Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Kom3dija
Label: Dallas Records
Release: 2011
Duration: 52:14
Rating: 3.5/5
Čakovec’s Kom3dija are back with their second studio album, which follows their debut »Indijancu je bilo smešno« (2009) after just two years. Even on the debut, the quartet got tagged as folk punkers, given the geography of our southern neighbor, a sort of northern answer to the Istrian Gustafi. With the new album, though, they’ve grown up so much musically that the comparison no longer holds.
If the debut came across as naive but still promising, its successor takes a big step in the right direction. With this new record the band has raised its own bar considerably, and »Ja kažem mir« proves that Kom3dija are no joke anymore, that the debut wasn’t a flash in the pan, and that from now on this band has to be taken very seriously.
»Ja kažem mir« offers 13 equally polished songs with no dips in quality. Each of them has its own unmistakable charisma, and every track is convincing as it delivers its musical content. On the new album Kom3dija have widened their stylistic range. A good dose of »rockabilly« has crept in, they lean even more on »ska« elements, and they still put folk motifs front and center while presenting the catchy punk-pop rhetoric on the surface. In the lyrics they’ve almost entirely dropped their dialect, and the Kajkavian has been replaced by standard Croatian that everyone can understand. It’s another element that doesn’t hide the band’s wish to gain popularity and win over the masses. In the lyrics the band wags a rebellious finger at those who trample the freedoms of the little guy and feed off him. We know who they are. The situation in Slovenia is no different. The peak of this burlesque-clever banter on the album is the track Super Branimir. Burlesque it may be, but there’s also way too much truth in this goofy branding. That’s why all the poetry works so well with Kom3dija, with no shallowness. The band isn’t a stranger to the »green« language either, as Geja, kneja shows – a reggae-flavored romp warning about the irresponsible destruction of the natural balance of ecosystems, with boundless human greed taking the main blame, of course.
Kom3dija are also very radio-friendly. That means quite a few tracks have a catchy, trivial melodic quality and hit potential. One of them is the opening Instant Love Shop, and certainly also the cheeky Lav iz indije, where the band neatly blends the motifs of the evergreen hit »Love Is In The Air« (orig. John Paul Young) and one of the lead tracks from the soundtrack of the animated film »The Lion King« into its own musical language. Since we’re on the subject of borrowing motifs, it’s worth pointing out that Lav iz Indije is actually the only such moment on the album. The predecessor was chock-full of this, which only deepened the sense that nobody took the band seriously enough, and that nobody gave them much hope of lasting very long, either.
»Ja kažem mir«, though, puts the band in a completely new light. On it, Kom3dija prove they’ve got a talent for fine songwriting insight that they can capitalize on very effectively. The production is excellent, sonically lively, dynamically organic! All the songs, as already mentioned, feel tangible and real. Despite its thirteen tracks, the album is varied enough, and there isn’t a moment on it you could call »filler« for runtime. With the new record the band has taken a noticeable step up in the quality of its artistic profile. It has grown on the arrangement side too, boldly bringing a colorful palette of different instruments into the songs. »ja kažem mir« doesn’t invent any revolutionary turning points in rock music! But it is a quality record with such skillful arrangements and songwriting that fans of gypsy punk and bands like Gogol Bordelo, Golem, DeVotschKa, Kulture Shock, Motherhead Bug and so on will happily prick up their ears to the music on »Ja kažem mir«…
Lineup
Igor Bakša – vocals, guitar, piano
Miloš Rok – clarinet, keyboards
Neven Kolarić – bass guitar, berda, backing vocals
Marinko Marciuš – drums, djembe
GUEST MUSICIANS:
MArija Kolo – backing vocals
Kruno Lajman – saxophone
Jošua Kovačevič – saxophone
Marko Lajman – Hammond organ
Bojana Krušec – trumpet
Dragan Logožar – trumpet
Jelena Škvorc – trombone
Vilko Vukina – djembe
Hristijan Paunkovski – accordion
Vesele Međimurke – female choir
Marko Kupper – Super Branimir
Big Bend Čakovec
Čakovški mališani – children’s choir
Tracklist
- Instant Love Shop
- Ništa strašno
- The street
- Super Branimir
- Njihova stvar
- De je ljubav
- Ja kažem mir
- Kaj te briga
- Likovi sa reptil mašnom
- Lav iz Indije
- Sajkobilly
- Geja
- The First World Peace
