Blinkered, paralysed
Flat on my back
They say our world is built endeavor
That every man is for himself
Wealth is for the one that wants it
Paradise, if you can earn it
History is the reason
I’m washed up
Blinkered, paralysed
Flat on my back
My ambitions come to nothing
What I wanted now just seems a waste of time
I can’t make out what has gone wrong
I was good at what I did
The crows come home to roost
And I’m the dupe
Thank you, Andy. Hvala.
Nem! – Az eszperantó királyság hivatalos himnuszai (2018) – Compilation Album:
A legszebb szerelmes dalok (2013)
Rohanok egy tolókocsiban érted / I Run In A Wheelchair
Ezüst hercegnő / Silver Princess [Esperanto Anthem of the Year ’13]
Éljen a Petőfi rádió (2014)
Buta szeretnék lenni / I Want To Be Silly
Nincs meg a pénzem / There’s No Money
Kiscica ugrál az ágyon / Pussycat Bounces On The Bed [Esperanto Anthem of the Year ’14]
Sztálin és Hitler / Stalin And Hitler
Alzheimer Karaoke (2016)
Engedékeny dal / Obedient Song
Öregnek lenni / To Be Old
Basszál (Ökumenikus változat) / Fuck! (Ecumenical Version) [Esperanto Anthem of the Year’16]
Bonus track:
Éljen a szeretet rádió / Long Live Radio Love
Nem! – Az eszperantó királyság hivatalos himnuszai (2018) also contains few tracks from Szupergyár/Superfactory (2001) CD album which belongs to an earlier phase / chapter of Tudósok’s long academic career.
Cheers
Bandcamp:
Digital vinyls, part 2. Very predictable choices. Almost all I’ve heard of new stuff during the second half of ’19.
Dälek – Respect To The Authors 12″
Respect to Dälek.
Respect To The Authors
Defiant
Seek Harbor
Carter Tutti Void – Triumvirate
T 3.2
T 3.1
T 3.4
Pere Ubu – The Long Goodbye
Synth heavy prog / art-rock road section. Unexpected curve.
The Road Ahead
What I Heard On The Pop Radio
Mark Lanegan Band – Somebody’s Knocking
Some folks got to see The Membranes thanks to Mark Lanegan Band. I got to hear Mark Lanegan’s current music because of The Membranes. In a way I had closed the chapter of my interest with the demise of Screaming Trees and didn’t follow Lanegan’s solo career. What a twist! Soul disco remake/remodel approach for sordid melodrama mood. It made me check “Gargoyole” (2017) too. It even made me think of mid ’80s New Order.
Playing Nero
Gazing From The Shore
Two Bells Ringing At Once
Richard Dawson – 2020
Jogging with Richard Dawson continues. Newcastle chronicle.
The Queen’s Head
Two Halves
Dead Dog In An Alleyway
Tropical Fuck Storm – Braindrops
“We use lots of techno gear to make rock and roll because rock and roll gear is boring, and all sounds like Led Zeppelin”. Well, it doesn’t have to sound like Page, I agree, but it wouldn’t hurt my ears if it sounded like Bonham, non filtered and directly into lower plexus. TFS drummer is great. Songwriting is excellent again.
Braindrops
Maria 63
Black Midi – Schlagenheim
The young shall inherit the Earth.
Speedway
Reggae
Western
The Messthetics – Anthropocosmic Nest
Scrawler
Drop Foot
Better Wings
Russian Circles – Blood Year
Quartered
Milano
Arluck
Blood Incantation – Hidden History Of The Human Race
Hallelujah! A well recorded death metal album. And mastered too. Finally. Not that I’ve heard many of them in recent times. So be it.
Awakening
Full Of Hell – Weeping Choir
Burning Myrrh
Haunted Arches
Rainbow Coil
Armory Of Obsidian Glass
Uzeda – Quocumque jeceris stabit
“This album is dedicated to those who struggle to conserve the right to be themselves”. Half an hour of pure electricity. The finest kraft. Almost like an example of perfect pairing – the band and their esteemed recording engineer became one mind. I used to be bored by Uzeda records.
The Preacher’s Tale
Blind
Soap
Pile – Green And Gray
A Labyrinth With No Center
A Bug On Its Back
The Monochrome Set – Fabula Mendax
Demons, begone! Angels too. The unbearable lightness of being according to elderly post-punk gentleman Ganesh Seshadri – Bid. What could a fan do but count in case of The Monochrome Set: six album since reactivation, most of them (five that I’ve heard) remarkable in pop-rock context. Namaste.
Summer Of The Demon
I Can’t Sleep
La chanson de la pucelle
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Colorado
Septuagenarian hard rock. Ride off into the sunset.
Shut It Down
Help Me Lose My Mind
Green Is Blue
Swans – Leaving Meaning
Meaning leaving. Leaving.
Sunfucker
My Phantom Limb
Amnesia
Tudósok concert last October was one of the brighter points in this year’s entertainment. My mind blown by Euro saxophones. In the meantime Tudósok have released the new studio album – “Akkor is nevetek” – a varied collection of songs covering full spectrum of emotional states (which I cannot get correctly by listening to alien Hungarian language but can feel them through music). Band leader DrMáriás painted a very colorful picture this time. The album was produced (polished to a shine) by Ivan Fece – Firči (ex Luna, ex EKV).
Then what types of ice-cream are on offer in bleak December: pistachio, lemon (or vanilla) and some strange taste which is turquoise tinted. Artificially sweetened but nevertheless good. Drugs? Lick it!
Advent in Budapest. Wild side. Dance away the headache, the heartache and fear:
Segítség / Help!
Maszatolni akarok / I Want To Smear
Mondjál végre valami jót / Say Something Good Finally
Mutass egy f@szt / Show Me F@
Akkor is nevetek / I Still Laugh
Hőhullám / Heatwave
Baba / Baby(doll)
Vezér / Leader
There is a tired side to “Akkor is nevetek” too, with tender songs to appease frenetic mind. But that part hits harder in post party torpor. More on Tudósok later. Maybe.
(song titles were google-translated in English for extra confusion)
http://grundrecords.hu/tudosok-akkor-is-nevetek
Alive (and kicking) in Zagreb. October ‘19.
SHORTPARIS (Russia)
Saturday 28.09., Močvara
Shortparis come from Saint Petersburg (via Novokuznetsk, Siberia). They have the appearance of being on a serious mission. For the first seasonal (autumnal) concert which I saw in the series of concerts at the end of September and during October Shortparis set the bar very high. Fantastic! Shortparis are (already) masterful in the art of performance. They play genuine (Electro) Body Music which defies past & present pop categories. The live show became too physical at some point. It seemed so exhausting even to watch that I wished for more synth sounds / fat techno beats & less manic dancing and body movements. Amazing. Shortparis are scary as well.
PILE (USA)
Monday 30.09., KSET
Pile are modest rock band (in Capt. Beefheart tradition lately) from Boston. Their earnest songs (from couple of albums that I listened to) don’t stick in my head for some reason but I was curious enough to check them live. They were great in concert. At first I had bizarre sensation of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like I am too old. Pile didn’t disappoint thou. And I was glad in the end. New album “Green and Gray” is pretty good, especially after repeated listening.
BLACK MIDI (England), NEON LIES (Zagreb, HR)
Wednesday 02.10., Močvara
Unlike other sparsely attended concert dates in October, Močvara was packed for Black MIDI. What the fuck!? Boys were great – a tight young band with a great drummer and three reluctant vocalists – the main one mumbles nonsense, the other whispers and the third one shrieks occasionally. Black MIDI were announced like next big thing in Britain but for me personally it’s enough that they are excellent at what they do. It does not bother me that their mixture of styles is not so new. There were many American bands that played similar variants of math-rock / post-rock throughout the whole 1990s and beyond. Good news is that Black MIDI’s angularity is musical, it’s not a mere exercise in sudden breaks, complex rhythm patterns and shouting out. Surprisingly, I like art pop production (Euro touches) of the debut album despite the fact that the role of their excellent drummer was pushed too far in the background for my taste. Was too tired to be focused during crowded concert. Let the younger generations (they were present in public) have Black MIDI. I had enough.
Neon Lies synth alter ego of Goran Lautar was great.
SOULSIDE (USA)
Monday 07.10., Močvara
Had they visited Zagreb during legendary Euro Tour ’89 perhaps more people would come to greet them 30 years later. Even Girls vs. Boys pedigree didn’t help. Anyhow, Soulside played old songs in style. It sounded good (and they looked very vital). But my feet were heavy and my mind was somewhere else for some reason. I loved Soulside music in my late teens and early twenties. “Hot Body-Gram” LP still holds up. It is one of the best records from the late 1980s Dischord catalog.
FÖLLAKZOID (Chile)
Wednesday 09.10., Vintage Industrial
OK, this was a psych performance art by psychedelic rock band gone digital / minimal. Different clothes, new approaches. Transvestite style. Föllakzoid presented their latest album in entirety. Stuff that Wire magazine could like. I might check their early albums someday. Missed their concert few years ago.
TUDÓSOK (Hungary), ŽBLJ MOZAIK (Samobor, HR)
Tuesday 15.10., Močvara
Lured by jazz-punk promises and bright colors I came to see them. My fondness for Central / Eastern Europe had a role in deciding too. I didn’t even hear of Tudósok before the concert although they are a cultural institution from Budapest with roots in the 1980s Novi Sad. Shame on me! The attendance was very sad once again (cca. 25 souls) but the band can be joyful with or without their loyal public. They made my day and couple of following days as well. Truly uplifting experience of the very first order. I’ve been enlisted right there on the spot by bleating saxophones. Now I am a fan.
Žblj mozaik guitar & drums duo from Samobor provided short, fast & nice intro.
UFOMAMMUT (Italia)
Wednesday 16.10., Močvara
One more astounding concert that reached Shortparis at the level of intensity and artistic focus. Great psychedelic metalheads Ufomammut sound better live than on records. Tender psychedelic intro disarmed me immediately. Psychosis inducing video slides in the background, perfectly synchronized with heavy metal riffs, were great visual distraction. Ufomammut really proved to be mighty power-trio. But I was simply tired if not doomed. Had to sit on the bench by the bar like an old person with wobbly legs. My very regular biorhythm is not fit for late hours entertainment. Ufomammut’s latest studio album “8” is my favorite one.
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE (Japan)
Wednesday 30.10., Tvornica kulture
As expected, Acid Mothers Temple delivered an excellent concert. I enjoyed it although I am not familiar with their music (albums). AMT hyperactive drummer reminded me of Amon Düül II’s Peter Leopold in style which is a compliment, of course. Hawkwind synth sounds burdened few songs here and there and I wished for a different pattern. Side effects of general tiredness swept me over and my naturally psychedelic mind got trapped in my painful body. Qi doesn’t flow freely up and down my spine anymore. But it will.
From album Ostrvo ledenog kita LP/CD (2018) Geenger Records/Zvuk Močvare
Socialist Youth corrupted by Capitalist Entertainment. Where were you?
The Ruts 29.01.80., Dom sportova
Classix Nouveaux 15.05.81., Dom sportova (Zagreb Biennale)
Gang of Four 17.05.81., Dom sportova (Zagreb Biennale)
Boomtown Rats 25.03.82., Dom sportova
Talking Heads 27.07.82., Dom sportova
Heavy Metal Festival (Motörhead, Budgie, Atomic Rooster, Uriah Heep, Gillan etc.) 04-05.09.82., Dom sportova
23 Skidoo 23.04.83., Moša Pijade (Zagreb Biennale)
Anti-Nowhere League 24.04.83., Moša Pijade (Zagreb Biennale)
D.O.A. 30.03.84., Moša Pijade
Youth Brigade 12.10.84., Kulušić
Einstürzende Neubauten 17.02.85., Moše Pijade
Test Dept. 25.02.85., Kulušić
Angelic Upstarts 18.04.85., Kulušić
Sonic Youth 04.10.85., Kulušić
The Exploited 27.10.85., Moša Pijade
Inca Babies, Jabuka
Iron Maiden 11.09.86., Dom sportova
The Cassandra Complex 07.11.86., Kulušić
U.K. Subs 17.11.86., Kulušić
Misty in Roots 18.12.86., Dom sportova
G.B.H. 16.02.87., Kulušić
Skinny Puppy 06.05.88., Kulušić
Savage Republic 05.11.88., Kulušić
Das Damen 24.11.88., Kulušić
Pixies 23.05.89., Kulušić
Firehose 18.09.89., Kulušić
The Sugarcubes 20.11.89., Dom sportova
Henry Rollins 27.11.89., Kulušić
Volcano Suns 12.12.89., Dvorana Pauk SKUC
v.a. Zagreb 1986-90 vol III: Punk (punk rock, hardcore, pop punk, post-hardcore)
More songs about love & hate.
*subject to change*
Mid-decade (1983-85) intro:
In the 1983-84 period the third generation of punk rock bands became visible, slowly coming out of local community centers to play concerts before already established groups in the bigger clubs or on small festivals. In spite of very viral surge of UK82 hardcore which was echoing in the punk circles all around the globe at the time, only Sköl caught the hardcore bug early on. With a female singer in front line they superficially resembled Vice Squad. Actually, the band leader was guitarist Tomislav Petrlić Fix who steered group across the decade according to his urges and ideas. On the contrary Z.R.M. (Zona rane masturbacije) turned back to ’77 style (Ramones, The Adverts, The Clash) and other tuneful punk bands. Z.R.M. had feeble rhythm but their simple songs were good enough and quite catchy. Due to imminent hiatus (service in the army) Z.R.M. went into SIM studio by the end of 1984 and recorded Demo 1984.
Z.R.M. – Demo 1984
Teroristi
Jači pokret
Irma
[bio bih zahvalan za kompletan Z.M.R. Demo ’84 bolje mp3 kvalitete… ]
Young punk trio Excess recorded few demo tracks in their rehearsal space in 1983. These songs have survived in a member’s archives and they reveal young band on a beaten path set by Paraf and Pankrti. Excess were not followers of hardcore UK tribes yet. Sköl and Excess broke up and with the members from both bands punk super group Blitzkrieg [bassist ex Sköl, drummer ex Excess, guitarist ex Solidarnost (from Knin)] was formed at the end of 1984. Blitzkrieg were maybe only truly active punk band that played in concert more often during 1985. Surprisingly they had very little hard core elements. Blitzkrieg sound was based on classic punk rock template with traces of street / terrace punk; closer to UK Subs than G.B.H. In a primitive 4-track studio they managed to record “weedy” sounding Demo 1985 which has been recently released by NE! Records for the first time ever.
Blitzkrieg – Demo 1985
Apel
Kipovi u sjenci
Savršenstvo
Tko je kriv?
After they had played before Angelic Upstarts & The Exploited, Blitzkrieg felt their mission was accomplished and fell apart.
Few journalistic notes from student newspapers “Polet” about inglorious atmosphere (drunk & disorderly punks gobbing on Mensi) during Angelic Upstarts concert in the spring ’85:
Monkey see, monkey do.
At the same time, during 1985 Patareni were d/evolving further their chaotic style which would eventually made them one of the grind-core trailblazers on the global cassette underground hardcore scene.
Among other lesser known punk groups in town which didn’t rise above local community center matinee were also Linija. They are important to mention because of the future roles of the band members in the second half of the 1980s. Linija were springboard for post-punk bands that would follow in their wake (Sin Albert etc.). Their singer Aleksandar Dragaš became music journalist and had a crucial role in promoting American hardcore and even more interesting post-hardcore music through fanzines and student newspapers. He also significantly contributed in building independent network at the end of the decade – “Search & Enjoy” label was founded by Dragaš and Čikara in 1990.
…
Sköl (1982 – 1984; 1986-1991)
Sköl reformed in 1986. New line-up recorded Demo 1986 which I’ve never heard. Debut album “Čista perverzija” on Zdenko Franjić’s pioneering independent label “Slušaj najglasnije!” was finally issued in 1990. It portrays changed band. Seven inch EP “Uzmi i reži” followed in 1991.
Noć
Čovjek
Lica
Ravno se drži
Svjetlost
Jurica
Z.R.M. (1982 – 1987)
After a year long pause, Z.R.M. restarted in 1986 but soon broke up for good and shape shifted into The Cretins (post-punk) and then Modesty (pop-rock), straying away from their punk rock beginnings.
Patareni (1984 – 199?)
Patareni are probably the most famous hardcore punk name from Zagreb to this day because of their super short, vulgar and utterly absurd grind-core bursts which were novelty at the time. They bonded with Ljubljana and Beograd hardcore punks at the very beginning and started tape trading communication with the global scene. Patareni didn’t leave their cellar or atomic shelter often to play in public. Buka were a better known Patareni offshoot.
Tamnichars (1984 – 199?)
Tamnichars were melodic punk rock band under the spell of ice queens and other types of elusive Eastern European girls. Their punk oeuvre was all about being tortured (and jailed) by (unrequited) love. They were nicking from The Stranglers here and there in the process of learning how to play their instruments. I don’t mind it. Tamnichars kept few decent cover versions in their repertoire and some of them ended on the records years later. The debut album “’Till the Next Goodbye” (produced in a slightly polished new wave manner) came late as an independent issue in 1990 and went away below radar. I don’t remember seeing it for sale or even marketed in the music press.
Demo (1987-89)
Povraćam
Dvorac od leda
Marliese (Fischer Z)
Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill (Hüsker Dü)
Tamnichars – Till The Next Goodbye LP (1990)
Samostalni trovač
Ples i smrt i šok (The Saints)
Plavi brod
Story Of My Life
Studeni studeni (1986 – 1991)
Initially known as The Monsters, Studeni studeni were garage punk rock band with pop leanings that worked their way to independently released debut seven inch EP in 1990. This little record with cool cover art is all about love too, not hate. One love song too many, though.
Studeni Studeni – Čisto kao suza 7″ EP (1990) Search & Enjoy 004
A ja sam je volio
Najljepša pjesma
Tvoje oči govore
Čisto kao suza
Generali (198? – 1990)
Hardcore band from Novi Zagreb, a new part of town situated across the river. Generali combined elements of metallic hardcore & melodic post-hardcore (under American influence) in their final years.
Demo Tape 1987-90
Generali
Koji zajeban dan
U glavi joj se sprema
Kill The Kill
Cipele
Crni snijeg
Motus (Vita Est) (1988 – )
Hardcore punk group fronted by stalwart punk Rade Preradović Hogar. They were clearly influenced by UK82 bands. Fortunately, Motus kept violent impulses at bay and might have some things in common with UK anarcho punks as well. I like better samizdat debut cassette compiled from various ’88 demo sessions than vinyl debut “Cogito Aude” LP (1990) released on Austrian independent label Sacro Egoismo which suffered a bit from production. For their first concert outside the country Motus opened for Soulside (DC, USA) in Vienna in 1989.
Demo Tape 1988
Motus vita est
Farse
Lova
Vikend ratnici
Grobari
Šuti trpi radi
Živjela sloboda stvaranja
Hladno pivo (1988 – )
Für immer punks from the western city suburbs have become most popular rock band with punk rock roots, along their older colleagues Psihomodo pop. Verbose and energetic frontman Mile Kekin was born in Germany and spent part of his childhood in Bosnia before coming to Zagreb as a teenager which altogether reflected in his authorship. His story telling could be seen as continuation of Sarajevo’s New Primitives tradition (Zabranjeno pušenje, Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors) carried on the riffs of melodic punk rock so common in Zagreb. Demo Tape 1991 collected first batch of songs from 1989-90 which were later rerecorded for the debut album, the first milestone in the longest running punk rock career in Zagreb.
Demo Tape 1991
Dobro veče!
Marginalci
Zakaj se tak oblačiš?
Trening za umiranje
Pjevajte nešto ljubavno
Niemals
v.a. Zagreb [1986-90] vol II: Art [ethnic forgeries, avant pop, free jazz, jazz pop, art rock, noise rock, pop rock]
*subject to change*
Brojani (1985 – 1987)
Srđan Sacher’s main band after he had left Haustor. The first version of Brojani were Haustor rhythm section (Sacher & Gulić) with Nebojša Stijačić (band leader of Cinkuši) as guitarist. The second version split up in two directions / groups: Waitapu and Vještice.
Cul-de-Sac I (1986 – 1991)
Free improvisation group founded by late Dragan Pajić (guitar) and Damir Prica (sax; ex Haustor, ex Tkp) with a revolving door of musicians from Zagreb. By the 1991 they recorded few cassettes and one of them was “The End Of The World And Other Songs (Including Hit Single)” issued by FV založba in 1989. The Zagreb-Amsterdam-Zagreb anthology (1987-2006) titled “L’Equipe Extraordinaire” (2xLP) has been issued through Dirty Old Label this year. Rhythm & sound (noise) for cleansing mind & soul.
Other Songs (Including Hit Single)
The End Of The World
Dee Dee Mellow (1987-1989)
Jazzy trip initiated by Jurij Novoselić (alt sax; ex Film) and then fully realized with Srđan Sacher (bass player; ex Haustor) and Srđan Gulić (drummer; ex Haustor). Their repertoire consisted of jazz standards covers, reinterpretation of world music songbook and few original songs. FV založba opened collaboration with new bands on Zagreb’s “scene” with Dee Dee Mellow “Live” (1988) tape. Working in parallel with other bands, sax player and drummer joined Disciplina kičme (Belgrade) while bassist left his band Brojani to dedicate more time in newly formed Vještice.
Dee Dee Mellow
Gnoom
Uhu
Kruha i jogurta
Ozo spi (cover of Hungarian folk song)
Waldorf (mid 1980s – 1990)
Kindergarten funk mixed with white noise or something like that? Regression into unbridled childhood? Don’t know yet. Various Artists “Ča je život vengo fantažija” (Search & Enjoy, tape, 1994) would help but it’s not at my disposal. Waldorf participated at YURM ’85 festival.
Sin Albert (1985-1990)
Some sort of arty rock band with post-punk foundations fronted by guitarist Daniel Šuljić. Before breaking up they recorded few songs in the studio which were issued by “Search & Enjoy”, new independent publisher in town. Sin Albert are dry sounding and swift but somehow tired too on their eponymous debut. It does sound like they are singing themselves to sleep through Velvet Underground lazy vibes but one can discern kinetic potential locked in. I should hear samples from their earlier work to get a better picture.
Sin Albert – Sin Albert (1990) 7″ EP
Ja želim čuti
Tri mala dodira
Kinderbet
San
Boxer (1989)
Short-lived post-punk band comprised of two bass players and a drummer. They hardly left their rehearsal space in 1989. However, the members were present on the fluctuating “scene” before and after Boxer. Bassist Josip Suić joined Phantasmagoria and Svadbas, drummer/vocalist Robert Bušić (ex Sin Albert) later played with Brujači and Kojoti & bassist/vocalist Hrvoje Crnić collaborated with performance group Montažstroj and soon started to compose music for theater/film. Boxer managed to record few demo songs during their brief existence which I quite like so here they are – tracks from the attic:
Zdravo
Unekodoba
Novinar
Rože
The House Painters (mid 1980s – 1990)
Funkified art-rock or just modern pop band. Don’t judge them by cassette cover. The House Painters don’t sound like The Smiths. Talking Heads were one of the starting points regarding their possible influences. More I listen to The House Painters more I like ’em, especially guitar parts. The vocals are too high in the mix for my own aural pleasure but what the heck. “Music For Leopold IV” tape in format of an imaginary mini-LP:
A side: SIM Studio ’87
Paint The World
Bells
Spectacles
Semantics
B side: TROOLY Studio ’89
Seeing
Scrape
I Woke Up In A World Of Light
Medicine Man
Waitapu (1987 – 1990)
Waitapu, led by guitarist Hrvoje Danilović, continued creating and refining sophisticated pop music influenced by reggae & afro-pop from the point where his previous band Brojani arrived at. They did record studio material but being a perfectionist, the guitarist destroyed all the master tapes. So the story goes… I am intrigued.
SexA II (1988 – 1991)
Lustful noise-rock boars on the prowl – live in Galerija SC on a lovely late spring evening. Tender mating calls (with the occasional grunts) in the din of thick sounding electric guitar. “No Sleep ‘Till Pussy / Fuck Piction” vinyl debut was issued by Idle Valley / FV Založba at the same time as release of this tape.
Oči
Djevojčica
Sex
Uhode
Vještice (1987 – 1996)
Three-headed band comprised of members from Azra (drummer Leiner), Film (guitarist Juričić) and Haustor (bassist Sacher) moving up and towards the light, and out of the blind alley via recording deal with a “major” label. In 1989 Jugoton issued their debut album “Totalno drukčiji od drugih” – distillation of world music / folk / ethno influences into optimistic pop-rock which appealed to a larger audience. Small independent publisher from Osijek “Plavi pilot” somehow managed to release their second album “Bez tišine!”. Remain in light!
Cul-de-Sac – “L’Equipe extraordinaire” – Anthology [1987 – 2006]
Dirty Old Label – DIRTY.038 (2019)
Cul-de-Sac’s music is based on improvisation, with elements of free improvised music, free jazz, noise, avant rock, electronica and contemporary music. Sometimes it is structured and very often it is completely improvised.
Cul-de-Sac was formed by Dragan Pajić – Pajo (el. guitar, effects) and Damir Prica Kafka – Capri (reeds, keyboard) in 1986 in Zagreb. The first line up included Predrag Dubravčić (drums) and Nino Markovac (bass). From 1987 to 1991 the group was joined by Igor Pavlica (trumpet), Neven Jurić – Nenchi (f. horn), Mario Barišin – Bara (bass), Ivan Marušić – Klif (drums), Darko Rundek (bass, effects) and Nikola Santro (trombone). Visual artists Nicole Hewitt and a little later Nikola Vincelj – Jinks worked with Cul-de-Sac, Hewitt producing posters and tape covers, and Jinks creating slides, posters, tape and CD covers.
During that period Cul-de-Sac published few audio cassete tapes and made the soundtracks for Nicole Hewitt’s films “Herman’s Burden” and “Notes of continuity”, and for two of Boris Matas’ films “Mr. Elliott trip” and “Transplanta”; as well as collaborating on projects with D.B Indoš House of Extreme Music and the contemporary dance group Gesta.
Cul-de-Sac performed concerts in Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Copenhagen and Berlin. The last performance of the original line up took place in June 1991 on the balcony of the skyscraper on the main square in Zagreb. A few months later war broke out in the former Yugoslavia.
From 1993 to 2000 Cul-de-Sac worked in Amsterdam and played in a formation of duo or trio with Ivan Marušić – Klif (drums), and Andreja Košavić (vocals, trumpet), as well collaborating with Nikola Vincelj – Jinks who created posters and covers for CDs and slide shows for the gigs. At this time Cul-de-Sac became part of the improvised and experimental music scene in Amsterdam and played in clubs and venues like :“OCCII”, “Villa Omval”, “Dijk Theater”, “Gallery W 139”, “Vrij media cafe”, “Entrepotdok”, “Zaal 100” and in the squat “Tacheles” in Berlin (1993).
After his return to Zagreb in 2000, Pajo and the long term members of the group got together with a younger generation of musicians and Cul-de-Sac evolved into a large collective Cul-de-Sac Accelerated Evolution Orchestra, including sometimes up to 20 musicians. In recent years the Orchestra has performed at the No Jazz festival Žedno uho and the festival of Contemporary music Showroom of Contemporary Sound in Zagreb, as well as performing in Austria (Klagenfurt), Bosnia (Sarajevo Winter Festival), Macedonia (Prilep Jazz Weekend 2015 and Gevgelija Bosh Festival) and Serbia (31st Belgrade Jazz Festival).
Dragan Pajić – Pajo died on the 23rd of February 2014. Pajo was one of the first improvising musicians in the region. His musical influence on the experimental and improvised music scene is great, and he has left behind himself a large musical legacy.
Cul-de-Sac Accelerated Evolution Orchestra has continued playing after Pajo’s early demise as nonet.
Te večeri spika nam je bila malo bezveze
Bio je to više strah od šutnje
Rastali smo se ispred kućnog broja 8
Najduže ulice u našem gradu
Krenuo sam kroz pasaž, čitaonica Britanskog konzulata bila je zatvorena
Dvorišna zgrada, KUD Pavao Markovac, scenska grupa, događanja
Mračno, memljivo i erotski vlažno
I glas Nade Subotić s prvog kata:”Hajde, idi, kreni”
Ali kuda, kamo, kuda
Kad je sve oko mene
Kad je oko mene sve
CUL-DE-SAC!!!Halo!? Centar za krizna stanja?
Koga sam dobio? Sestru Margaretu?
Kako što mi je? Pa ja sam u slijepoj ulici!
CUL-DE-SAC!!!Cul-de-Sac (live in KSET 2006)
