Showing posts with label Slovenia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slovenia. Show all posts

Thursday, April 17, 2014


Here's a Slovenian punk treat! The five songs here are were recorded in 1986 and are a very unique blend of gloomy but fast punk with some experimentation with non-traditional rock instruments (notably an organ and some weird percussive stuff). CZD formed in 1984 and have existed in may capacities to this day, also in written word, video, political activism, etc. This 7" is particularly cool because it is accompanied by a sort of thesis/cultural analysis by a fellow named Rajko Muršič (professor at the Faculty Of Arts) called Punks In The Village. This was actually published as a book in 1995, and it appears that the whole text is included here, but I'm not positive. Anyhow, it's a very academic but fascinating look into punk and subcultures forming in small villages in Slovenia, and the effects it had regionally. I've included a portion of the text at the bottom.





Something must be stressed: rock subcultures have a lot in common with the way of functioning of tribal communities - rock concerts are a kind of a surrogate deep feeling (and identification) with the collective. The main theme in rock movements are diversities - not to be the equal to the surroundings is the currency of rock subcultures. Punk was a radicalisation of the rock subcultures: it was provocative, the behaviour or punks was always in opposition to their surroundings, their world was a kind of upside-down "normal" world. The punk pose was a pose of disobedience, their aesthetic and ethical values were a negation of the dominant rules, although punks were never really violent, dirty or asocial. Their whole pose (acting) and their lifestyle was itself a provocation. In Slovenia, the first punks appeared in the 1978 (the band Pankrti), and in the beginning they caused no reactions in the public. The only reactions came form the "older" rockers, who claimed that punk wasn't music at all. When punk became more and more popular, people slowly noticed the new phenomenon, but the individual reactions weren't too aggressive. Everything changed when the politicians and the R.S.A.'s forced a trial against a group of the so called Nazi-punks. In fact, all of the accused were later acquitted. The mass media (under government control) caused a kind of hysteria against the punks and repression became apparent (closing of the pubs and clubs, police oppression, even arrests...). By that time punk came to the villages near the border, too. The elements of pressure in the village Trate, a group of youngsters formed the Club, soon after they organised themselves in the village youth organisation (ZSMS - The Association of the Socialist Youth of Slovenia). The former was necessary, because to be organized politically was then the only possible way to legitimate other common youth activities... Once again, the whole punk pose was provocative: clothes, hair-dressing, speaking, music, dance, art... And, of course, in time it lost its sense. Punks grew up, society was democratised. Although some of them have families now, they are still pretty free-minded. Some of them play in one of the most interesting underground rock band, called CZD. Legitimisation through the success CZD's music is very innovative. It do[es] not come out form the local tradition, in fact, it transcends it. The group plays music, suitable for all the rock places in the world. It is still modern (no more punk) and attractive. But we can trace enough elements of the local characteristics in the activities of the band. The members of the band are as stubborn as the local population is, they are as rude as their surroundings are, and they work as hard as their parents do. Naturally, their career is absolutely different. Their music is part of a planetary popular culture."

Thursday, April 4, 2013

V/A - GRAD IZOBILIJA - Yugoslavian Punk Sampler Cassette


Today I present you with a great tape-trader comp of early punk from Ex-Yugoslavia. Unappealing cover, I know, but the music is a great taste of the diverse punk/new wave movement in the 70's-80's in former Yugoslavia. Interestingly, the first thing I noticed is the absence of more well known bands like PARAF, PEKINSKA PATKA, and PANKRTI. This of course is exciting to someone like myself who wants to dig deeper and hear the lesser known stuff! Here's the rundown:

PRLJAVO KAZALISTE does 3 youthful 70's rock'n roll punk tunes // MRTVI KANAL play 3 incredible upbeat punk/postpunk jams with driving keyboard lines. Extremely dynamic! Easily the winner on this tape for me - "Oglasi" is an instant classic! // ZENEVSKI DEKRET does 3 solid mid tempo punk songs and a cover of "Chinese Rocks" // more mid-paced late 70's styled punk from ZONA RANE MASTURBACIJE // and one catchy and mysterious track from GOLA JAJA - you must check out their other astonishing demo material from the excellent Degenerik blog here! // a couple softer, but catchy and crafty punk tunes from ZABRANENO PUSENJE (NOTE: "Stanje Soka" has a painful stint of skipping halfway through the track, presumably because the material was dubbed from a heavily partied CD) // one cool post-punk track and one scorcher by PROBLEMI, the second track being one of the best on the tape // two interesting and weird post punk/wave tracks by BELINSKI ZID // GROUPA 92 do two great punk songs nuanced with flourishing keyboard lines, much like THE STRANGLERS! Another standout band on the comp. // SVE PO SPISKU does 2 catchy RAMONES-ey punk jams // N.B.G with 3 quick-paced punk ragers with memorable choruses, regardless of your grasp of the language // and last but not least, GOBLINI from Serbia plays 3 tracks of melodic and poppy punk with a great driving quality. They also sound like they maybe came a bit later, judging by the recording and style...but who knows. 



I should also note that I totally fucked up when I ripped  this cassette and accidentally started with side B, and am not knowledgeable enough with Audacity to fix this - so the files are sequenced as such. Doesn't really matter, right? 


Sunday, March 3, 2013

HARD-CORE LJUBLJANA LP (with bonus tracks)


I've been listening to a fair amount of punk and hardcore from what was once Yugoslavia lately, so I figured this would be an appropriate collection to share. HARD-CORE LJUBLJANA presents some of the finest hardcore bands from the mid-80's in the biggest city in what is now Slovenia, and is a quintessential compilation of Ex-Yugo hc/punk (alongside the stellar Noč Nad Jugoslavijom tape). 


The comp was originally released in 1986 and features racket from: 

UBR - probably the best known on here, and maybe even the best known Yugo hc band throughout the international hc scene // ODPADKI CIVILIZACIJE - blazing, raw, straightforward hc with memorable songs // TOZIBABE - Three-piece, all women, very dark punk band. Their once elusive Dezuje EP has been reissued and is now relatively easy to find, and is one of the most unique and brilliant punk records worldwide! (I cannot resist sharing this must-see TOZIBABE Youtube video) Their tracks on this comp are more on the rudimentary side, but are still invigorating in that "inept + genuine expression" kind of way // EPIDEMIJA - More raging fast and raw hardcore - like a rawer and harsher version of early DC stuff, such as SOA // III. KATEGORIJA - Last but definitely not least, perhaps the strongest material on the comp! Similarly to the previous bands - raw, fast, pounding hardcore with convincing gruff vocals, and moments of attempted melody that never fail to explode into a full-blown hc assault! 



This is ripped from the reissue from the early '00s, which contains a slew of bonus tracks, not included on the original issue (2 from UBR, 2 from ODPADKI CIVILIZACIJE, and 5 from III. KATEGORIJA). This is a total no-brainer for international hardcore fiends!