Venue: Rock Cafe / Postojna / Slovenia
Concert date: 14.04.2010
Attendance: 0
Ticket price: free admission
Last Thursday the Epic RockLine Contest slid into its second phase, a sort of quarantine ahead of the grand final, meant to clear out the needless clutter and weeds, i.e. second-rate musicians whose talent and ear for music are on par with Stevie Wonder’s rhythmic gymnastics. Joking aside. Stevie really couldn’t make it this time, but Taking Over Mars, Bwase nwge and Spleen delighted us with their skills, their own take on experiencing music and, above all, their determination. The first “semifinal” night of the contest served up plenty of sparks as multicolored genre armor got smashed head-on.
Taking Over Mars quickly and without a shred of hesitation dove into relentlessly grinding down the conventional punk rock bodywork, which in briskly dictated charges came with a bit more of a welcome pulse of spontaneity in the performance itself. The guys from Kranj, as expected, built the basic punk rock template, still defined by bursts of single-phase guitar massacre, fleeting but well-placed backing vocals, and a strongly pronounced therapeutic effect for ears used mostly to tangible but, let’s be honest, way over-sweetened melodies. It’s worth noting the pleasing fact that, despite all the clichés of punk rock culture, the lads are every now and then open to some very welcome sonic adaptation. This time they found it in the sound of a trumpet, which didn’t produce any sin-worthy moments but effectively lubricated them with dance-oriented ska rhythms. Big plus for the guys! The band’s tightness and excellent form were confirmed once again, and the barely ¾-of-an-hour set flew by at a sharply wound tempo. Bwase Nwge bolted out even faster, and above all with way more imagination and a sense of innovation. To reconfirm their reputation as misfits, the barefoot crew repeated the exercise from barely three months ago, when, against all laws of common sense, they schooled the competition like professors with an interpretation of rock & roll that was at least as toxic as it was unique. Nevijo remains the central figure of the band, especially when, with a slightly spaced-out gaze, he launches into a raw oral tasting of the primal mating calls of a shamefully neglected Neanderthal. Hammering primal instinct into your brain took Bwase Nwge on yet another wild musical safari, whose highlights, free of any imaginative, we might even say moral, limits, were basically carried over from the demo recorded in 2008 (RockLine review here). As the evening unfolded, in the last third Spleen crossed our path, and their well-oiled stage performance put the dot on the i of what was probably the most genre-diverse of all the “semifinals.” As expected, Spleen proved to be the most credible executors of Thursday’s gig, justifying a kind of step-by-step upgrade of their live delivery in their own style, blending various rock-oriented subgenre shades into a tangible texture of listenable rock. The tone of the whole affair is set by a self-confident female vocal, the unchallenged authority of the band and, understandably, also the chief conductor of dodging the stylistic pigeonholing of the naysayers, who will nonetheless quickly find a common denominator for Spleen in the category of predictable alt-rock fare, draped in a veil of gothic ambience with a twist of hidden melancholy. Sounds complicated, but it’s far from it. Spleen are at heart a pretty simply built organism, with, of course, perfectly synced guitar-riffing gesticulation and a sufficiently supple rhythm section. Definitely a memorable musical experience.
The contest’s first professionally performed proctological procedure is behind us. The win went to Spleen, who are already cheerfully marching toward the grand final on May 8! Finally, praise is definitely due to their colleagues Taking Over Mars, and of course the one-of-a-kind barefoot madmen from Ilirska Bistrica, for the unbending attitude that keeps the faith in the character and creativity of the sub-Alpine scene.
Photos: Mojca Perdih
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