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Mentioned on another thread a time spent digging through racks for post punk (loosely based) music from the former Eastern Bloc. While at university I studied Eastern European Studies for a year following an unexplained interest from my teenage years. Eastern Europe had some colossal bands and records during the 1980s that didn't get great distribution in the West but were well known in the East. I'll probably try and do a couple of posts to sum up some of the main sounds that I like from the time, and being a Geographer the posts will loosely follow one particular area at a time.
First up I'll play out some favourites from the former Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was perhaps the most open of the Eastern Bloc states to the first wave of punk and the subsequent sounds. Each state seemed to have a distinct sound - Serbia was mostly more punk influenced with a dash of goth, Croatia more new wave and Slovenia leaning more towards the synth-industrial-dada axis but these are generalities.
Defektno Efekniki - D. Defektno Efekniki were a post punk group from Serbia. This song appeared on a compilation album and has really great rumbling basslines through the song. I love the homage to Piet Mondrian in the cover art of the LP.
Igra Staklenih Perli - Gusterov Trg. This is more of a prog rock song but 10 years too late and dreamt up in a Serbian field. Really like the symphonic solos and melodies. Never managed to snag this album and it goes for a fair price on the t'internet.
Pekinska Patka - Krug. Perhaps the best known Serbian punk band, this song comes from their second album 'Strah Od Monotonijie' when the group had taken a much darker turn. Similar in tone musically to the Defektno Efekniki track above but with much darker vocals and vibe.
Idoli - Maljciki. Ska song from another big hitter, video is a mockery of the working proletariat doing as the state want (but in a kind of Madness stylee)
Beograd - Mrak. Synth pop released, like many of these albums, on a state owned label. More commercial sounding that some of the other music here but has a nice Cold-War vibe that we'll revisit when we reach Poland
Luna - Nestvarne Stvari. Gothic new wave by the group known in some circles as the Cure of the Yugo scene at the time.
Borghesia - Nocne Setnje. Proto EBM/minimal synth from Slovenia, Borghesia were from the same art scene as Laibach and mined a similar vein of post punk and industrial influences looking back towards some lost ideal of 'mitteleuropa' and drawing on controversial imagery
Paraf - Fini Decko. Day-glo new wave from Rijeka in Croatia, nice guitar lines and female vocals with a bit of synth weaving through this early single
Boa - Milion. Some punk-funk here from Croatia, again with synth accompaniments - wouldn't out of place in the Blade Runner soundtrack playing in a night club
Laibach - Prva TV Generacija. Industrial dystopic descent into the breakdown of society (or some such). This track is proto-techno and sounds to these areas pretty contemporary. I'm not a fan of this group's later forays into industrial sounds but this early work fits nicely in with how I imagine counter culture on the other side of the Iron Curtain would have sounded back in the day.
Hope some of you enjoy this....
First up I'll play out some favourites from the former Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was perhaps the most open of the Eastern Bloc states to the first wave of punk and the subsequent sounds. Each state seemed to have a distinct sound - Serbia was mostly more punk influenced with a dash of goth, Croatia more new wave and Slovenia leaning more towards the synth-industrial-dada axis but these are generalities.
Defektno Efekniki - D. Defektno Efekniki were a post punk group from Serbia. This song appeared on a compilation album and has really great rumbling basslines through the song. I love the homage to Piet Mondrian in the cover art of the LP.
Igra Staklenih Perli - Gusterov Trg. This is more of a prog rock song but 10 years too late and dreamt up in a Serbian field. Really like the symphonic solos and melodies. Never managed to snag this album and it goes for a fair price on the t'internet.
Pekinska Patka - Krug. Perhaps the best known Serbian punk band, this song comes from their second album 'Strah Od Monotonijie' when the group had taken a much darker turn. Similar in tone musically to the Defektno Efekniki track above but with much darker vocals and vibe.
Idoli - Maljciki. Ska song from another big hitter, video is a mockery of the working proletariat doing as the state want (but in a kind of Madness stylee)
Beograd - Mrak. Synth pop released, like many of these albums, on a state owned label. More commercial sounding that some of the other music here but has a nice Cold-War vibe that we'll revisit when we reach Poland
Luna - Nestvarne Stvari. Gothic new wave by the group known in some circles as the Cure of the Yugo scene at the time.
Borghesia - Nocne Setnje. Proto EBM/minimal synth from Slovenia, Borghesia were from the same art scene as Laibach and mined a similar vein of post punk and industrial influences looking back towards some lost ideal of 'mitteleuropa' and drawing on controversial imagery
Paraf - Fini Decko. Day-glo new wave from Rijeka in Croatia, nice guitar lines and female vocals with a bit of synth weaving through this early single
Boa - Milion. Some punk-funk here from Croatia, again with synth accompaniments - wouldn't out of place in the Blade Runner soundtrack playing in a night club
Laibach - Prva TV Generacija. Industrial dystopic descent into the breakdown of society (or some such). This track is proto-techno and sounds to these areas pretty contemporary. I'm not a fan of this group's later forays into industrial sounds but this early work fits nicely in with how I imagine counter culture on the other side of the Iron Curtain would have sounded back in the day.
Hope some of you enjoy this....
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