Remember Czechoslovakia ? The small country once part of the Communist Ost Block? The country that, after its Velvet Revolution and playwright-cum-president Václav Havel, broke apart into Czech Republic and Slovakia ? Well, now it’s united again. 

The events of January 18th and #OpMegaupload have spawned not only the first generation of the Czechoslovak Anonymous hivemind, that has DDOSed government agencies under the banner of #czsk ever since. Now also its youngest generation of musicians is united under one banner, that of dAdA ACTa.

[DADA ACTA] No Pavarotti - Oh No Dirty Diana by easterndaze

Ater SOPA was put off, ACTA has taken the center-stage of the struggle against an increasingly un-free and regulated Internet. Even though the Slovak and Czech governments have stopped the ratification process of ACTA to “reconsider”, the battle for the mind of the people still rages on. 

dAdA ACTa is a massive 4-CD compilation that was put together rapidly in the course of the last three weeks and features almost everyone that is significant on the Czech and Slovak experimental, electronic and underground music scenes. It is in itself an epic undertaking of immense political and musical strength: not only is it a clear sign that the producers doubt ACTA can improve their standing in any way, it is a radical proposal that they would rather beat up their European MPs than have ACTA ratified. And be sure they say it very loud and clear: the 4-CD compilation features excellent material ranging from harsh-noise through witchhouse and dubstep to triphop, psychedelic electronica and experimental poetry.

The dAdA ACTa is an initiative of the Brno-based electronic musician Michal Šuranský (going under the moniker of Jacques Kustod) and Bratislava’s visual experimentalist An Chaosdroid. Together they have united not only Czech and Slovak musicians, but also visual artists. Their message: “according to ACTA we are all criminals unless proven otherwise [at the expense of our privacy and knowledge]. We challenge ACTA to prove its intentions are honest and civilian oriented, and till not proven we will continue to consider it a threat to freedom of speech and of knowledge.”. 

Gustav Tutre & Euchrid Escrow - Digital Assange by GT&EE

We fully support that. You can download the compilation from Archive.org [cd 1, cd 2, cd 3, cd 4] and also be sure to visit the dAdA ACTa website for artist’s statements, more informations and a cool Anti-Acta arcade game :) Big Up !

Another of our yearly recaps this time with not one but two perspectives on the Slovak music scene. First Filip Drábek from the Exitab label, one of the most active imprints in Slovakia in terms of independent music at the moment and second one is a collective answer from the BWO collective, purveyors of urban dance music in the country.

What’s the highlight for you in Slovakia’s music scene?
Following the relatively turbulent year 2010 when quite a lot of interesting projects emerged, at least in my opinion, the “scene” experienced a sort of hiatus when it comes to new names. On the other hand, a lot of projects from the previous year delivered their proper debut releases: Pjoni & Ink Midget’s album, Gwerkova’s record as well as Jelly Belly’s EP. The opening of the new cultural space Nástupiště 1-12 in Topoľčany is also one of the highlights, connecting music, arts and film with the public space of a bus station exposing passers-by to indenpendent culture.

Gwerkova - NADA by gwerkova

What is the low point for you in Slovakia’s music scene?
The strange circumstances surrounding the loss of the independent collective A4’s Bratislava space. Interestingly, their theatre performances will take place in the premises of the Polish Institute in January. The fact that the Polish provide asylum to Slovak artists in Slovakia’s capital is nice, but sad at the same time.

The Tabačka independent cultural centre in Košice in the east of the country had some funding problems in the beginning of the year and the situation surrounding the European City of Culture 2013 project in the same town is also appalling. The dissolution of the Bratislava-based band Hvozd was also one of the low points of the year for me.

Discovery-new artist of the year /in Slovakia/?
The biggest current discovery is not Slovak, but Bratislava-based English producer Aches who brilliantly merges his woozy guitar strings with beats in an abstract-shoegazy way. The audiovisual project Lowii is also promising. Finally, I’ve managed to check out the Žilina sludge duo Möbius who together with Prešov-based Dawn To Come have managed to lay the foundations of this type of music in Slovakia over the past few months. I also liked some of the releases of the Senica-based hip hop label Tvoja Matka Rekorc, such as 31’s debut EP.

Personal tips and wishes and plans for 2012?
I would be glad if our label managed to maintain the busy release schedule of the last year. It would be also great if other labels started to be more active or new ones appeared. I would appreciate if A4 could find a new space and Tabačka and Stanica in Žilina would keep up their good work and people would stop being scared of going to gigs to the Obluda club in Bratislava.

I’m looking forward to the electroacoustic solo LP of Pjoni and the debut EP by Dawn To Come and hope that Teapot and Herzog Herzog will manage to finish their albums, too. It would be nice if I would know about a Slovak release that I couldn’t wait to hear but wouldn’t be on our label. Youcoco perhaps?




BWO

What’s the highlight for you in Slovakia’s music scene?
Lot of parties with music, which a few years ago were in a minority in Bratislava (urban/dubstep, post-xy, dance music in general). Also, the increasing number of collectives around various genres, pop-up events at off spaces (studios, bars, flats), interesting and globally listenable local digital releases. 

What is the low point for you in Slovakia’s music scene?
Lack of venues, overabundance of similar events (see above), events clashing on the same dates, less people going to events, the ratio of attending guests on social networks vs the real attendance in clubs (more FB attendees than actual party-goers)

Discovery-new artist of the year /in Slovakia/?
Bad Mojo, Gwerkova, Dawn To Come Klic - Arp (Bad Mojo Remix) by Bad Mojo 

Personal tips and wishes and plans for 2012?
Spend less, create more and learn.

High exposure to the Omm sound might lead to elevated states of consciousness - the fuzz drone trance. A new solo release by the Košice-based graphic designer and member of the audiovisual project BIOS, sees him delve into noise-ridden soundscapes, already explored with his aforementioned project, with his guitar as his mantra. Whereas in BIOS, he would take up mainly the role of the visualist (later also as an auralist), in Omm Sound he is in charge of both visual and aural side.

Better late than never, some pictures from our Easterndaze curated night at the Moonride Festival in Košice. Photos by Zdenek Spotz.