photographs by chromaticism @ Fuzz Club Festival

10 000 Russos – there may only be 3 of my Portuguese celtic brethren, but the sonic whirlwind they sow, sounds like dez mil Makhnovshchina in full, glorious epic flight.

Back in that hallowed, revolutionary month of May last year, I’d had the unmitigated pleasure of hearing 10 000 Russos, but I had yet to witness the assault on the senses that is their live show.

Photograph by Betânia Liberato

‘dreamweapon’ by dreamweapon draws upon an enviable pedigree.

‘Dreamweapon’ is the title of Spacemen 3’s 1990 live album, which in turn drew it’s inspiration from a 1965 work by Angus MacLise titled, ‘Rites of the Dream Weapon’, one of an extensive series of multimedia productions, which MacLise described as “ritual happenings”.

MacLise’s collaborations with experimental luminaries, La Monte Young – minimalist drone and “dream music” composer, the inspiration for the Spacemen 3 track, ‘An Evening Of Contemporary Sitar Music’, Jack Smith – film-maker, and Ira Cohen – poet, helped define the 60’s avant-garde.

The enigmatic Angus MacLise, is perhaps best known as the original percussionist with The Velvet Underground, MacLise’s lifework included music, calligraphy, performance art, poetry, drawings, plays, and limited edition artist’s books.

 Photograph by Betânia Liberato

10 000 Russos, pronounced “dez mil russos” are the latest spell-weavers to join the illustrious Fuzz Club Records banner.

I recently commented that Casper was perhaps a descendant of the renowned 16th century alchemist John Dee – that he continues to conjure these latter-day “Nuggets” seemingly at will, suggests I may not have been that far off the mark!

The band’s press release confirms that, “João Pimenta (drums/vocals), Pedro Pestana (guitar) and André Couto (bass), emerged from what they call “a dark, decadent city of a peripheral country in a peripheral continent”: Porto, Portugal”.

On listening to their eponymous debut album, I see 10 000 Russos as being more akin to their ancestral sea-faring voyagers of discovery, or as Timothy Leary observed, “You are venturing out (like the Portuguese sailors, like the astronauts) on the uncharted margins. But be reassured— it’s an old human custom.”