We interviewed Vladimir Lenhart in Novi Sad, he interviewed us back and we stole the show at our first Easterndaze Night in Bratislava. His project Pamba has a new release out on Clinical Archives netlabel where you can download it for free.
Pamba is a duet based in Kovacica (Vojvodina, Serbia), active since 1999. The sound of Pamba was sometimes described as old-school industrial, noise, krautrock, esoteric or experimental.
The Lost Tapes is a collection of previously unreleased tracks that were recorded completely live and played on analog synth and electric guitar, occasionally supported by rhythm machine.
Hungary seems to be in thrall of all things dreamy, lo-fi and fuzz (just check out Piresian Beach and her work, she’s also on our compilation). Another case in point is the Hungarian dreamy lo-fi fuzz project Models Can’t Fuck is inspired “by the “impotence” of the Hungarian music scene (hence the name), both mainstream and underground, and the general public’s out of date thinking about contemporary music and their indifference towards new exciting acts and young bands,” says its heart and brain Árpi Szarvas.
Models Can’t Fuck takes cues from various places, for example, 1960’s psychedelic acts (United States of America, early Pink Floyd), from 70’s electronics (Kraftwerk, Suicide, Eno, Moroder) and lots of other bands fiddling with analogue electronica - Broadcast, Stereolab, Caribou. Recorded in Árpi’s basement mini studio, MCF songs stick to the 3-4 minute pop song formula…
Another project by Árpi is Evil Man Have No Songs, a shoegaze dream-pop offering that has caught the attention of the French label Beko who put out EMHNS’s Home Tonight release.
PS: The last addition to the list of fuzz/surf/lo-fi projects from Hungary is the project Nohopekids. Their bandcamp profile seems to be active since December 2010 and their name a name of a track by the californian Wavves. Are we looking here at some kind of a scene-in-the-making, drawing inspiration from US west-coast lo-fi rock ?
This is a selection of tracks by musicians encountered during explorations of the Eastern European sonic underground from May until October 2010. From Bucharest to Gdansk, from Košice to Prague, this is a reflection of region’s current sounds.
The compilation is released as a free digital release and a CD in 1000 copies on the Polish label Audiotong. It is licensed under Creative Commons.
We met Gosia during our August trip to Warsaw. We have written about her musical endeavours a few times on this very blog, too - be it about her LeeDVD project, the more recent Fuka Lata psychedelic experimentations and her new label D2. Here Gosia reveals something about her label, the difficulties of having to express oneself in a foreign language, the dominance of English as a modern lingua franca.
“(Studio D2) is an idea so far to release our music and occasionally records from our meetings with friends who are spread all around Europe and Poland. During these performances you can use anything - all your tools and emotions but the rule is one: you have to be aware of what is going on with the others, where is the blood, what is going on with the veins of energy. It is a Fluxus like idea because during our meetings we use live video and poetry as well in a free and playful way - a universal language of sounds. This is one side of D2, the other is to release Fuka Lata stuff which are rather regular songs with free elements and my texts in Polish. I do feel deeply that you can hear clichés everywhere which is rather alarming (does it mean that what we want to say ismeaningless? Or rather do we want to say anything at all? Why do we have to be followers? But maybe the Earth is one - is English the real esperanto? I have to get rid of that feeling, maybe this is a time when in Europe no one wants to hear another language but English. I don’t know and I don’t care, really.
But i have to try to do what is very important for me. This is what I’m working on to have an opportunity and be honest in my own language. You know, it is so easy to say anything in English, even very intimate things but try to say that in your own language to people who know exactly what you are talking about and then every false tone will be audible so it is a risky venture (for me). To work on words and to express exactly what you want and to be understood and to make a creation.”
A backlog of new tracks and releases from the Eastern front… this time focusing on fresh labels and electronic producers from the former Czecho-Slovakia. If you happen to be cooking up some good stuff, drop it at our Soundcloud.
Jesus Stickers is a Slovak project created by Slavo Herman, who under his alias Casi Cada Minuto also played a sublime set at one of our events. The debut longplayer of his aforementioned band is out since December 2010 and is called Der Mittwoch (this is an apt post on a Wednesday, ehm).
Gergaz is a Slovak netlabel putting out various flavours of dancy beats & electronica. With 13 releases over the last two years, its trying to showcase new talents not only from Slovakia but also abroad. Its founder GLGNacquired also the fresh Slovak producer Jimmy Pé. His upbeat, wonky & glitch-hop influenced sound wont leave you cold.
Taken from Nailer’s Before the Storm Remixes EP out on Czech premier dubstep/urban beats label OWNTEMPO, this track is the work of two excellent dubstep producers and dj’s ANS and Nailer. The label was founded in 2007 by the pioneering Czech dubstep producer Side9000.
Two years-or-so ago, Isobutane, another upcoming Slovak electronica producer, decided it is time to abandon his solo production and focus more on his shoegaze/postrock project The Ills. Since then the band worked to release its debut LP To Wish Impossible Things on the Slovak Exitmusic netlabel in October 2010. Surprisingly, the latest release coming from the label is Isobutane’s rejuvenated solo project. The record Pros and Cons of Being out of Control is a varied selection of tracks ranging from straight-out electrotrash disco to more subtle, even nostalgic IDM athmospheres.
