The Pink Cowboys of Forum Absurdum

Published April, 2014
by Easterndaze

One can always find something charming in a primitive and almost vulgar expression of music. This split tape serves as a shining example. The newly founded platform Forum Absurdum with strong connections to the Bratislava underground venue Fuga, one of the hubs for most of the alternative acts hailing from Slovak capital. This release represents a more abrasive and brutal side of the club’s sound.

Ružoví Kovboji (Pink Cowboys) is a project with a long history going back the Urbsounds Collective, one of the cornerstones of the Slovak noise/experimental scene. Their live performances are well known in the local community partly because of the visual aesthetic of RBNX and Urbanfailure: suits, ties and coloured wigs are their uniforms when they collaborate in this noisy, distorted and messy ride filled with harsh noise sounds, distorted kicks and frantic screams.

Život je dlhý – svedectvo by FORUM ABSURDUM

Silly lyrics about forest animals; relationships between the human and the machine, universe and all those important things  are presented as hilarious duets. These angry tracks are swapped with minimalistic noisy compositions put through the almighty distortion pedals only to return to the frantic blast of the synths and drum machine (again, aided with a solid dose of distortion). If Alec Empire didn’t take himself so seriously, he would probably produce music similar to Ružoví Kovboji and still, he would sound quite lame.

Život je dlhý – svedectvo by FORUM ABSURDUM

This is hilariously delightful and still not defying the punk roots and ethics, from which Urbsounds collective came from.

Život je dlhý – svedectvo by FORUM ABSURDUM

Bartek is the proud member of the Lazy Bastards soundsystem, a breakcore colective, and also one of the main men behind Fuga. His side of the tape oscillates between classic breakcore sounds, all bits and pieces uncompromisingly swept through filters and total randomness which, in the final run, comes close to a rhythmic harsh noise with a good old gabber kick supervising all of this. Surprisingly, it sounds fresh, despite breakcore itself being a dead platform, which has not really progressed for a couple of years. Ružoví Kovboji shine, nevertheless, Bartek’s round is also worth of listening.

Život je dlhý – svedectvo by FORUM ABSURDUM

Tapes were made for music like this. Listening to the release from this medium makes it even more fucked up and saturated, like a pool of pure sonic piss blasting through the speakers of your boombox bouncing on the trashcan in a really dirty backyard. Forum Absurdum are not following any trends, they are the direct descendants of Bratislava’s old school underground and are proud as hell to do that. Something tells me that their next output will be in a similar vein. This tape is laced with a good old punk spirit, a lovely artefact. 

by b.arctor