Eastern European Post Punk vol. 2: Poland, Hungary, Romania,

[dukowski83]

Following on from my earlier chart on post punk from the former Yugoslavia I thought it was about time to do a follow up. Starting off in Poland which after Yugoslavia had perhaps the most famed and widespread scene.

Brygada Kryzys - Centrala. This song is taken from their first single and also appeared on the black album (their s/t LP). The band were one of the first post punk groups in Poland and had a sound built around lingering vocals, some dub/reggae influences and a lot of tension building up in the music. Below is another earlier song which highlights the reggae/ska influence in their sound

Here is a related group founded by members of Brygada Kryzys which is much more reliant on reggae.

An early compilation from the polish scene worth checking out is the 'Fala' LP ('Fala' means 'wave' in Polish) This track 'Czarna Droga' is by a band called Bakszysz and is again a reggae influenced song as many were at this time.

Again reggae influenced (this time a cover of Bob Marley), Deadlock were one of the first Polish bands to get a record out, through France. This was before state owned labels such as Tonpress or Polton would risk releasing such contemporary music.

Another band who were a stalwart of the Polish scene alongside Brygada Kryzys were Siekera. Siekera (which means 'Ax') started off life as a hardcore punk band playing songs such as this from their demo sessions

However they progressed quickly to become more influenced by post punk groups such as Joy Division, the Cure and the Neue Deutsch Welle coming out of Germany at the time. These influences predicated a move towards more electronic/gothic territory, moving towards the creation of much more foreboding and menacing sounds. The release of the album Nowa Aleksandria in 1986 was a milestone for the group. Below are two tracks from it, the title track and Jest Bezpiecznie. This album is one of my favourite post punk LPs released anywhere during the 1980s and stands up against the bands who influenced them

Lastly, another band emerging at the time was Dezerter who were based far more in the hardcore scene than the other bands. Here is one song of off their debut 7" released by Tonpress, Spytaj Milicjanta

[dukowski83]

As a bonus after the palate cleansing provided by Dezerter here is a more relaxed new wave flavoured song by Maanam, a band who were fairly well known in Poland at the time.

And here's a synth pop tune from the same era by noted solo singer Izabela Trojanowska. In my opinion nothing else from this LP comes close to the icy synth sound permeating this song

Moving on to Hungary, there isn't too much to pick from here. The only standout track fro me is this one from Trabant which seems to have been included on a film soundtrack at the time but also features on the single released by the band. Charmingly woozy guitar floats across the song which has a nice, longing quality to it

And from Romania, this lovely slice of synth pop from two ladies who appear to have been involved in some other more pop flavoured releases (which totally escape my mind at the moment)

That about rounds this instalment up. Next time I'll aim to tackle the former USSR and it's associated states.

[medlar]

Fantastic, thanks very much dukowski83! I'm enjoying the hardcore punk stuff and also the Izabela Trojanowska, that track is excellent!

[Ian Townsend]

Great stuff!

[brightpupils]

Unreal! Thanks for posting. Don't know where I would otherwise have founds such a list. Great intro

[jakartajive]

Weird. I heard Brygada Kryzys at a club in Moscow the other week.
Very refreshing.

LOVING these charts and the sharing of mad knowledge.
Thank you!!