I think Ukrainian hardcore scene isn’t very large or terribly interesting yet. I quite like the Rivne-based crust band ZALUPA (too bad they’ve split up), but the really crazy diamond there is PIĈISMO (or PICHISMO). Formed in 1993, they claim the title of the world’s first Esperantocore band. There were some punk songs in Esperanto before them but there wasn’t a whole band. With time, the band had diversified its approach and started using Ido, Volapük, Klingon and numerous other invented languages. The sound has grown quite as diverse, and various releases reflect the interest of the band’s leader Gleb Maltsev in noise, electronica, grindcore etc. He didn’t get stuck in his South Ukrainian hometown of Tsyurupinsk for very long, and various versions of the band existed in Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Latvia. Gleb’s now living in Kaunas, Lithuania, and gigs and records fairly often.
PIĈISMO is fairly prolific, as I’d mentioned. Just the tip of the iceberg, there you go.
“Ankoraŭ Unu Freneza Kanzono” live at Teen Wave festival in Yevpatoriya, Crimea, August 1994. Frenzied song this is, indeed. By the way, ta to Alex Volkov for making this available.
I like their first four albums the most:
“Subita Merdo” (1993; raw punk in Esperanto, original Ukrainian lineup, 4 songs released on a Darbouka Records 7″)
“Buĥtismo” (1994-1995; compilation of various punk / crust / noise recordings, various Ukrainian lineups)
“P.P.P.” (1997; crusty hardcore with members of Lithuanian band INVAZIJA)
“Esperantocore” (1998; also with INVAZIJA members)
I actually like early PIĈISMO enough to have released a tape covering their discography between 1993 and 1997. This post is a shameless plug innit?
http://www.myspace.com/pichismo
http://www.pichismo.narod.ru
P.S. E-punkoj, skribu min!