Ногу свело!, 13 January 2024

Nogu Svelo! (Russian: Ногу свело! Cramp in the Leg!) is a popular Russian rock band from Moscow, usually associated with humor and parody and accessible and sometimes childishly simple melodies. They have experimented with many styles in the past and seem to pay particular attention to instrumentation and arrangements and production values. The extravagant style of their late nineties albums has given way to a simpler and more commercially accessible sound in their post-1999 releases - perhaps a return to the guitar-centered sound of 1995's Сибирская любовь [Sibirskaya lyubov'] (Siberian Love), yet arguably not possessing the youthful, hook-filled songwriting of that early-career round-up LP.

Of particular interest to English listeners is their nonchalantly zany use of the English language and sometimes, completely made up English-like lines in their early albums. "she drew me away and locked the door/my girl doesn't love me anymore/I didn't say anything but in my head/I had a plan to make them dead" from the track "Super Creature" on the album Сибирская любовь is an example of singer Maxim Pokrovskiy's style. The band's last few albums are recorded entirely in Russian.