Venue: Orto bar, Ljubljana
Concert date: 01.11.2009
Attendance: 0
Feedback are a jazz-rock (and blues-rock too) band from the Primorska region of Slovenia who’ve been delighting us for years with music packed with old-school concepts, themes and instruments (going back some 40 years or so). They’ll probably have a hard time winning any awards for innovation, but they can put practically any fan of classic keyboards, classic progressive rock and jazz-rock in a good mood.
This time Feedback lured us to their show with the tempting promise of presenting their new record “Pro mehanika”. Those in the know could more or less guess what to expect from the new album, since Feedback have cultivated a recognizable sound from the very beginning and there have been no big departures from that concept so far.
Even before the gig started, we had some time to chat with the band and munch on some salty and sweet goodies they’d brought along. Feedback clearly wanted to make sure nobody would leave the premises – either because we’d stuffed ourselves so much we couldn’t go anywhere, or because the aromas of olives, cheese and desserts would tempt us so much that we wouldn’t dare leave. Then again, with music this good, you wouldn’t even think of such a thing.
The evening began just the way you’d want it to – with the presentation of “Pro Mehanika”, the quartet’s latest studio creation. Sonically it’s not a radical change, though they did work some new elements into the compositions. It’s still mostly a mix of jazz, rock and blues, with occasional Balkan touches and, most importantly for their concept, plenty of solo spots on guitar and keyboards (Hammond and electric piano).
In the second part of the show we heard some of the old “classics”, which have long since crept under the skin of us longtime fans with their melodic quality and first-rate musical expeditions. For me personally, the standouts here are “Glasbeno kopito”, “Ura pije čas”, “Faktor, faktor, zmnožek” and “Drobljenec”. We’ll see whether the new songs reach the heights of those earlier creations.
The presentation of the new release was a huge success. Feedback fed us, both musically and in the literal sense. From first impressions, the new album will bring a few new things to their music (one hard rock moment especially stuck in my head), but mostly it’s business as usual. This is simply a band that loves playing music with a big nod to the past and lots of room for solos. When you listen to them, it feels like a warm home with a fireplace that you’re always happy to come back to. Sure, you often crave a change from that classic vision of warmth and home, but sometimes it’s really nice to settle into a comfy chair and soak up their warmth.
Feedback are musicians who enjoy music and enjoy playing. That’s especially obvious when they slip into long improvisations, which maybe not every member of the audience enjoys as much as they do themselves. The band is made up of nothing but outstanding individuals, and every single one of them got a chance to prove it at Orto bar. Guitarist Matej Magajne gets the most room as a soloist, and that’s about right, since his solo excursions are consistently top quality and full of interesting twists. It’s strange that I hadn’t noticed until now that this left-handed guitarist has the strings on his guitar reversed compared to every other guitarist – the thickest string is right at the bottom, which makes his style something special just to look at (a bit like Jimmmy Hendrix, except Hendrix used a right-handed guitar). The other main soloist is Miloš Leban, whose warm, well-chosen keyboard parts make a contrast to the guitarist, who can often play faster and sometimes gets lost in his soloing. The spotlights also fell on drummer Matej Mavr when he played his drum solo. The bassist showed the fewest solo and improvisational tendencies, serving up a fairly down-to-earth bass solo. You can tell that holding down a solid groove feels more like home to him.
So, once again Feedback took us on a trip through musical history in their time machine, and almost convinced a pretty sizable crowd that people were musically better off back then than they are today. Feedback are a phenomenon on a music scene where there isn’t exactly much wiggle room for this kind of music, since they packed Orto bar pretty thoroughly. Maybe the Slovenian audience will finally wake up and start turning out in bigger numbers for the “smaller” gigs with quality music – or maybe it’s just the magic of Feedack and their optimistic approach, which manages to win over plenty of people who otherwise aren’t that into these sounds.
Photos: Rok Podgrajšek
Setlist
1. Kolovratenje 2. Novi vinodolsky 3. Snežne meduze 4. Sok zemlje 5. Reci klaža! Klaža! 6. Laboratorij 7. Zob časa 8. Srečanje 9. Glasbeno kopito 10. Buri katerije 11. Ura pije čas 12. Glasba je moj pajdaš 13. Faktor, faktor, zmnožek 14. Drobljenec 15. Tordurtormoltor
Photo gallery
