Kate NV

Not Soviet pop, but Ann Steel is clearly an aesthetic touchstone here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23r5qqqVOu8

wow Telex covered this song! I had no idea

Love KATE NV, highlights like "Kata" from her first album sound a lot like 80's Japanese pop to me (can't quite put my finger on who she reminds me of... maybe Haruomi Hosono?), more than Russian pop but they're both obvious references on her music and they mix pretty well aesthetically tbh.

I definitely see Ann Steel in it, yes! I really don't know why I slept on Kate NV, not sure if there was some completely arbitrary thing that put me off at some point, because right now I'm totally getting into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B05axTlKTKA

Роза Рымбаева гр. Арай

Love KATE NV, highlights like "Kata" from her first album sound a lot like 80's Japanese pop to me (can't quite put my finger on who she reminds me of... maybe Haruomi Hosono?)

Miharu Koshi. whose three best albums were produced/co-written by Hosono.

I posted this tune upthread, it's Hosono ft. Koshi on vocals, definitely feels like something she was very influenced by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKca6co0PCM

yeah she's clearly drawing on hosono a lot

She did some red bull academy study placement thing in tokyo iirc, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a pretty good knowledge of Japanese stuff. Someone upthread mentioned mariah, I think that's a really apt comparison. Definitely hear some yasuaki shimizu in there

ok maybe I'm getting off base but she also reminds me a lot of Mecano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLujb3iwu9g

perhaps because they have the same haircuts. but its more than that

Man, that bass player has no concept of personal space. Step back, floofy boots!

he does, however, also have the same barber

lol that's Nacho Cano he's the main composer of all Mecano songs.

yeah he just wanted to make sure she was singing it right

Okay, my brain is still dead but I figured I would go for some super-obvious Ex-Yu/Soviet pop for you. None of this sounds exactly like Kate NV, but it's among the stuff that 'Telefon' reminded me of, like, a sort of 'in the blood' thing.

Sizike!
Sladjana!
Alliance!
Denis x2!

There were a couple of other things that I can't remember the name of and have disappeared from my youtube lists, blargh.

Eeep, that sizike song is amazing! Thank you!

Yeah, it kills. The other songs are good too, but I think that's the best of that little list.

Among other things, I like how embarrassed the guy doing the rap looks

lol "please get the camera off me" all over his face

The “Sizike” song is so cool! Only 12,000 listens on spotify!? How!? This sounds like a classic.

Actually emily,all songs sound great

I passed the Alliance one onto someone off-thread I thought might be appreciative. They were. :)

The one saer posted may as well BE recent Kate NV, for multiple bars at a time. Thanks everyone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaDoFH4zG3E

More Арай here, albeit without Роза Рымбаева. Vibes

Ah! this is the third time I listen to the Sizike song. At this rate it will soon become one of my favorite songs of the 80’s, where has this been all my life?

Love how this thread has basically turned into "post all the coolest music". I do miss Роза Рымбаева from that second one, though. (I'm guessing it's Rosa something?)

Thank you for all this!

Well if this is the unofficial thread for cool 80’s music that is not similar to KATE NV but you think KATE NV fans might also like:

Mecano - hawaii bombay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XzoOK2GZF8

Pete Brand’s Method - what you are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY320Jk82i4

Rare Silk - storm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNqWGb_vCc

These might be closer to balearic but I think the genre is also referenced in some of her songs.

nicely shot live video in a guitar shop/balloon store. only four songs and the clarinet dude is **not** wearing his wizard robe but still, worth a watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckArue3m29E

Excellent - thanks frogs! :)

anyone know what the official name of that boingy instrument she plays at the start of the second song - and also at the end of 'telefon' - is?

i believe that's a form of Flexatone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexatone

• "Weird Al" Yankovic used the flexatone during his performance of "Another One Rides the Bus" live on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder (1982).
• "The Simpsons Theme" by Danny Elfman (1990).

Aha - thanks Mr malone! Will always associate that sound with maggot brain. Bah-doinggg!

Man, Room for the Moon is amazing. Way outside my usual wheelhouse but I put it on for a stoned, snowy dog walk a few nights ago based on the EOY rollout, and have been all Kate NV, all the time, ever since (interspersed with the Chick Corea fest going on in my house).

She does not fuck around filling every little space in the music with creative and unexpected sounds. Having dug back into this thread and schooled myself a little in Russian synth pop and her other influences, I now see that her mix of electronic and synthy stuff with flutes and clarinets and saxes and such is not quite as idiosyncratic as I initially heard it, but so what. Love how quickly and aggressively she builds her soundscapes while still keeping them warm and engaging. Love those thick, meaty bass lines that propel the music forward magnificently but are just unusual and complex enough to keep me alert to their role in the mix. And love the sequencing on the album, drifting farther out into experimentation than most pop albums I'm familiar with and then pulling back to dance/pop at just the right times. I think my fav tracks are Ça Commence Par and Plans, and I have a special affection for Du Na, which is seriously evocative of mid-90s Tortoise to me, one of my all-time favorite sounds (there are moments where it really sounds like it could be lifted right from Djed).

What a gem. Thanks ilm for putting it on my radar!

:)

otm

Are there any good compilations that cover the Russian scenes that influenced her?

finally got around to watching some Glintshake on YouTube and wow, hard to believe it's the same person. almost like a Jun Togawa thing going on there.

whoa -- this live video is excellent + a good reminder to revisit this record that hit me at a weird time last year.

would be rad to see this lineup the US when that is a thing again. thanks for sharing!

Damn that video is indeed excellent, wish I spoke Russian.

The bass playing is the closest thing I've heard to Mick Karn in a very long time.

is that a metal neck on the bass?

her voice is somehow even better live

another live show, kind of similar setlist. still she's always a joy to watch so click it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLzOMaxjMNY

new single

https://katenv.bandcamp.com/track/d-d-dont

reminds me a lot of Jean-Michel Jarre's Zoolook. right down to the Laurie Anderson vocals

sounds kinda like foodman doing watermelon man

I'm not really into it, the way she's working with this sound is kinda played out imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhceRmd2Ink

some real great concert footage. this show would be so much fun

she uh, seems to be in a really bad place right now

https://twitter.com/kattique/status/1501975566391681024

(translates to: Today I see no way out but to just kill myself.)

i was wondering how she was doing atm :(

that's so awful. i hope she can find peace (without doing anything drastic).

happier news:

Improvised music in support of "Helping to Leave" Ukraine charity

it's pretty

https://katenv.bandcamp.com/album/bouquet

yep Bouquet is crazy good more pls

this is crazy good, it blows the studio album out of the water, and that's saying something for me because I've probably listened to that more than anything released in the last decade at least

it sort of changes the record entirely, the studio record is fascinating instrumentally but it still feels like her pop record, while this is a full band production of which Kate is only a part. the songs themselves seem to be opened way up too. so it feels like something a lot different than the studio album, even though it's all the same songs.

in fact what it reminds me of is Sting's Bring on the Night live album, when he had that crazy good jazz band in tow and let them go buck wild on a bunch of deep cuts. except this music is way more interesting, hell on Marafon 15 they almost sound like 80s Crimson. at other points Talking Heads or even Can. was this band really assembled just for this? they sound like they've been playing together for years

i went digging and they have a fair bit of history together. the bassist & drummer play with her in glintshake, and the sax player and clarinet player both have done session work with glintshake. she met most of this band (i assume except for her glintshake bandamtes) in 2016 when they were hired by a mutual friend to be the backing band for a doug hream blunt show in moscow, and that band (without blunt) put out a single in 2017 under the name РТЫ.

https://soundcloud.com/user-817715988/sets/kuda-idti-chuma

she said she'd originally hoped to record her next album with this band but doesn't know if that will ever be possible as many of them (including her) have left russia due to the war, so getting everyone in one place again doesn't seem like it will be possible anytime soon

she goes into most of that in this interview: https://www.thefader.com/2025/07/08/kate-nv-room-with-a-moon-live-album-interview

she rules so much

On the track “Lu Na,” for instance, there's a coda that’s a bit prog rockish. Most of us in the band are huge nerds, and we love bands like Gentle Giant, so at some point during rehearsal, we finished the song and just started playing, and it turned into this crazy, funny, stupid thing. When it was over, I was like, “Let's just do it during the show,” and everyone was like, “Kate, you're crazy. It’s garbage,” but we kept it. I always wanted to play in a prog rock band, so I loved it.

This is excellent!

now in video form!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT9usp9j2zo

live record is still incredible, honestly my favorite album of last year, I think being played live really does add a lot to the songs. makes 'em more multidimensional and uh...alive

I compared it previously to Sting's Bring on the Night live album but one key difference is Kate just lets the band go buckwild and double the length of the songs if they want to, it doesn't sound like a great band that has to operate under a tight framework

yeah it's such an improvement, the band adds so much energy and they stretch out all the songs in the best way, the "lu na" coda is fantastic

Really just a totally amazing album