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Based in St. Petersburg,
Russian Federation, Messer für Frau Müller (
Messer Fur Frau Muller in English means Knife for Mrs. Müller) is an
electronic lounge ensemble. Evolved out of the musical project
Letter O in 1991, originally the band consisted of Oleg Gitarkin (guitar), Tima Zamlyanikin (vocals) and Ilya Kuzik (bass). Aleksey Miksher (drums) joined the band in 1992 after recording of their first album "Merry Bormans"(1991).
In 1992 they recorded their first official
punk album, Happy End Dead, with elements of
psychobilly and
hardcore. Two months later, the band recorded its second album, Little Joys, and received wide recognition from this demo and the previously unreleased album. As a result,
Messer fur frau Muller started actively touring in
europe. In preparation for the German tour in 1992, MFFM recorded a
post-industrial vinyl LP, Senors Crakovjaks (reissued on SolnzeRecords on CD in 2001 as well "Happy End Dead" and "Little Joys").
After taking over the German club scene, MFFM returned home to St. Petersburg and experienced their peak of popularity.
Messer fur frau Muller had become a cult figure in the city's club circuit. In '93, Miksher and Zemlyanikin parted from MFFM, and Zemlyanikin later joined the monastery. At this time, Oleg Gitarkin met Oleg Kostrow who was a member of
electro-pop band,
Fantom, and together they recorded an album, Hyper Utesov. This became MFFM's first significant step towards
electronica from its previous
psychobilly-punk style.
This new music made by Gitarkin and Kostrow became more
melodic and less aggressive, and
electronic experiments become more common. In '95 Kuzik left the MFFM, leaving Gitarkin as the only remaining original member. Kuzik soon dies after being tragically stabbed with a knife. The authorities claim that he was mistaken for someone else on the street. Therefore, MFFM stood as a two-man
electronic infused band with the two Oleg's, Gitarkin and Kostrow. In '96 they record Icicle-Murderers, Gitarkin defines the album as
cyberpunk with an entirely
digital sound.
Messer fur frau Muller actively experiments with rhythm structures, Russian press compares them with
Aphex Twin and
The Prodigy. In '97 the band records Nechelovek-Vidimka, where it samples for the first time using the voices of
Marlene Dietrich,
Zarah Leander,
Marilyn Monroe, and Klavdiya Shulzhenko. MFFM combines them with
break-beat,
drum n' bass, and
house foundations. The band defines its new style as post
easy listening, an element of
parody on the musical genre,
easy listening, popular in the 50-60's. According to Gitarkin, since they did not have any more members to play as a live
punk band, it was a logical progression to start sampling musical leftovers of the 20th century, and utilizing vocals of past iconic superstars.
The reborn band reached its second wave of popularity with consecutive albums Allo, Superman! and Secondhand Dreams which were released in '2000 and 2001 in Russia,
Germany, and
Japan. After several years of silence,
Messer fur frau Muller got back into the studio and delivered arguably its best album to date, which is Triangle, Dot & Devil which was released in
Russian Federation and
United States.
Their latest album Danger: Retrobolik was released early 2007. The new album's sound borrows a bit from Oleg Gitarkin's experimental surf band
Messer Chups. The most apparent connection being the use of sound clips from 50's horror movies. The title and the cover of the album are a reference to the 1969 Mario Bava film Danger: Diabolik, scenes from the film are often used as VJ material for the live shows of Messer Chups. Some of the same scenes were used in the music video for the Beastie Boys’ 1998 single “Body Movin’.
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