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The Russian artist who records under the moniker YAO91404D is slowly building himself up to cult status with every new release. I say slowly because each of his releases are very, very limited… thus not many of you out there will have had the opportunity to experience his ‘sound’. "The Workers Song" won’t change that. Limited to only 160 copies, this sub 45 minute 4 track CDR in A5 packaging on the Ostroga label will probably be sold out before this review even gets posted on the AP site. The joy / drawback of being a cult being that very few know of your existence. As the great punk band Flipper sang ‘That’s the way of the world’.

Working within the lo-fi spectrum of old school Industrial music (akin to a less tuneful, if that’s possible, early Einsturzende Neubauten & Test Department), YAO91404D utilises metal percussion, radio noise, tape loops, samples and various high frequencies and crackles all in analogue sound. Just as with his "Heroes of the Coal Age" release [read review here], "The Workers Song" is a celebration, of sorts, to the sweat and blood shed whilst working under intolerable grime filled conditions in a factory. Clank, clank, clank. The repetitive nature of the hard labour reflected in the noises from the factory floor. Work, work, work comrades. Mother Russia demands you toil until your sinews stretch and your muscles ache. Clank, clank, clank. The machine will be built by your weakened bodies and flowing tears. Work, work, work until you collapse in the searing heat. You sacrifice yourself to a greater cause. Mother Russia demands it. Her will is overpowering and everywhere. Clank, clank, clank. See the results finally materialise. Another machine built from your hard endeavours. Now build another one. Never stop. Never stop. The revolution was fought to bring you freedom. Work comrades for the greater good.

YAO91404D is in many ways an alternative historian. A history many don’t want you to hear about. The music he produces acting as a window for a certain point in time. Peering through it he builds up a picture in the mind of the harsh realties of a mundane and soul crushing environment. The propaganda songs of the workers breaking up the monotony of labour. Like all his previous works "The Workers Song" is a very strange and ‘difficult’ listen. Get into his mindset though and everything becomes more clarified. The thought processes that went into the recording hitting home with the force of a hammer hitting an anvil. Of course the downside is that being so limited in numbers restricts those who will have the opportunity to hear this unusual and forceful piece of work. The problem of being a cult act summed up in a nutshell.

ANM