Bella Russia
Arlington, Virginia, United States | SELF
Music
Press
DC's avant-indie trio Bella Russia are known for their awesome live shows, and that energy has easily transferred over into their debut EP Epaulet (released Sept. '13.) The four tracks ooze with genius experimentalism, and each is a completely unique stand-out.
The first single, "Madame X" is a progressive instrumental anthem chock full of fuzzed out guitars lifted with echoing high notes before rolling into a mathy and brilliant chaos of sweet rock layers. Check out the video for it below. - The Deli (Baltimore/DC)
DC's avant-indie trio Bella Russia are known for their awesome live shows, and that energy has easily transferred over into their debut EP Epaulet (released Sept. '13.) The four tracks ooze with genius experimentalism, and each is a completely unique stand-out.
The first single, "Madame X" is a progressive instrumental anthem chock full of fuzzed out guitars lifted with echoing high notes before rolling into a mathy and brilliant chaos of sweet rock layers. Check out the video for it below. - The Deli (Baltimore/DC)
Bella Russia is an experimental band comprised of brothers Alex and Josh Braden along with Nathan Mitchell who first captured the District’s attention through Hays Holladay’s 2012 project, Rainbow Arcade. Their instrumental offerings are not confined into a certain soundscape, which offers them the luxury of performing in virtually any line-up and not appearing like an outcast. For any given song, the band could switch from a complex jazz arrangement to switching gears into a more post-punk sensibility that simultaneously sounds unconventional and organic.
After nearly two years together, the group will unveil their debut EP Epaulet- but not without causing some commotion in the process. The talk of the District this week (on the music front, at least) has been their brazen eight-hour endurance set scheduled tomorrow at the Artisphere. Starting at noon, the band will perform throughout the day until their after-party at 8p.m. with Janel and Anthony along with the The Sea Life. It will be a feat that the music scene has rarely seen before, and if it all goes according to plan, will also be one of the boldest performances any current D.C. band has accomplished.
With their big show aside, Bella Russia is one of the most talented bands in the scene, and a group that is highly underrated given their talent. I had the pleasure of speaking with all three members of the group about their new EP, how they really feel about their show on Saturday and much more. - DC Music Download
Bella Russia is an experimental band comprised of brothers Alex and Josh Braden along with Nathan Mitchell who first captured the District’s attention through Hays Holladay’s 2012 project, Rainbow Arcade. Their instrumental offerings are not confined into a certain soundscape, which offers them the luxury of performing in virtually any line-up and not appearing like an outcast. For any given song, the band could switch from a complex jazz arrangement to switching gears into a more post-punk sensibility that simultaneously sounds unconventional and organic.
After nearly two years together, the group will unveil their debut EP Epaulet- but not without causing some commotion in the process. The talk of the District this week (on the music front, at least) has been their brazen eight-hour endurance set scheduled tomorrow at the Artisphere. Starting at noon, the band will perform throughout the day until their after-party at 8p.m. with Janel and Anthony along with the The Sea Life. It will be a feat that the music scene has rarely seen before, and if it all goes according to plan, will also be one of the boldest performances any current D.C. band has accomplished.
With their big show aside, Bella Russia is one of the most talented bands in the scene, and a group that is highly underrated given their talent. I had the pleasure of speaking with all three members of the group about their new EP, how they really feel about their show on Saturday and much more. - DC Music Download
Standout Track: No. 4, “Ambergris.”
A trio with an occasionally noodly and pulsing post-rock sound, Arlington’s Bella Russia favors instrumentals, with brothers Alex and Josh Braden on guitar and drums and Nathan Mitchell on bass. On its recent Epaulet EP, the almost two-year-old band sounds grown-up, lush, and intriguingly snarled. - Washington City Paper
Standout Track: No. 4, “Ambergris.”
A trio with an occasionally noodly and pulsing post-rock sound, Arlington’s Bella Russia favors instrumentals, with brothers Alex and Josh Braden on guitar and drums and Nathan Mitchell on bass. On its recent Epaulet EP, the almost two-year-old band sounds grown-up, lush, and intriguingly snarled. - Washington City Paper
Discography
Single - Madame X - August 2013
EP - Epaulet - September 2013
Single - Nocturne in Blue & Gold - January 2013
Photos
Bio
Multi-instrumentalist brothers Alex and Josh Braden have been collaborating musically since they were in elementary school. Adding bass player Nathan Mitchell, they formed a trio and burst onto the DC music scene in 2011.
Ignoring traditional song structure and the implied need for vocals, the trio has written a canon of tightly orchestrated instrumentals that range widely enough in style that listeners are usually inspired to both stare open-mouthed at the mathy guitar lines and wag their asses along with rumbling animal-style drum grooves.
With such erratic and nimble guitar work, solid, blaring and stuttering drum beats, rumbling swoony bass lines, and senquenced samples of synthy clicks, beeps, and swells, Bella Russia sounds like Mars Volta sans-Cedric, produced by James Murphy plus Jonny and Colin Greenwood sit-ins.
On stage the band is constantly fire-drilling: at once setting loops before triggering synth sequences, then hovering as one around the drums, glockenspiels and trash can, beating in unison just before returning to the original lineup to slam into a guitar solo or another left-turn breakdown.
To celebrate the release of Epaulet, the band performed nonstop for eight hours by day before their evening release party, culminating in a marathon of nine hours of live performance. The band toured to SXSW to play five unofficial showcases and has earned many more stripes touring the East coast and playing twice monthly in DC.
With the music video for Madame X and their EP finally being released, the band plans to tour incessantly for the immediate future, using breaks between road trips to write for their next recording. The band also looks forward to expanding, and is open to the addition of a non-traditional vocalist for the next round of recordings.
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