nedjelja, 23. siječnja 2022.

PREDMESTJE - Hazard (1980)

 











































This is the third and the best album of PREDMESTJE. For this occasion the group line-up radically changed leaving keyboardist Andrej Pompe as the sole founding member. He was accompanied by the four of earlier disbanded jazz-rock group Izvir. Sound of "Hazard" is fresh and well-produced, introducing elements of funk and jazz-funk, in the vein of Herbie Hancock. Solo parts are tasteful and just in right places. This is especially evident for lead guitar, electric piano and synths. Addition of timbales invokes a Santana's Latino feel. Vocals are reduced to only one singing track ("Mislec sveta"), while scat vocals are used more frequently, which better suits this style of music. They are used efficiently as an additional instrument. All the tracks are excellent, offering an extremely pleasant listening experience, while "Aleja" contains a nice and melodic main guitar theme that keeps listener wishing to replay it again and again. At times, particularly in the vocal moments, PREDMESTJE again sounds like jazzier incarnation of Camel from the "Moonmadness" period. Along with early Leb i sol albums, "Hazard" is one of the best jazz-rock albums of the era and is therefore recommended to all jazz/rock lovers. (by Sead S. Fetahagić)

PREDMESTJE - Brez naslova (1977)

 





































Debut album of Ljubljana-based PREDMESTJE, along with their countrymen SEPTEMBER's "Zadnja avantura" (1976) are quite representative of the mid- 1970s jazz rock wave in ex Yugoslavia. At this time Slovenia was a hotbed for this style of music and they were to influence other parts of Yugoslavia, notably Serbia and Macedonia. Although jazz elements had been occasionally present since the earliest albums of Yugo prog rock, such as eponymous debuts of KORNI GRUPA and TIME (both released in 1972) or some famous INDEXI compositions around the turn of the decade, only after 1976-77 we can trace the immediate influnce of international pioneers of the genre. "Brez naslova" is a solid album of largely instrumental jazz rock. There are several vocal parts courtesy of guitarist P. Gruden who did a nice job, so his singing does not stand out of the overall picture and it is rather a part of the whole instrumental concept. This album is actually still closer to rock than to jazz. One can hear extremely confident and flawless instrumentation. There are parts of music that envoke not only the early CAMEL, but also THE DOORS in their most jazzy improvisations, as well as early prog- oriented CHICAGO (especially excellent saxophone parts). At the time of release this album was largely unnoticed (it could be partly due to a self- contained Slovene market within the Yugoslav federation), but the style these Slovenian guys were developing later influenced many other Yugoslavian bands to follow the suit. For example, the most successful fusion works like SMAK's "Crna dama" or the first two LEB I SOL albums appeared after this release of PREDMESTJE. In that context, "Brez naslova" deserves to be mentioned as an influential record. (by Sead S. Fetahagić)

subota, 22. siječnja 2022.

PREDMESTJE - Danes, včeraj in... (1978)

 









































"Danes, včeraj in..." is the second album by PREDMESTJE, recorded with two new members, Ladislav Jakša (saxophone) and Toni Dimnik (drums), both veterans of the Slovenian jazz and rock scene and both having collaborated with the popular avant-satiric prog band Buldožer. Although playing not very commercial music, this album helped them become one of three most important rock acts from Slovenia, along with September and Buldožer. (from progarchives.com)

PREDMESTJE - Kamasutra (1981)

 





















PREDMESTJE fourth album from 1981.

petak, 21. siječnja 2022.

PASKVELIJA - Paskvelija (1982-1984)

 











































PASKVELIJA was a short-lived jazz-rock band from Skopje (Macedonia) formed by former keyboard player of "Den za Den" Dragiša Soldatović. They never released an album. They recorded a few songs for Radio Skopje.

četvrtak, 20. siječnja 2022.

BADMINGTONS - Badmingtons (1984-1985)

 











































BADMINGTONS was formed in 1983, in Skopje (Macedonia) with the unconventional line-up: Vladimir Petrovski-Karter (guitar and vocals), Dean Škartov-Deko (keyboards) and Boris Georgiev-But (drums). In 1984 they recorded their first demo tape, and got the first prize at the Macedonian demo bands competition "Rokfest", which gave them an opportunity to record in the acclaimed M-2 studio of the music production branch of the national Macedonian Radio-Television. They recorded several songs, one of which is their trademark track "Site obični ludje". The new recordings were joined together with the previous material and released as the demo album titled "Posle mene što ti e gajle" in 1985. "Site obični luđe" became a Macedonian punk anthem and later was covered by several other artists. Badmingtons were also included with this song in the "Makedonski dokument" compilation album, along with other notable underground music acts. The style of Badmingtons is a straightforward punk rock, however occasionally they would go beyond the style into a sort of experimental rock. Badmingtons ceased to exist in 1986 and transformed itself into a new band called "Aleksandar Makedonski". (from wikipedia)

SIN ALBERT - Sin Albert (1990) EP

 











































SIN ALBERT was an Croatian alter-rock band, active in period 1985-1990 in former Yugoslavia. This is their EP from 1990.