Moj Rakety are a bunch of Russians and they make music. Music that is a mix of grunge, like Foo Fighters, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, with some more poppy Team Sleep (who are pretty much the post-rock Deftones) and indie rock. ‘Nuclear Weapon Mushroom Potato Chips’ is their second full-length record, following up their self-titled debut of 2004 and an EP in 2005. And I have to say that although its title annoys, the album is actually quite good and nice to listen to.

First thing one notices when looking at the album cover is the awesome artwork: it’s a colourful cartoon with some yellow animal and his rocket. It immediately makes you want to like the album. After that, the second thing you notice is that there are too many songs on the album: 14. Of those songs, numbers 12 and 14 are probably bonus tracks, but I can’t be sure, since I can’t read or speak more than these four words of Russian: da, nyet, dawei and rabotti, or something. Oh yeah, and ‘rakety’ and ‘moj’.
Whereas the reviewer of Moj Rakety’s previous album thought that the CD was a bit here nor there in terms of musical continuity, ‘NWMPC’ does a much better job at this. All songs have at least the same style and during the first half of the album, there’s a vibe of summer, sun, lazy afternoons and being on vacation, sitting outside overlooking the ocean, while enjoying an exotic cocktail and easy conversation. From the first song onwards this atmosphere comes across and it relaxes the listener and makes you appreciate the music. During the second half though, it all sounds more esoteric, more psychedelic. Because of that, it loses a lot of its energy, it’s like they decided to smoke weed on the beach and watched the day end and night begin.
Songwritingwise -as of now, that is a word-, they are pretty good.

This is especially vivid in ‘Passing On A Bicycle By A Green Fence’ where the parts stick together very well, creating a memorable song. A song like ‘Gash’ is more towards the grunge side of things and is even quite aggressive, whereas the next two song are so laid back again, you’d want to get a beach chair out, put a woven hat on and close your eyes. ‘Nightmaremars’ even has a trumpet in it. Alas this song only takes 1 minute 46. ‘Grass’ then again has a bit of fire in it again, which they extinguish on the slow and (I hate the word, but well, here goes) contemplative ‘Joytoy’, which is a song most comparable to Team Sleep, or a slow, in between Deftones song.
Song eight is a grunge song, with some more energy, but after that one, it’s slow, and the music pretty much just goes on, without anything spectacular happening. Songs 9 through 12 aren’t as good as the first six, that’s for sure, but still you want to hear them again, so they do have quality. Track 13, ‘Pearls’ is more in the vein of the first half, while number 14 fits better in the second.
Well… I nearly had a point. I mean, overall, I’m right, with the vibe and halves, but not in detail. Well… Tough luck. In any case, they should’ve put song thirteen as track seven and the bump the rest up one number from there.

The conclusion, yes it has arrived. ‘Nuclear Weapon Mushroom Potato Chips’, by Moj Rakety is a good album and worthy of your money -that is, if you can find it anywhere, or live in Russia, although I’m sure you could order it-. It is a little too long, and nearing the end, the CD can get kind of slow, but all in all, you have to like this band and this album. In the buckets of CD’s I own, that I will never listen to again, this one is a nice exception.