Last time we came across Russian pranksters Gultskra Artikler, they were a duo comprising of Alexey Devyanin and Dmitry Garin, but since the release of the haunting Pofigistka on the Lampse label in 2006, Garin has left the band leaving Devyanin to come up with the most definitive Gultskra Artikler statement to date; Kasha Iz Topora. The entire record, which plays continuously through it's hour-long duration, is set to a fairytale written by a friend of Devayanin, detailing the adventures of a man with an axe that makes flying porridge (based on a traditional Russian tale). The macabre elements of the disc's storyline provides ample source material for Devayanin to weave his processed darkness in and out of folk-tinged guitar parts, knee-trembling vocals and all manner of other obscure instrumentation. Kasha Iz Topora is one of those records that truly sounds on it's own in an overpopulated music scene, and Devyanin has truly developed his windswept sound stories over years of careful experimentation and fine-tuning. Hailing from Novosibirsk in Siberia, he has much to draw influence from - wrapping up warm and constructing choppy experimental music on an archaic personal computer was only one way of keeping his mind off the intense world outside, drawing influence from such artists as Leafcutter John, Jackie-O Motherfucker and Tod Dockstader. This record is a new stage in the development of not only Gultskra Artikler, but in the ever-growing Miasmah label. If you give this album the time and let yourself fall into it's cryptic story, you may find this the strangest and most involving record you'll hear this year.