Artist: Eskobars
Label: Dallas Records
Release: 2010
Length: 33:14
Rating: 4.5/5
It’s been a long time since the Slovenian music scene saw a band that a major Slovenian label took under its wing, that was still an unestablished name, wasn’t weighed down by trends, and at the same time clearly and unmistakably showed off its musical talent. More than that, I’m talking about a Slovenian band with a recognizable self, an artistic vocabulary all its own. Eskobars is its name!
The trio, which grew into a quartet with the release of the album, has everything a healthy alternative rock band needs these days. It’s cocky, it’s biting, it’s erogenous, lyrically mature and never cheap, and it crackles with hard-won rocker voltage. In the quieter moments it knows how to play up subtlety to seriously great effect. And mind you, the guys pull this off on their very first record, which means they grew up on a diet of healthy rock music and didn’t fall for the “shoot-from-the-hip” cheap trend trickery of quick death (and, sadly, quick self-recycling along with it).
Sharpness is Eskobars’ middle name. So what makes the band so special? Despite their directness and the rock ‘n’ roll triviality they put front and center, the arrangements in the songs reveal much more than meets the eye, or the ear on that “first spin” of listening.
If we start dissecting the songs and peeling back their packaging veil by veil, we find an effective mix of genres drawing on rock n’ roll, rockabilly, blues, punk and, you won’t believe it, even the basics of classicism in rock music. The Beatles are not far off here either, along with some other interesting retro-sounding touches, even psychedelia (Zemljin sin). Of course, it’s all adapted for modern times. But made without a hint of imitation or any obsession with fashionable trends.
With his vocals, Jure Lesar is the main “culprit” for why we can ultimately stuff Eskobars into the hard-to-define frame of “alternative” rock. His approach is mocking, manly, deliberately “nasal”, even deliberately dissonant. Even though he lays down a good portion of melody with his voice, his accent is constantly punkishly snide. That’s the dose of energy that’s so recognizable in rock: the hooliganism, the cheek, the hedonism. Eskobars approach with sparkling sarcasm and rarely with revolt. They carry the touch of goofy scoffers who don’t have much time to go looking for others to blame for their (possible) woes.
The album kicks off mischievously with Cosmo Blues and a kind of Franz Ferdinand “march”, which the guys build on by pouring oil on the fire with the following Sobotne noči, winning you over above all with infectious choruses that immediately push the proceedings to a high level of vibrating, relaxed rock energy. After two successful marches, designed in completely different ways, comes the real opposite. Tragedy in the song Morski ples, where the melancholy is deepened above all by the sparkling use of sad accordion melodies. If I may go on unrolling the wide motivic variety in how the songs are built, the album then jumps back up to the level of the opener with the hedonistic Girls From Klagenfurt, which tells us the guys are Rolling Stones fans. This is followed by the almost singer-songwriter-style, acoustically subtle lament Čas ločitve A peak of higher punk pulsing arrives in the song Cirkus, where the band takes a “Slovenian” swipe at the choice of melodic solutions of the likes of Niet (the chorus). Cirkus also belongs in the energy bracket of songs like Cosmo Blues, Sobotne noči or Girls From Klagenfurt. Things get livened up again by the reggae-tinged, grimacing burlesque Ura mladosti, while the crafty Čevljar has one of the best moments of Eskobars’ poetry on the album. Then there’s the really smart combination of almost salsa-style rhythmic swaying and blues rhetoric in the again more subtle Potnik. The closer belongs to the fascinating Zemljin sin, with an excellent get-together of natural, retro psychedelic sounds and neo-classical arranging solutions, with a touch of yearning melancholy, the kind that reveals the band’s “Slovenian” roots in the melos. Even the intro alone is a surprising departure from everything the band offered earlier on the album. As a composition, it’s the definite peak of the record.
What we have here is a richly colorful album that, in a good 33 minutes, delivers plenty of tangible substance. Every last track convinces with the quality of its musical character, marked by artistic recognizability and originality. Let me also mention that the band is sworn throughout to the natural shaping of organic collages, which build a juicy, richly branched sonic spectrum. It keeps pulsing with life as the album unfolds. As a band betting on the card of primal rock n’ roll sharpness, Eskobars have matured right from the start past the experience of arranging and adding string arrangements, which effectively build up the atmospheric side of songs like Ura mladosti and Zemljin sin. “Eskobars” is an album of alternative rock purity that, besides the directness this approach demands, knows nothing of hollowness, tried-and-tested copy-paste formulas, or the need for pushy, thoughtless blasting. All the sonic elements on this album are stacked and calibrated into an ideal coexistence, which wins you over with witty arranging and the sharp message of its colorful musical content. Hats off to Dallas, too, for definitely lending a hand of support to a band cut from the right creative cloth.
Lineup
Jure Lesar – vocals, guitar
Rok Druscovich – bass guitar, backing vocals
Bogdan Sojič – drums, percussion, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Denis Beganovič (Kiki) – keyboards
Neža Buh (Neisha) – keyboards (track 10)
Selver Kobilica – accordion on track 3
Gordana Buh – piccolo (track 7)
STRING QUARTET (tracks 7 and 10):
Janez Podlesek – violin
Miloš Simic – violin
Maja Rome – viola
Klemen Hvala – cello
Production
Dejan Radičevič
Tracklist
1. Cosmo Blues
2. Sobotne noči
3. Morski ples
4. Girls From Klagenfurt
5. Čas ločitve
6. Cirkus
7. Ura mladosti
8. Čevljar
9. Potnik
10. Zemljin sin
