Tom Wilson is a British Bucharest based journalist, BBC radio correspondent and DJ and one of our connections in the city while we were there on our exploration journey in 2010.

What’s the highlight for you in Romania’s music scene?
The highlight of my year had to be either the Rokolectiv festival or Romania’s continuing global take-over of the charts with Europop artists like Inna, Radio Killer and Alexandra Stan. You literally couldn’t turn on the radio in the UK or the US without hearing one of them - which is a truly great thing for Romania.

It’s better ‘nation branding’ than anything that could be dreamed up by some ad agency. I know it’ll wind people up if I say that Alexandra Stan’s ”Get Back (ASAP)” was the highlight of my year instead of some obscure netlabel release, but for me, piano-driven laminated europop with utterly incomprehensible lyrics just doesn’t get any better than this. 

Rokolectiv Festival 2011 | documentary from Rokolectiv on Vimeo.

What is the low point for you in Romania’s music scene? 
The low point of the year was the fact that there wasn’t some kind of horrific plague that struck down Romanian parliamentarians that caused them to expire in indescribable agony.

Discovery-new artist of the year /in Romania/?
There’s lots to chose from: Montgomery Clunk has had a great year, and is probably my number one Romanian artist at the moment. Also, the Legendary 1979 Orchestra deserves a mention for having a nice vinyl release, and boys from Future Nuggets put out the superb ”Forever Unreleased” which has introduced lots of fantastic new producers to the world.

Forever Unreleased Vol. 1 by future nuggets

Local Records also put out some great bits and pieces, with an honorable mention going to Rusu and Flore for their debut EP under the ‘Poor Relatives’ moniker, which deserves to get much more press - it’s a release that really rewards repeat listening.

The Future Nuggets guys also unearthed a producer called Rodion who’s been making music for the past 40 years or something. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to chose music from the mid-1970s as my Best New Artist, but I can’t wait to hear what other bits of his stuff they’re going to put out.

Rodion - Cântec Fulger by future nuggets

Personal tips and wishes and plans for 2012?
I’m currently stockpiling food for peak oil / the implosion of the eurozone / zombie apocalypse.  

Another of our 2011 recaps this time with acclaimed Czech journalist and writer Karel Veselý, author and editor of books including Hudba ohně (Fire Music: Radical Black Music From Jazz to Hip Hop and Beyond) and Kmeny.

What’s the highlight for you in Czech Republic’s music scene?
It’s nice to see people doing their own thing without the support from the big labels and also defying expectations from their fans. The highlight of 2011 in our music scene is the uncompromising hallucinogenic hip hop of Hugo Toxxx on his Legální drogy (Legal drugs) released on his own label Hypno 808.

I also very much enjoyed the Silesian electro-punk duo I Love 69 Popgeju on their long awaited debut album Let’s Gold Corridor released on vinyl byl Vole Love / Malaria records.

The newcomer of the year must be the one-man anonymous project Kittchen on his album Menu made available from his website.

One sign of the good health of the scene is the demand for vinyl and physical products in general – Kittchen was made as an album on vinyl by his fans, Floex’s second album Zorya sold out on vinyl within few weeks and the same thing happened to my books (Hudba ohne, Kmeny).

What is the low point for you in Czech Republic’s music scene?
Racism on the hip hop scene (Hrobka & Pitva, reactions to LA4’s video Nadzemí with Gypsy actors in it). The music awards (Anděl, Žebřík) dominated by major label / radio / lowest common denominator crap. People being stuck in their own music scenes without any interest in what is going on elsewhere.

Discovery-new artist of the year /in Czech Rep./?
Apocalyptic lo-fi pop of Kittchen on Menu. Prodavač (ex-Sporto) on his Duchové EP

Duchove EP by P R O D A V A C

Personal tips and wishes and plans for 2012?
That we can finally witness the world change this year. I really hope that I am wrong to predict that the fall of consumerist capitalist culture will make place for new fascism. As for me: I hope to spend less time with useless shit like making money and more with things that really matter (such as my long delayed novel and my children).

The ”Hungarian bedroom scene” was thriving, producing not just some good or great albums (Morningdeer being my favourite), but also the promise that the unhindered creativity can yield even more great results in the future.



The Hungarian “global bass” scene isn’t really a scene in the strict sense, only a few DJs and producers, but nonetheless two great albums were also produced in this genre: the Ghana meets Hungary afro-techno-dancehall-hiphop-cumbia hybrid of FOKN Bois meet Irie Maffia Production and the moombahton-balkan-dubstep-trance-etc and also shamelessly funny dance-pop of DJ SuperStereo.

Also some of the established artists made great albums like Csík Zenekar,
Erik Sumo Band, Yonderboi. But the highlight for me was the discovery
of Bajdázó - more on that later.

But if you think not just music but also music related events, then the low point was without question the stampede on a party in West-Balkán that killed 3
young girls in January. As you can expect, the government responded not by addressing the real problems in the Hungarian night life, but by making stupid harsh rules.

One of my greatest pleasures as a music journalist was to see that their music reached hundreds, maybe a few thousands of people because of my enthusiastic write-ups.

A view of Belgrade from the top floor hallway of one of the East Gate towers

Our affinity for the Balkans started more than a year ago when we first set out to explore the music scene of this for us totally unfamiliar country - at least until then (in spite of the fact that half of Lucia’s family lives there).

Serbia is perhaps the most economically and politically disadvantaged, dealing with the legacy of its past and relative isolation in European terms. Thus, we were intrigued by its music scene and the opinions and current context as viewed by the new generation of creators.

Politics, society, past and present, all this features in the hour-long documentary - a result of painstaking editing of the heaps of audio material that we amassed during our two visits - and gnd’s two months’ sojourn in Belgrade (he liked it so much the first time he decided to come back next year and stay).

Easterndaze Travelogues - [02] Serbia by easterndaze

Dusan Zica of Temple of the Smoke, Lukatoyboy, Vuksa Velickovic, Woo, BELI4, Ne-ton, Ivan Ckonjevic of Novi Sad’s Improstor, Rap Cats and others whom we would feature space permitting, create and function in circumstances that might be more adverse than in other European countries, but that doesn’t stop them from believing in what they do.

The show features:
Luka Toyboy
Belgrade Schoolyard (field rec.)
Luka Toyboy - Betmenu
Belgrade Street (field rec.)
Woo
Vuksa Velickovic
Marek Mikus
Dusan Zica
K.O.F.Y.
K.O.F.Y - Loose Cantrol
K.O.F.Y. - Mugabe’s Lunch
Mangulica FM
Mangulica FM - o o o 
Rap Cat$
Rap Cat$ - Hi
Rap Cat$ - I$HT
Rap Cat$ - Alive
Tobi, Svetlana Industries
Filtercutter - Eastern Sham
WoO - Outendo
Belgrade Noise Trio - Moonstones (excerpt)
Vladimir Lenhart
Vladimir Lenhart - Live at Easterndaze Night in Bratislava
Ivan Ckonjevic
Ivan Ckonjevic - Plavi Bicikl Pod Oblacima
AM SERBIA - ROMANIA SCAN by Lenhart
Damian Brkic
BELI4 - Waves
Belgrade Train Station (field rec. by Tomlija)