Theodor Bastard

The band was founded in 1996 by Alexander Starostin - guitarist and composer - as a solo project. His stage name is Fedor Svoloch and the birth name of the band was the same. More members joined the band later, in 2000's, including vocalist and composer Yana Veva who also later participated in Shiva in Exile[1]. In 1999 the band's name became Theodor Bastard as the English translation of the stage name 'Fedor Svoloch'. At the beginning they played mostly electronic, industrial, noise music but later, after Yana Veva joining, their style started to crystallize gradually, balancing on the edge of dark wave, world music, neofolk and trip hop.

In 2004 Theodor Bastard released the album Pustota. The album name is a Latin transliteration of the Russian word for emptiness, voidness. Considering a Buddhist concept Shunyata. This album has a great success, it was released in Germany (Pandaimonium Records), Mexico (The Art Records, Noise Kontrol) and Turkey (Muzikal Yapım[2]). In 2014 the remastered version named Pustota (Remastered) came out.

The band performed at famous festivals in Europe: Fusion Festival (2004[3]), Wave-Gotik-Treffen (2011[4], 2014[5], 2017), Dark Bombastic Evening (2012[6], 2013[7], 2016[8]), Castle Party (2014[9]), Castlefest (2015[10], 2017), Mėnuo Juodaragis (2008[11], 2012[12], 2016[13]) and others.

Theodor Bastard collaborated with many artists: Martin Atkins, Peter Christopherson[14], Stefan Hertrich[1], Fun-Da-Mental[15], Julien Jacob and others.

In November 2011 the album Remixed was released - the collection of remixes of Theodor Bastard's songs. Such artists from all over Europe as Riz Maslen, Animals on Wheels, Up, Bustle and Out, Robin Rimbaud, State of Bengal, Geomatic, Flint Glass and others took part in the work on the collection.

All 2011 Theodor Bastard worked on the new album. They recorded it in several studios at the same time. British band Fun-Da-Mental, African band The Mighty Zulu Nation, French singer Julien Jacob - took part in the recording. Many ethnic instruments as udu, mbira, marimba, reco-reco, caxixi, ashiko, and spring drum were used. Fedor Svoloch also used the instruments that he had invented and made of improvised materials, such as coconuts, door springs, empty bottles, and plastic. In February 2012 the album Oikoumene was released. Its name comes from Ecumene - an ancient Greek term for the known world.

In May 2015, Theodor Bastard released the album Vetvi. Its name is a Latin transliteration of the Russian word for branches bearing in mind the branches of the World tree. The work on this album took three years. On the album we can hear many guest artists: Buryat singer Namgar Lhasaranova from the band Namgar, multi-instrumentalist Phillip Barsky (harp and cimbalom), Olga Glazova (she plays the world's largest gusli), Chamber choir Lauda, vocalist Alexander Platonov (Ensemble of Ancient Peasant Music), Gulya Naumova (violin), Natalia Nazarova (cello). Russian horn, traditional Mongol violin morin khuur, ritual tibetan horn dungchen, ancient Russian gusli (a species of zither), cajón, jew's harp, dulcimer - this is incomplete list of instruments. This album is characterized by special atmosphere of northern dawn.

On December 4, 2017 Theodor Bastard released the soundtrack album Utopia[16] for the game Pathologic 2[17] - the long-awaited remake of the game Pathologic from Ice-Pick Lodge.

In the beginning of 2018 Theodor Bastard have finished the whole soundtrack for another awaited game - Life is Feudal: MMO, with 30 tracks, with many instruments including medieval and with vocal by Yana Veva[18].

10 year anniversary edition of the album Beloe was released in November 2018. This is the new version, re-mixed and remastered by Fedor Svoloch. The best tracks (according to musicians) are collected from the both releases of the album - Russian Белое: Ловля Злых Зверей 2008 and Argentinian Beloe: Hunting For Fierce Beasts 2010.

Theodor Bastard concert on July 19, 2015 at GlavClub, Saint-Petersburg

Yana Veva - concert on July 19, 2015 at GlavClub, Saint Petersburg

• 2000 - Свободный Полёт-2 (Russia)
• 2000 - Другая Культура (Russia)
• 2000 - Ушки В Трубочку-4 (Russia)
• 2001 - V международный фестиваль им. С. Курехина (СКИФ) (Russia)
• 2001 - Свободный Полёт IV (Russia)
• 2001 - Кислотный Тест (Russia)
• 2001 - Индустрия Звука (Russia)
• 2002 - Radio Inferno (Russia)
• 2003 - Faut Qu'ca Bouge (Belgium)
• 2004 - Fusion Festival (Germany)[3]
• 2008 - Mėnuo Juodaragis XI (Lithuania)[11]
• 2010 - Этномеханика (Russia)[20]
• 2010 - Queer festival (Russia)[21]
• 2011 - Wave-Gotik-Treffen (Germany)[4]
• 2012 - Dark Bombastic Evening 4 (Romania)[6]
• 2012 - Fekete Zaj (Hungary)
• 2012 - Mėnuo Juodaragis XV (Lithuania)[12]
• 2012 - KAMWA (Russia)[22]
• 2012 - Дикая Мята (Russia)
• 2013 - ReRe:Riga (Latvia)[23]
• 2013 - Dark Bombastic Evening 5 (Romania)[7]
• 2013 - Fekete Zaj (Hungary)
• 2013 - Вольнае паветра (Belarus)
• 2014 - Wave-Gotik-Treffen (Germany)[5]
• 2014 - Движение (Russia)[24]
• 2014 - Castle Party (Poland)[9]
• 2014 - Labadaba (Latvia)[25]
• 2014 - Дикая Мята (Russia)
• 2015 - Бродский Drive (Russia)[26]
• 2015 - Зов Пармы (Russia)
• 2015 - Castlefest (Netherlands)[10]
• 2016 - Tallinn Music Week (Estonia)[27]
• 2016 - Троица: Всё живое (Russia)[28]
• 2016 - Дикая Мята (Russia)
• 2016 - Dark Bombastic Evening 7 (Romania)[8]
• 2016 - Mėnuo Juodaragis XIX (Lithuania)[13]
• 2016 - Алтея (Russia)[29] [30] [31]
• 2017 - Music Drive (Armenia)
• 2017 - Wave-Gotik-Treffen (Germany)
• 2017 - МИР Сибири (Russia)
• 2017 - Белый шум (Russia)
• 2017 - Метафест (Russia)
• 2017 - Castlefest (Netherlands)
• 2017 - FourЭ (Kazakhstan)
• 2017 - Камяніца (Belarus)

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• Theodor Bastard official site
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• Theodor Bastard on SoundCloud
• Theodor Bastard on Bandcamp
• Theodor Bastard at Last.fm
• Theodor Bastard at Discogs
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