D198 (C)&(P) Hands Productions

CD / Digital album

Digital version available on Bandcamp and all the rest best digital stores


Peek-A-Boo Magazine

I admit it, I really do hate earplugs. Fair to say they can protect your ears, but they also destroy the beauty of music. So yes, I’m one of those who refuse to wear ‘em….except when it’s Ambassador21! This band is a thrill, I even would go as far by saying that the tunes by Natasha A Twentyone (voice, electronics) and Alexey Protasov (voice, electronics) are not music. Nah, don’t get me wrong, I just wanna say it’s more like an experience. It’s a trill, like taking a dive on a rollercoaster…you know you’ll end up with a headache, but you can’t resist as it’s oh so funny and that is what this Belarusian duo is all about.
The band are already doing their stuff for ten years and I guess it’s somewhere written in the stars, but this anniversary got them to the label they fit best on: Hands. I remember very well when I was reviewing their debut, I compared them to Atari Teenage Riot and I probably still do, but at the same time is this the sound of a band that had a very positive evolution. Don’t worry, I’m not speaking about a so called mature (read dull) sound, but a band who has tried to experiment. Their latest album shows this in a perfect way. There are 16 tunes on here and they all have one thing in common and that’s the fact that they’re loud, but apart from that they’re all sounding different and that’s how you get a great album.
Ambassador21 are rebels. Every line they use (from Face Your Future Killers till Fuck All Systems) is a punch in the face. It’s raw, it’s harsh, it hurts…you just feel it’s the scream from two people who believe in a change. The cynical old bastard in me tells me that you can’t change this world, but still I’m thrilled when discovering that there are those who still believe you can. So respect, and more than that!
You often read that an album is a blast (even if puts you asleep), but X is a one, it’s even a bomb…this is explosive. Noiseterrorists with a bloody good taste, X is excellent! Get it…


Blackaudio

I have to admit, as a listening experience I have always been lethargic with the works of Ambassador 21 when it comes to playing one of their albums at home; and much preferred this Belarus duo in the live arena. Over the course of what appears to be a gazillion albums it’s been hard to keep track of the pair so it’s been good to reacquaint myself with them once more.
Opening up in blistering fashion it’s fair to say that ‘X’ isn’t for the faint of heart, carrying all the energy they expel live, right into the studio. ‘Dope Off’, is riddled with furious rhythms, crunching guitar and riotous vocals that’s scythe through the mix like a knife, with a smattering of political samples thrown in for good measure.
Things don’t let up come track two, ‘Revolution is a Business’, with its thundering double bass that starts a landslide of a song that unbelievably never lets up on the crushing momentum from start to finish; punishing and relentless, this is a vicious insight into what this Minsk pairing are all about when they’re on their A game.
Rarely letting up, there’s barely a moment for contemplation on the whole of this release with just a few limited sections of the album slowing down on the BPM level, and then it’s not for long; bearing this in mind, overall it can get a little too much, lacking in the variation stakes as a whole. But then, if all out aggression is your cup of tea, then Ambassador 21 have it in bucket loads, with smiles on their faces as they kick your teeth in all the way to the very last beat.


Flux Magazine

I fratelli Protasov sono tra i maggiori esponenti di un genere sempre poco noto ai piќ, che rappresenta una delle massime forme di intransigenza musicale in ambito elettronico, il digital hardcore, termine coniato negli anni Х90 dagli Atari teenage riot, e cos“ come i suddetti torneranno a breve con un nuovo lavoro, anche gli intransigenti bielorussi hanno pubblicato un nuovo disco di inediti, questa volta per la Hands productions. Questa label si lega sempre molto fortemente ad una continua ricerca e richiesta di sperimentazione sonora e abbraccia il lavoro dei due che da piќ di una decade portano avanti la loro crociata personale sotto il segno dellХassalto e del riot meno raffinato e ragionato rispetto alla controparte tedesca, un assalto sonoro e concettuale che lascia pochi spazi al rilassamento mentale dellХascoltatore, che in questi brani viene chiamato a tirare fuori e ad esprimere la sua rabbia verso tutto quello che il sistema Џ e vuole rappresentare. UnХorgia di chitarre, di sampling, di breakbeat e di distorsioni, inserite allХinterno di un ibrido musicale volutamente sporco e old fashioned, che sa allo stesso tempo di etica e suono hardcore punk e, allo stesso tempo di hardcore techno. Fin qui nulla di nuovo, ed effettivamente non cХЏ una particolare innovazione, se non fosse che cХЏ la grandezza di una musica che ha dalla sua una grande attitudine e una grande voglia di esprimere ancora una forte urgenza creativa che spesso molti act sembrano dimenticare. Non mancano momenti che esulano da queste ritmiche, a volte piќ o meno sincopate e che riplasmano i sound attuali trasportandoli in una ottica piќ visionaria e offuscata. Si tratta senzХaltro di uno dei lavori piќ maturi della band, laddove la maturit€ non simboleggia un momento di stasi o di vistoso cambiamento di genere, anzi, qui assistiamo ad uno dei lavori piќ maturi ed interessanti di digital hardcore che comunque non perdono nulla del carisma del genere e che non mancheranno di entusiasmare il fan piќ o meno storico. Non un lavoro per tutti i palati, ma di certo non lo vuole essere. Comunque sia, una grande release che trasuda una freschezza insperata. Maestri.