Artist: Hladno pivo
Release: 2007
These days anything goes, so Siddharta, Hladno Pivo, Edo Maajka, TBF, Atomik Harmonik and Turbo Angels all end up under the roof of the same label, Natalija Verboten, Trkaj and Melodrom under another, and Tinkara Kovač, Čuki, Gibonni and Šank Rock under yet a third. But let’s not be petty, as long as all these labels keep serving us records worth listening to and enjoying – that’s what music is for, after all.
The latest record from Croatia’s legendary Hladno pivo is definitely worth (repeated) listening as well as some serious thinking. With these critical, cynical lyrics, we Slovenes might smirk again and say how miserable, pathetic and empty life in Croatia is, but it’s no different here. It’s just that practically nobody here dares to talk (meaning sing) so loud and so hard-hitting (with the exception of someone like N’Toko, say), and much like the Americans, we’d rather live in a fake paradise. Over here it’s better than in Croatia – after all, we’re in the European Union and we’ve got the euro!!!
Carstvo Pasea is a textbook punk rock opener – substance counts for nothing these days. All that matters is the pretentious, cheap facade. Do you envy your neighbor’s fancy car and huge apartment? Ever ask yourself what he’d even have of all that if it weren’t for your envy?! Sreća is instrumentally packed with party-spirited, melancholic variety, while dealing with similar themes of phoniness and false ideals. Among the funnier ones we can count Biološki sat (surely the subject needs no explaining?!), which instrumentally flirts with a country sound that’s unusual for punk. Now, so that Hladno Pivo don’t get shoved into the bin with those punkers who can only manage three chords and cling to their guitars like a drunk to a fence, there’s the track Konobar, which will instantly bring to mind the rowdy The Pogues – mandolins, accordion, violin and of course irony in the best possible way.
These are definitely the tracks that really stand out, even though it’d be hard to call any of them merely average, let alone bad. Most of the songs do rest on a solid punk rock skeleton, but it’s the lyrics above all that have kept Hladno Pivo way above average all these years, so I recommend tuning in to the lyrical reckonings in Pitala si me, Džepni Bog, Kaže stari šta nam fali, Nije sve tako sivo, Supermen, Planeta and Ranjeni i ludi. Outstanding songs, where sometimes you have to read between the lines, and sometimes the point will hit you like an iron fist straight in the face!
With such a flawless and varied album, Hladno Pivo could have lived like lords for quite a few years elsewhere, but as it is… maybe it’ll be some consolation that they’ve made one of the best rock (and overall) albums in Croatia in recent years. A (too) daring, message-driven album, the kind we in Slovenia are still waiting for from our true-blue rock (or whatever) bands.
Lineup
Mile – vocals
Zoki – guitar
Stipe – trumpet
Deda – keyboards
Šoki – bass guitar
Suba – drums
Tracklist
1. Couvert (instrumental)
2. Carstvo pasea
3. Nije sve tako sivo
4. Superman
5. Planeta
6. Ranjeni i ludi
7. Biolški sat
8. Kaže stari
9. Konobar
10. Sreća
11. Pitala si me…
12. Džepni bog
