Pop-Mechanics

Sergey Kuryokhin acted as the composer, conductor, and artistic director of Pop-Mechanics, as well as performing as a musician. The collective's performances were partly improvised and mixed genres, including elements of jazz, rock, avant-garde theater, and ancient mystery plays. The stage performances sometimes included animals.

{{Quote box

| quote = The orchestra's director and composer, free jazz pianist Sergei Kuryokhin, collected around 30 people on stage. Among them were all the members of Strange Games, Boris Grebenschikov, Viktor Tsoy and all standing members of Leningrad's bohemian artistic community. The entire crew was divided into sections—jazz (brass instruments), rock (electric guitars), folk (some kind of elongated Caucasus horns), classical (a string quartet) and 'industrial' (sheets of metal, saws, etc.).

| author = Artemy Troitsky

| source = Back in the USSR : the true story of rock in Russia

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|width = 50%

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The first Pop-Mechanics concert took place on 14 April 1984 in Moscow on the stage of the Moskvorechye House of Culture. The group's first performance in Leningrad took place in the spring of 1985 at a festival of the Leningrad Rock Club.

In 1988, Pop-Mechanics had their first international performances, including shows in Finland, Sweden, and Germany. From 1988 to 1991, the majority of Pop-Mechanics performances took place abroad. The group was less active after 1991.

Kuryokhin's final Pop-Mechanics show took place in Saint Petersburg in September 1995. The performance was also a fundraiser and advertisement for Aleksandr Dugin's Duma electoral campaign.

{{external media

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|image1 = [https://web.archive.org/web/20140318183818im_/http://img.rl0.ru/afisha/c560x373/volna.afisha.ru/uploads/images/3/05/305d523032664305bcc4eab779acb90e.jpg Kuryokhin and Kola Beldy on stage]

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With the exception of Kuryokhin, Pop-Mechanics did not have a permanent line-up. Participants in Pop-Mechanics shows included:

• {{Interlanguage link|Aleksandr Aleksandrov (musician)|lt=Aleksandr Aleksandrov|ru|Александров, Александр Алексеевич}}
• {{Interlanguage link|Garik Assa|ru|Гарик Асса}} † — show, avant-garde fashion
• Kola Beldy — vocals
• {{Interlanguage link|Aleksandr Berenson|ru|Беренсон, Александр Иосифович}} — trumpet
• {{Interlanguage link|Vladimir Boluchevsky|ru|Болучевский, Владимир Алексеевич}} — saxophone
• {{Interlanguage link|Igor Borisov (musician)|lt=Igor Borisov|ru|Борисов, Игорь Рудольфович}} — guitar
• Sergey "Afrika" Bugayev — industrial group, electronic drums
• Igor Butman — alto saxophone
• {{Interlanguage link|Mikhail Chernov (musician)|lt=Mikhail Chernov|ru|Чернов, Михаил Семёнович}} — saxophone
• {{Interlanguage link|Leonid Fyodorov (musician)|lt=Leonid Fyodorov|ru|Фёдоров, Леонид Валентинович}} — guitar
• Vsevolod Gakkel — cello
• {{Interlanguage link|Oleg Garkusha|ru|Гаркуша, Олег Алексеевич}} — maracas, industrial group, theatrics
• Boris Grebenshchikov — guitar, theatrics
• Georgy "Gustav" Guryanov † — industrial group, percussion, vocals
• {{Interlanguage link|Nikolay Gusev (musician)|lt=Nikolay Gusev|ru|Гусев, Николай Евгеньевич}} — keyboards
• Yuri Kasparyan — guitar
• {{Interlanguage link|Yury Kasyanik|ru|Касьяник, Юрий Михайлович}} — soprano saxophone, flute, recorder
• {{Interlanguage link|Arkady Kirichenko|ru|Аркадий Фримэн}} — tuba, vocals
• {{Interlanguage link|Aleksandr Kondrashkin|ru|Кондрашкин, Александр Борисович}} † — drums
• {{Interlanguage link|Mikhail Kordyukov|ru|Кордюков, Михаил Алексеевич}} † — percussion
• Elena Korikova — vocals, backing vocals
• Sergey Letov — saxophone, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
• Yegor Letov † — bass guitar, guitar
• Aleksandr Lipnitsky
• {{Interlanguage link|Aleksandr Lyapin|ru|Ляпин, Александр Сергеевич}} — guitar
• {{Interlanguage link|Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe|lt=Vladislav Mamyshev|ru|Мамышев-Монро, Владислав Юрьевич}} † — performances, show
• Timur Novikov † — industrial group
• Valentina Ponomaryova
• {{Interlanguage link|Aleksey Rakhov|ru|Рахов, Алексей Владимирович}} — saxophone
• Arkady Shilkloper — French horn, jagdhorn
• {{Interlanguage link|Ivan Shumilov|ru|Шумилов, Иван Иванович}} — crumhorn
• {{Interlanguage link|Grigory Sologub|ru|Сологуб, Григорий Григорьевич}} † — guitar, theatrics
• {{Interlanguage link|Viktor Sologub|ru|Сологуб, Виктор Григорьевич}} — bass guitar, guitar, theatrics
• Igor Tikhomirov — bass guitar
• Alexander Titov — bass guitar
• Viktor Tsoi † — guitar
• {{Interlanguage link|Aleksey Vishnya|ru|Вишня, Алексей Фёдорович}}— guitar, sound engineer
• {{Interlanguage link|Aleksey Zalivalov|ru|Заливалов, Алексей Георгиевич}} † — viola
• Joanna Stingray

The British actress Vanessa Redgrave also took part in a Pop-Mechanics performance.

{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite journal|last1=Rogatchevski|first1=Andrei|last2=Steinholt|first2=Yngvar B.|date=2016-08-07|title=Pussy Riot's Musical Precursors? The National Bolshevik Party Bands, 1994–2007|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03007766.2015.1088287|journal=Popular Music and Society|language=en|volume=39|issue=4|pages=448–464|doi=10.1080/03007766.2015.1088287|s2cid=192339798|issn=0300-7766|url-access=subscription}}

{{cite book |last1=Troitsky |first1=Artemy |title=Back in the USSR : the true story of rock in Russia |date=1988 |publisher=Boston : Faber and Faber |isbn=978-0-571-12997-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/backinussrtruest00troit/page/n127/ 110] |url=https://archive.org/details/backinussrtruest00troit/page/n127/}}

{{Cite web|last=Fobo|first=Hannelore|date=2018-03-26|title=Pop Mekhanika in the West: Pop Mekhanika chronology 1984-1995|url=http://www.e-e.eu/Pop-Mekhanika-in-the-West/index1.html|access-date=2021-07-05|website=www.e-e.eu}}

{{Cite news|last=Mandel|first=Howard|date=1988-11-13|title=The Anarchist at the Keyboard|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1988/11/13/the-anarchist-at-the-keyboard/54cd1fc6-a5f4-434a-afe6-e72291b7b7f4/|access-date=2021-05-13}}

{{Cite web|last=Fobo|first=Hannelore|date=2017-01-06|title=Pop Mekhanika • Поп-Механика, Moscow, 1984. The First Concert "PM2"|url=http://www.e-e.eu/Pop-Mekhanika-1984-Moscow/index.htm|access-date=2021-07-05|website=www.e-e.eu}}

{{cite web |last1=Fobo |first1=Hannelore |title=Pop-Mekhanika • Rock Club, Leningrad, 1985 |url=http://www.e-e.eu/Pop-Mekhanika/index.htm |website=www.e-e.eu |access-date=6 July 2021 |date=2018-01-08}}

{{cite web |title=Сергей Курехин. Поп-Механика |url=https://www.sobaka.ru/oldmagazine/glavnoe/10754 |website={{ill|Sobaka.ru|ru|Собака.ru}} |access-date=2021-07-05 |language=ru |date=2012-03-07}}

{{cite web |last1=Shumov |first1=Vasily |title=New Russian jazz and its architects |url=https://www.rbth.com/arts/2013/11/01/new_russian_jazz_and_its_architects_31391.html |website=Russia Beyond |access-date=2021-07-05 |date=2013-11-02}}

{{Cite news|last=Litweiler|first=John|date=1988-10-20|title=Soviet Pianist Exudes an Animal Magnetism|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-10-20-8802090561-story.html|access-date=2021-07-05 }}

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• [http://www.letov.ru/foto/popmech/ Photo gallery (in Russian)] — from Sergey Letov's personal archives
• [https://russianartarchive.net/en/catalogue/person/PDFCR Popular Mechanics] on Russian Art Archive Network
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nb2y9 Excerpt from BBC documentary Comrades: All that Jazz]

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Category:Musical groups from Saint Petersburg

Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1996

Category:Musical groups established in 1984

Category:Russian experimental musical groups

Category:Russian rock music groups

Category:Soviet rock music groups