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Post by jk on Jan 3, 2021 15:37:06 GMT -5
This topic has been lifted wholesale from my "hobby forum", where activity has dropped to almost zero since my moderator friend passed. It could do with backing up anyway, in view of the vagaries of the world wide web. In later posts you'll see I've been trying to dig out information on the acts in question but this could be a dicey business at times (read: pop-up hell).
From 1985, these are La Card performing "Jedno zbogom za tebe" (literally "one goodbye to you") on the Belgrade-based TV show Neki drugi rock and roll (what's in a name?):
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Post by jk on Jan 4, 2021 8:41:37 GMT -5
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Post by jk on Jan 5, 2021 5:06:10 GMT -5
Next up is "Halo Taxi" (1985) by Top Express. No reliable English information on this band at all! I fear this will be an oft-heard complaint in the posts to come.
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Post by jk on Jan 6, 2021 6:23:17 GMT -5
Dada, according to uploader Dronemf S. (my guru on the subject of Yugoslav mid 80's stuff), "is Bosnian Synth Pop/New Wave queen from Tuzla town active during the early-mid 80's." toolakta at Reddit has translated a snippet of the lyrics: "'Take me some place south, and let's walk the long beach...' Regular cheesy lyrics, but awesome sound. Great find!"
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Post by jk on Jan 7, 2021 15:27:39 GMT -5
Here's another rare glimpse into alternative Yugoslav pop before the country fell apart. Despite the name, Boye started off as an all-girl band (it would gain some male members in the later '80s). This video clip of a demo version (?) of "Ja Sam Radosna" (I'm Sam) dates from 1983. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boye_(band) |
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Post by jk on Jan 8, 2021 5:40:42 GMT -5
Originally, I hoped I'd eventually find more info on these acts, even if it meant google-translating contemporaneous articles. But it's a dicey business getting onto Bosnian and Serb websites (I've had to force-quit Safari twice to get out of trouble) and Google won't allow me to translate them anyway (I left Google in disgust long ago).
According to uploader Dronemf S., Garri Garrinča are a "Cult Yugoslav Synth/Electro Pop band from Bosnia active in early-mid 80's". They have some nice squelchy synth lines, to be sure.
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Post by jk on Jan 9, 2021 9:24:04 GMT -5
According to Dronemf S., Gino De Gagi are a Macedonian Darkwave/Minimalwave/Post Punk outfit. "Ja Nemam Više Njen Broj" (Macedonian for "I Don't Have Her Number Anymore") dates from 1985. Love the dirty bass -- in fact it's quite a stew all round.
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Post by Alan S on Jan 9, 2021 19:28:16 GMT -5
Man, they cover a lot of distance in that intro, then to the Yoko Ono-esque verses - nice one, JK! |
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Post by jk on Jan 10, 2021 6:48:08 GMT -5
Man, they cover a lot of distance in that intro, then to the Yoko Ono-esque verses - nice one, JK! Glad you like it, A. All this makes me wonder what the music of Pompeii sounded like -- not quite the same, I know, but still... Krik is a "nice but relative unknown" Yugoslav Dark Romantic/Alter Pop band from the mid '80s. "Lola" dates from 1986: |
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Post by jk on Jan 11, 2021 5:57:38 GMT -5
Plastic Age hail from Niš in present-day Serbia. The uploader describes them as "Obscure Yugoslav Minimal/Electronic/Synth/Experimental band from mid 80's." "Ovaj Grad Je Plastičan" (1983) is Serbian for "This city is plastic".
Knowing what would befall Yugoslavia before too long, with neighbours slaughtering each other, I'm reminded of the fate of Pompeii and how that was once a thriving city (perhaps with bands of musicians of its own) before a different kind of disaster struck.
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Post by jk on Jan 12, 2021 6:02:06 GMT -5
Today's dose of ex Yu '80s alt stuff comes from Nuevo-Planine. To quote Dronemf S., "Great Obscure 80's Darkwave/Post Punk/Goth Rock band from Yugoslavia..enjoy". Love the bass riff! And the strange synth line out of nowhere at the very end...
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Post by jk on Jan 13, 2021 5:42:12 GMT -5
All this stuff is obscure but this track is the most obscure yet -- totally obscure Darkwave, to quote the uploader. Alcide NeKropo's "Untitled 3", he adds, is "1980's Clinical Coldwave". The plot thickens. The video image and the fact that the record is warped only add to the unsettling listening experience.
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Post by jk on Jan 14, 2021 6:07:52 GMT -5
According to uploader ExYuDarkScene, Paragos is a very rare '80s Serbian gothic/dark synth band. All EYDS knows is that they were around somewhere between 1982 and 1984. Only three songs have survived, including "Vrata" (The Door):
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Post by jk on Jan 15, 2021 4:39:35 GMT -5
"Bleda Lica" (Pale Face) is a track by Benamon, a Serbian female-fronted darkwave/synthpop band. According to commenter Boris B (in free translation): "At the end of the '90s, I acquired the compilation Second Wave, which included this track, but for some reason it was interrupted halfway. This is the first time after more than 20 years that I've heard it all the way through. Great stuff." I couldn't agree more, sir.
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Post by jk on Jan 16, 2021 6:10:36 GMT -5
The Slovenian punk/new wave band Indust Bag are famous in their part of the world and still active today. In that respect they occupy a special place in this topic. "Psihoza" (psychosis) comes from their 1987 album V Obdobju Zločina... (In the period of crime): www.discogs.com/artist/1223121-Indust-Bag |
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Post by jk on Jan 17, 2021 4:22:43 GMT -5
Transmisia are a "legendary Croatian darkwave Post Punk band, later Industrial Crossover-Noise Rock band formed in mid 80's...enjoy in their darker early stuff.." Thanks, DS. From 1986, this is "Snaga Straha" (Power of Fear). And very tasty it is too. Happily, Discogs (and not some iffy site) has the lowdown on their career. www.discogs.com/artist/112901-Transmisia |
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Post by jk on Jan 18, 2021 4:17:42 GMT -5
At the hobby website there was a gap of a year between this post and its predecessor. I occasionally tried new tracks in the interim but they never matched up to what I already had. "Belka" by Bigoti (which uploader Dronemf S. describes as 1986 Coldwave/Darkwave) may be an exception. And -- a first for us -- the lead singer has done a rough translation of the lyrics! With grateful thanks to Łukasz Janiak for the following (which I reproduce verbatim): after all this waiting, finally, the lyrics of Bigoti - Belka translated into english, in other comment in serbian. it is not perfect cause bigoti"s vocalist don't remember it well. I'll keep updating cause he's going to send me sth better. So, the lyrics: Belka Snow, everlasting splendor. Her light in one soul. Snow, like a day. Its light as time. Belka in black as a scream from a hole dipped in me, in a devil's car, looking at her alone Belka in black, serene for all rotten children. a word in her head, serene for all the rotten children. her sea eyes. Belka guides me. Belka is looking at me For the sake of completeness (and to add a few more names from those days), Dronemf S. describes them thus: "Bigoti , Pre Trivalia, Niš, mostly remind me on early Macedonian Darkwave sounds , specially like Telo Nauka Sovršena and also some Mizar and Padot Na Vizantija." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivalia |
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Post by jk on Jan 19, 2021 6:10:10 GMT -5
Described by uploader Dronemf S. as "1985 Yugoslav Experimental /Darkwave / Artroronic [sic]", Roderick's "Last Dance" is an exception in our litany of Ex Yu goodies, as it's sung in English (presumably -- I can pick out odd words) and uses samples (trombone, viola(?)). A truly ominous piece of work, it seems to presage the hell that would soon overtake Yugoslavia after Tito's death. Last dance indeed... www.discogs.com/artist/1096602-Roderick-2 |
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Post by jk on Jan 20, 2021 7:41:25 GMT -5
Still in the experimental corner of Yugowave (or Titowave, as a commenter describes it), these are Karstof (see link for the lineup) performing the wonderfully hypnotic "Prah" (1986; Croatian for powder). Dronemf S. describes Karstof's 1987 album Ur as "Psych / Post Punk / Experimental / Ritual": www.discogs.com/Karstof-Ur/release/4536640 |
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Post by jk on Jan 21, 2021 5:00:55 GMT -5
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Post by jk on Jan 22, 2021 9:31:24 GMT -5
Next up: four quickies in a row, sort of an afterthought at my hobby forum, all courtesy of my main Yugowave man, Dronemf S..
First off, "Great Ptice stuff from [1985]. Cult Yugoslav Industrial/Experimental and Darkwave band".
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Post by jk on Jan 23, 2021 13:53:57 GMT -5
Next up: four quickies in a row, sort of an afterthought at my hobby forum, all courtesy of my main Yugowave man, Dronemf S.. First off, "Great Ptice stuff from [1985]. Cult Yugoslav Industrial/Experimental and Darkwave band". Turns out that "Ptice" is actually Strukturne Ptice, about whom Discogs says (with the ood tweak from jk): "Strukturne Ptice was a multimedia performance project by a group of eminent Rijeka New Wave scene artists of the '80s (see also Paraf, Let 2, Grč, Grad, Mrtvi Kanal). Their first public performances date back to the year 1987. Members: Damir Martinović Mrle, Dean Benzia, Raoul Varljen, Zoran Prodanović Prlja." [ Source] Next up are Arhivska Zabava with "Ratna Propast" (1983): "First Yugoslav Anarchist Punk band with strong Rudimentary Peni (!) influence. This is nice track from 'Numb Tongue No Taste' compilation." |
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Post by jk on Jan 24, 2021 4:50:30 GMT -5
And then there are Dekadencija, darkwave merchants from Macedonia, with "Isčežnuvaš" (1989), Croatian for "you're disappearing":
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Post by jk on Jan 25, 2021 17:01:38 GMT -5
And to round off this foursome, this is "Untitled IV" by Балкан M, an obscure Yugoslav Industrial Electro project from the late '80s:
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Post by jk on Jan 26, 2021 5:25:44 GMT -5
I occasionally look through YouTube to see what else it has to offer in this department and nothing has grabbed me as much as the music I've posted so far -- until now. I came across this gothic gem last week ("Mir" is Serbian for peace). DS describes Grad as "g]reat darkwave from Yugoslawia formed in Novi Sad 1981, active till 1982". The name Grad turns up in lists of Yugoslav bands but information about them in English is scant, to say the least... PS: Google-translating a remark by commenter Solar M, it transpires that one of the band's members was the mathematician and author Vladimir Tasić, whose book Kiša i hartija (Rain and Paper) received two Serbian literary awards in 2004 as novel of the year. So now you know. 
www.goodreads.com/author/show/657934.Vladimir_Tasi_ |
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