Ne Zhdali
Whatever happens, twist!

	1. Twist 2. Air-Ground 3. Rhino 6 4. Lifeloop 5. No Justice 6. Bossa 2000 Turbo mp3 7. Ma Vie 8. Spill A Noch A Moll 9. Wake Up, Mumu 10. Flying Dutch
order	nml 0530 2005 43'04"

NE ZHDALI is a 6-pieces musical band basically located in Tallinn (Estonia). Their undefined style is a combination of different personalities, musical tastes and influences. Their music has amazed people for its enormous optimism in the time of apocalypses ? . On stage they are bursting with wild energy exploring their physical and mental capacities.

They started in 1987. Their original and fresh approach to the music made them popular in the underground Soviet scene. In 1989 they first went to the West where in Holland they recorded their first album (Rhinoceroses ?). Since that time they've played over 15 tours in more then 15 countries of Europe, played festivals in Canada, and toured in Japan, always welcomed with big enthusiasm.

The music of the band is basically and instinctively oriented on expressive rhythmic structures which they call"rhinoceroses" and on small folky tunes coming from everywhere in the world. There are some other things in their music but too hard to define.

For now 4 members live in Tallinn, one (Leonid Soybelman) in Berlin and one (Ilya Komarov) in Zurich.

Discographie:

"Ne Zhdali's first two albums rank among the best discs of avant-garde rock recorded in the early '90s, but they pale in comparison to Whatever Happens, Twist! This album takes the group's music a huge step forward, marking its mature phase. The songs have grown both more energetic (think avant punk) and freer in some passages. The horns blow wildly, resolutely moving away from the lick format they were sticking to on Rhinoceroses and Other Forms of Life -- trumpeter Vadim Veeremaa has transformed into an incredibly wild player. Leonid Soybelman's guitar playing, obviously influenced by Andy Ex and Jacques Palinckx, is taking a less frequented path that will soon lead him to Kletka Red and a solo career. But most importantly, this album reflects the group's in-your-face live sound. The opener, "Twist," will rip off wallpaper in five seconds. "Air-Ground" begins in a medium-tempo mood with a touch of accordion and subdued vocals, but in the course of four minutes it blows out of proportion, reaching a noisy punk climax and shifting to a reggae coda -- only Ne Zhdali could pull off something like that without sounding gratuitous. Those two tracks and the manic "Spill a Noch a Moll" stand out, but one must not forget "Rhino 6" and "Bossa 2000 Turbo," two action-packed pieces that add a final, superior movement to the two instrumental suites found on the group's first LP. There is not a single dull second on this CD. Even softer tracks like "Ma Vie" and the waltz "Wake Up, Mumu" feature intelligent quirks. A must-have for any fan of Soybelman or avant-garde rock in general, Whatever Happens, Twist! is a classic, worth all the efforts required to locate a copy of this deleted item."

"Hailing from Tallin, Estonia, Ne Zhdali was one of the most exciting rock bands to rise from the soviet underground following the fall of the Communist regime. Blending punk energy with the complexity of true progressive rock (think Henry Cow), occasional funk rhythms and Balkanese folk melodies, the sextet displayed tremendous amounts of energy on stage. It released a handful of albums during its first decade and launched the career of its leader Leonid Soybelman, who went on to become an important figure in European avant-rock.

Soybelman (guitar, vocals), Ilja Komarov (bass), and Andrei Kulagin (aka"Bitty" or Victor Bitlovsky, vocals, keyboards, euphonium) started to play together in high school After the guitarist's two years in the Russian army, they teamed up with drummer Vitali Redchits, trombonist Oleg Davidovitch, trumpeter Veeremaa Vadim, and keyboardist Avi Nedzvetsky. Soybelman was involved in the Russian Drama Theater, a group of multidisciplinary artists based in Tallin. The troupe needed a house band and thus in February 1987 Ne Zhdali came to life. The name means"Unexpected" and comes from the title of a 19th painting by Ilya Repin.

From the start Ne Zhdali built a wild stage show, its virtuoso rhythm section and eccentric brass section framing Soybelman's punkish vocal delivery and guitar playing. The first concert took place in November 1987 and soon the group was playing rock festivals around USSR (Gorbatchev's perestroïka was in full motion). A rising popularity led to a permission in 1989 to go West, more precisely to Amsterdam to record the debut LP Rhinoceroses and Other Forms of Life, released on ADM (Netherlands) in 1990.

The fall of the Communists and Estonia's subsequent declaration of independence left many citizens, including Ne Zhdali members, in citizenship limbo, which made touring very difficult. Tired of the situation Soybelman emigrated to Israel and eventually moved to Switzerland. After a few months of uncertainty (during which the other members released She-Ye-Ye, a collection of material from 1989, and Nedzvetsky quit) the group resumed its activities, touring Europe and recording Hey, Driver, Cool Down the Horses!!!, released simultaneously in Russia (by Feelee) and Europe (by RecRec). The group appeared at the MIMI festival in 1994. Whatever Happens, Twist! came out a year later and marked the group's artistic peak. Appearances at Musique Action (France), the Moers New Jazz festival (Germany), and the Victoriaville FIMAV festival (Canada, the group's only visit in America) expanded the group's fanbase, but the flame was already dying. Growing tired of the format, Soybelman had other ideas. A"collaboration camp" with Amy Denio's Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet yielded the CD Pollo d'Oro on which the g roup explores freer grounds. The guitarist's new group Kletka Red released its debut Hijacking in 1997.

Ne Zhdali continues to perform regularly, but besides archival material, live recordings and reissues, there hasn't been a new album in the works since 1996. Soybelman has a fruitful solo career, Komarov leads the group Les Halmas. Kulagin, Davidovitch, and Redchits formed the R&B group BBX."

-- François Couture, All Music Guide