BEAR NECESSITIES

Georgian musician Tusia Beridze is 25 and from that country’s capital city, Tbilisi. She recently moved to a place in the countryside near Cologne in Germany with her partner Thomas Brinkmann, the famous techno guy. On her new album as TBA, Annulé, Tusia has made music that sounds like the Cocteau Twins, Radiohead, Shostakovich, and Aphex Twin all wrapped up in cotton wool soaked with Soviet sadness and a lot of hope.

Georgians are extremely musical people, Tusia says. “They love good music, know much about it, and have good ears. You cannot cheat them just by being brave. You have to impress them with good music.”
She also says that Georgia has loads of homeless animals. “But the animals are perfectly adjusted to the street ghetto life. They’re more smug than any of the uptight dogs owned by desperate women having their never-ending midlife crisis.” Geez, OK.

Vice: Who’s that chap you’re with in the photo?

Tusia: That’s Jonny, our neighbor’s horse. He’s a very funny one, with short legs and an 80s new-wave haircut. We have this horse over in our yard because we have a deal with our neighbor that the horse will eat the grass here, as it’s too long and we’re not really excited about cutting it ourselves. Jonny is our guest.

Which are the most prized animals in Georgia? Horses?

I think if you give somebody a bear, and he can put it in a cage, then this person will accommodate you for ten years for free.

Did you have pets in Tbilisi?

We had a dog for 15 years. It was the shaggiest poodle called Sancho. He had a terrible accident with a car and lost his leg, but was still OK for the next seven years on his three legs. After him, all my attempts to bring a dog to the house failed because none of us would take proper care of the dog.

Can you tell a good Georgian joke?

It’s difficult because all those jokes are very local and if you don’t know the people and their environment, it won’t work. Like most popular jokes are about these people called highlanders. They live in a place called Svanetia. It’s so high in the mountains that they don’t get enough oxygen and their brain is very slow and stiff.

So they are hillbillies, essentially.

I guess.

THEYDON BOIS
Annulé is out now on Max Ernst records.

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