THE RUSSIAN FUTURISTS
THE WEIGHT’S ON THE WHEELS
Upper Class Recordings
NOVEMBER 16 2010
Brief, exhilarating songs about love… of course; Pop is
founded upon such foundations, but in Matthew Adam Hart’s gifted hands our
wonder and gleeful idiocy is laid out in rare, brilliant detail. Critics and
the public alike have recognized in Hart one of the most impressive
compositional minds to emerge in years.
He is a talent simultaneously modest but mighty, plainspoken but
rigorously intelligent, creating miniature electronic epics that sound as if
they were spun from gold.
The Weight’s On The Wheels is a mighty accomplishment
long-coming for Matthew Hart: The Russian Futurists have left the “bedroom-pop
sound” genre they helped define and made an ambitious studio-produced monster
pop record loaded with low end, depth, volume, and Hart’s heart-breaking voice
atop the mountain of sounds. Produced by Hart
with the aid of Michael Musmanno (Outkast, Lilys, Arrested Development), the
fourth studio album exposes a polished pop finish that Russian Futurists fans
have been begging for. The Weight’s On The Wheels
will cast a wider net on fans to be captured by the Futurists pop regalia.
Tracks like “Horseshoe Fortune” and “Register My Firearms? No Way!” reveal Hart’s
trademark ability to turn a phrase with heart-wrenching lyrics that evoke
cine …
THE RUSSIAN FUTURISTS
THE WEIGHT’S ON THE WHEELS
Upper Class Recordings
NOVEMBER 16 2010
Brief, exhilarating songs about love… of course; Pop is
founded upon such foundations, but in Matthew Adam Hart’s gifted hands our
wonder and gleeful idiocy is laid out in rare, brilliant detail. Critics and
the public alike have recognized in Hart one of the most impressive
compositional minds to emerge in years.
He is a talent simultaneously modest but mighty, plainspoken but
rigorously intelligent, creating miniature electronic epics that sound as if
they were spun from gold.
The Weight’s On The Wheels is a mighty accomplishment
long-coming for Matthew Hart: The Russian Futurists have left the “bedroom-pop
sound” genre they helped define and made an ambitious studio-produced monster
pop record loaded with low end, depth, volume, and Hart’s heart-breaking voice
atop the mountain of sounds. Produced by Hart
with the aid of Michael Musmanno (Outkast, Lilys, Arrested Development), the
fourth studio album exposes a polished pop finish that Russian Futurists fans
have been begging for. The Weight’s On The Wheels
will cast a wider net on fans to be captured by the Futurists pop regalia.
Tracks like “Horseshoe Fortune” and “Register My Firearms? No Way!” reveal Hart’s
trademark ability to turn a phrase with heart-wrenching lyrics that evoke
cinematic imagery, and “One Night, One Kiss”, a sugary duet with Heavy Blinkers
crooner Ruth Minnikin now peels away the reverb and synths that used to envelop
him, revealing a soulful Hart across crystal clear soundscapes. The bad-ass slammer “100 Shopping Days
‘Til Christmas” both begs an advertising bidding war with it’s chorus “100
Shopping Days ‘Til Christmas and you’re the one thing on my wish list” and shows off Hart’s love for hip
hop with the skill and complexity of his lyrical flow. “Hoeing Weeds Sowing Seeds”, mixed
by Grammy Award Winner Michael Brauer (Coldplay, John Mayer, The Bravery) and
the lead single, is a celebration explosion, a thumping and glorious beat with
classic Matthew Hart triumphant vocals rising atop the electronic
paradise. The album, ten tracks in
total, is front to end the best songs we’ve yet heard by Matthew Adam Hart and
a new exciting day has dawned for one of the greatest song writers Canada has
produced.
The Russian Futurists have three
internationally acclaimed releases under their belt, and in 2007 Me, Myself and
Rye was released; the amalgam of The Futurists’ hottest songs assembled from
their three previous albums, digitally re-mastered. The Russian Futurists
international profile saw them become UK-label mates with The Go! Team and The
Pipettes, spawn a whirlwind experience that put them on a UK tour with Peter,
Bjorn & John, North American dates with long time friends Caribou and Junior
Boys and playing to 10000 fans at the Mada Festival in Brazil, while receiving
acclaim and praise from the likes of NME, Clash, Spin, Time Out London, BBC,
and X-FM. All the while producer-songwriter singer Matt Hart was remixing the
likes of Stars, Sloan, Sally Shapiro, Dykehouse, Shout Out Louds, and Cadence
Weapon.
Born and bred in the cold and lonely Ontario,
border-town of Cornwall, and raised on hockey [“loving the Leafs is like being
in love with a terrible woman”] Matt found comfort in the simplicity of AM
Radio. “There are songs that were produced to sound like they belonged there. I
used to sit up at night and drink a bottle of red wine and listen to AM to get
inspired. My roommates used to think I was kind of a weirdo when they would
walk into my room at 2 am and find me drunk listening to ‘Buttons & Bows’.
I would like to end up on AM when I’m old and grey.”
Surprisingly, Hart’s
roots as a producer and arranger lie not in Pop. “I was a compulsive Hip Hop
producer from age 13 to 19,” he admits, “and would finish a completed Hip Hop
track, from start to finish, every day after school” This interest is still
evident in the Russian Futurists’ electronic rhythms, but a passion for the Pop
music of his childhood (Abbey Road was a prominent obsession) is the heart of
The Russian Futurists. “When I eventually began to try to make music other than
beats it wasn’t my intention to make Pop. It just came out. I felt I was being
stifled by Hip Hop and wanted to experiment with melody.”
Hart constructs his
songs under the ongoing influence of Phil Spector, Brian Wilson “He showed me
that Pop was able to be listenable and experimental at the same time.” Honesty shines through in all of The
Russian Futurists’ songs – all the more remarkable for them having been
conceived in Matthew Hart’s bedroom. Hart cheekily describes his sound as a
result of “trying to make all of my songs huge, ambitious productions on very
limiting and awful equipment.”
