop smiling. Four stars!

Stewart Lee / The Sunday Times (London/GB - 07/08/2005)

For generations of performers, be they tousle-haired crooners, leather-accessorised rockers or doof-dumping turntablists, the words "world tour" conjure up swirling imagery of rabid fans packing out venues, an unlimited rider and seats at the pointy end of the plane. Then there's Vialka. As with their music, Marylise Frechville and Eric Boros have a very personal approach to the idea of a world tour in the early part of this digital century.

Contemporary nomads, Vialka criss-cross the globe from their rarely seen home base in France, singing for their supper at venues willing to give them stage space and lend them sound equipment. So far they've brought their eclectic (c'mon now, you know the word always pops up for hard-to-describe acts), 'gypsy turbofolkpunk music' to over 30 countries across Europe, Africa, North America and Asia. Now it's Australia's turn to grok Vialka.

Be warned, though, minimalist doesn't mean messy. Vialka have a solid reputation for tight, breathlessly energetic performances that drive the traditional head on into hardcore, with detours at cabaret, stand-up and even Chinese folk songs. As one reserved Brit reviewer wrote, this "unknown French-Swiss duo ... made life worth living."

Mark Jameson / CitySearch (08/2005)

VIALKA: Curiosities Of Popular Customs

Vialka are modern-day nomads Eric Boros and Marylise Frecheville, a wispy-bearded undertaker and a young milkmaid presently making their temporary home in a farmhouse in central France. When not there, they crisscross the five continents with two Interrail passes and a bag of cymbals, singing for their supper in whatever café, bar, or squat will have them. Curiosities Of Popular Customs is the clearest recording of their sound to date - a patchwork of playful anarcho punk darned together from shreds of ancient Chinese folk songs, eccentric stand-up cabaret, and surrealistic Haruki Murakami verse, delivered with the dervish energy and billowing perplexity of Lightning Bolt. Follow these time signatures? You might as well read ancient Sanskrit. Instead, just live vicariously through this Dionysian testament to living by your wits: 40 minutes where rags become riches and the world is your reward.

Louis Pattison / Plan B #6 (07/2005)

VIALKA: Curiosities Of Popular Customs

Vialka don't talk about folk tales, they don't even tell them: they play them, they live them. The magic lies in their colourful structuring, their drum/guitar/vocals dialogues, arguments ("Only the Wrong Survive" being a good example), agreements... Vialka add vocals and/or screams and whispers when needed, when wanted, for the tales, for the pictures in the head, for the goose bumps. They run through the Balkans, Fly through the Caucasus, across Romania, Brittany and forgotten villages with strong characters.... gypsies, independent: everywhere and nowhere. They tell all the stories. They tell theirs. They tell stories forgotten, remembered, invented, as simple geniuses of music-humanity. They are the unleashed popular punkers of the locals, the untied personals: it's unique and speak to all (well, those who are ready to listen, at least). Buy the record, go and see them live (soon in a venue near you).

Babes In Boyland

VIALKA: Curiosities Of Popular Customs

A band that appears to tour 320 days per year is either insane or on a serious mission to spread their sound far and wide. Vialka is both of these things. With such a rigorous plan, how could they help but expand their musical skills and compositional range?

Vialka consists of two international rock gnomes. Eric Boros is an experimental music expert and master of the baritone guitar. The previous Vialka recordings have featured generous doses of Boros' raw singing style - vocal chords shredded into permanent post-party rasps via his solo electronic doom project, Hermit. Marylise Frecheville bashes the living shit out of drums and vocalizes across a wild range of styles from death screams to French chanson to German punk to Arabic chanting.

Vialka is true art rock - it is less of a question of what is it that Vialka is, but WHY is it that Vialka is. They seem to write, record and perform in spite of themselves. What may have started out as a joke has now taken on frightening proportions and exists as a monster force waiting to eclipse the world. They prove, uncontestedly, that rock music only requires four things: attitude, rebellious singing, wicked guitar and monster drums.

Vialka is truly international. Boros left Canada for France, and with French-native Frecheville moved to Slovenia to set up their art rock nest. The touring schedule on their website would make most booking agents cry. How they do it is anyone's guess. With a recent hefty tour through China (gripping tour diary also available online), this current release includes many influences from many peoples, places, and musics.

Music that would appeal more to those with open minds than genre-huggers, Vialka cruises the spectrum. One minute you feel on the edge of time signature-warped ska, then you are dancing with Russians at an AC/DC tribute show. Boros and Frecheville truly have a great groove together - they seem to have fused into one being. The cocky rock figures and daring vocal protests in French, English and German - Heine is covered as well as a traditional Chinese folk song and a poem by Haruki Murakumi. Topping the whole package off is gorgeous freaked-out artwork by Nikolai Kopeikin.

This record will cut your breath in half, but you have to crank it up really damn loud and you have to have your mind ready to get its weeds whacked out.

Standout tracks: when "Everywhere and Nowhere" hits its epic eastern theme, one feels the roof lifting off. "Die Lorelei" (Heine) is great for anyone who misses German pre-punk, or just digs sick math rock.

Karl Mohr / Multibeat

VIALKA: The Republic Of The Bored And Boring

Vialka are the duo of Eric Boros and Marylise Frechville, Canadian and French respectively, operating out of Slovenia these days. Their sound is definitely reminiscent of the jazz inspired free rock of the likes of the Ex, and aggro-compositional edges of Fugazi, though the bass-drum dynamic will probably bring some images of the Ruins to mind sans the Magma worship. Marylise (on drums as well as vocals usually in French) propels the unit into some totally fried zones on multiple levels while laying down some steady ground of Boros' bass flights (which sound quite guitarlike to be honest); you'd imagine the results to be a bit too indulgently proggy, but this stuff rides right along with the best Dog Faced Hermans and Crass. They also share with these bands similar elements of both heavy social context, and humor. This 3" CD seems to be part of a larger discography I'd love to get my hands on.

Brian Turner / WFMU

Marylise Frecheville and Eric Boros, the two basic founders and members of Vialka have a specific attitude to art. Deriving from the underground-experimental-punk scene they break down the frames of simple artistic approach to music or performing. The style they develop is ever changing, full of levels in communication from "simple" rock segments, through brave and daring solos of common improvisation to jazz-splitted idioms, they develop specific moments of poetic atmosphere of the place they perform at, a certain ambient through which they tell their improvised ideas, opinions in an immediate music communication. They live, as they make music, they make music, as they travel, and they travel, as they live. Living nomads, like ambassadors of new sound and traditional humanistic thinking, they travel around the globe in order to make friends, to spread ideas of open musical frames and show, that personality is beyond art. The most important segment of their artistic role is the personal touch they develop by their art, in order to develop trust, friendship, a community of common open thoughts. The best way to present their ideas is the rich program of theirs, which operates as a multicoloured artistic circus, in which fun, poetry, social criticism, irony are together, it is both the king and the clown are telling their stories of the actual social situation, especially the place and the responsibility of art, to keep it working as a language of honest feelings that build up true impressions, real thoughts and new experiences. "Tonight I Show You Fuck" is a remarkable music CD of the Vialka Marching Band group, which does avoid talking nuts, but tells straight away through a kick of a hard bass-guitar and a sensible drum, with the backing floating sounds of a saxophone and a clarinet, that life can be joy, fun, humour and fresh wit, all through simple, nice, honest music. Just as if you drew a circle onto the surface of water.

drMáriás / Bahia.hu

First of all, Vialka are by far the funniest live band I’ve seen in a while. I know I’m cheating a bit by talking about them in my French music column because only one out of the two members is French, the other one is Canadian. To make things more complicated, they both live in Slovenia. Whatever. I’ll always think it’s a shame no one came to see them play in Newcastle, yet, the fact that the room was nearly empty somehow added to the incongruity of their set. It’s all about a girl, a guy, a drumkit, a bass, impressive musical skills, and a lot of humour. Vialka wear wacky costumes and put on a burlesque "mise en scene" to criticise consumption society and to laugh about Polish punk gigs. They do it between two blasts of destructured jazz-punk, complete with cartoonesque moves from bass-player (chainsaw player?) Eric Boros. The interaction between him and drummer Marylise Frecheville is hilarious, and the French accent does a lot for that I suppose, but it’s not for me to talk. They’re not afraid to play with the ridicule and absurdity to make you laugh and hopefully make you think about what makes you laugh (I’m getting lost). Musically speaking, I’m having a lot of trouble trying to find comparisons, but early The Ex, Ruins, Roof, as well as a whole lot of diverse and totally unrelated things involving jazz, hard rock and "chanson française" do spring to mind. Bof. Anyway what more can you wish for than watching great musicians who ALSO make you laugh? Nothing, except maybe the fiver necessary to get their CD at the end of the gig. I didn’t have it. Damn. Nevermind, I got the bugger in the end, and here’s what I have to say: "tonight i show you fuck" is nothing else than the transcription onto digital document of Vialka’s greatness. With the participation of Jacopo Andreini , who wasn’t with them on stage, on trumpet and clarinet. If you’ve seen them play, you know you need this CD. If you didn’t, well I’m telling you. This little gem of off-kilter musical expression, wrapped in very nice naive packaging, is out on Manufracture, Eric Boros’ own label on which he puts out stuff such as the mighty Bastard Noise, his own noise works as Hermit, his and Marylise former act NNY or the jazz-metal-punk hybrid of Mexican Power Authority (now defunct unfortunately). Basically expect a lot of noise here. Ahhh. Noise. Yes.

Hugues / Diskant.net