The Kitchen: Moscow Olympics

Here they are, the forerunners of the indie scene in the late 00’s are here! You guys don’t know how much I've been waiting to archive this band for a long time. Moscow Olympics is special, and they cut the world for their incredible music and talent! This entry got some requests even before the Kitchen came to fruition. Because of the requests, it’s no sweat that we will summarize this band’s entire discography, but the endless amount of praise this band will get is innumerable.

(If there is more than Moscow Olympics’ usual discography; like unreleased material, unearthed songs that were not noticed on the internet, you can always add more stuff to this entry. Thank you. )

Moscow Olympics is a four-piece dream pop/indie rock band based in Valenzuela City, Philippines, that formed around 2006. Their music blends fuzz-heavy guitars, smooth songwriting, faint vocals, and the hazy atmosphere that surrounds their records. Combine everything, and you’ll get a recipe for endless bliss and astounding piece of music. In result, they’ve gained the attention of not only dream pop/shoegaze fans here but overseas as well. The band opened for Radio Dept. back in 2011 at the Hard Rock Cafe Manila

A few footnotes of influences have left me wandering around my mind when listening to Moscow Olympics; the melodic bass lines of Joy Division, the dreamy wall of sound of Radio Dept (wink! wink!), and the musical, rose-colored sky production of DIIV.

A music blog back in 2007 described their music as a "Blueboy leaping from the clouds and snogging The Wake in the sunset while drifting down over the Oresund bridge." Whatever that means, it sounded like the perfect description of the band’s sound.

Their only album “Cut the World,” which was released in 2008 is a modern classic. One of the greatest shoegaze/dream pop albums of the decade or possibly of all time. Every track on that album featured easy and catchy tracks like “No Winter, No Autumn,” “Second Trace,” “Carolyn,” “Cut the World”, and their iconic dream pop anthem, “Still.” Their guitar scales compliment the wall of a sound this album embodies. Not to mention, the technical drumming in every track matches the mood of Moscow Olympics’ weather forecast.

This band helped shape the sound of indie music in the Philippines. Their album “Cut the World” is evidence on how to correctly craft dream pop music. Their limited edition material, which was released under a French record label featured additional songs in the post-Cut The World era that also includes a remix of their track, “Keep the Avenues Open.”

Moscow Olympics aren’t the only ones who are in the shoegaze/dream pop scene here in the country: Bands like Sodajerk, Outerhope, Sonnet LVIII, and Candyaudioline are the great founders of the flourishing indie scene of the early 00’s. Most of the mentioned bands above are either inactive or still running but have a different lineup of members. The question though remains, when will Moscow Olympics come back?

Since they began, many local music fans are going crazy seeing them live. The band is known to perform in gigs in rare occasions. It was a treat for indie pop scene kids who were able to catch them live in shows. They eventually stopped playing shows around 2011-2012(??). It’s present day 2017, and longtime fans and colleagues in the indie music scene have been praying for another one night only performance of this band. Moscow Olympics are the missing link the indie scene, and the indie scene needs Moscow Olympics.

The impact of Moscow Olympics has spawned a large number of bands like Beast Jesus (preferably their track Double Tuck), Atomic Sushi, Identikit, Na Mo, sleepersecond, no rome, just to name a few. Not only they kept the presence of dream pop active, but they strengthened it for future generations that inspired many.

Click the image for all y'all guys to be automatically directed to the albums/tracks!!

Still (7" Single)