Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Various Artists
Label: ZARŠ Records
Release: 2014
Rating: 3.5/5
As is tradition, this year we got another Klubski Maraton CD! It’s (already) 2014. Crazy. This compilation is a kind of overture, let’s call it a warm-up for the real concert marathon by the bands on the disc! It’s the October assault on Slovenian clubs devoted to the rock underground.
This year’s CD gives you a look at six bands, each contributing two original tracks to the compilation. That’s a good thing, because the comp isn’t overloaded with information, so the listener can actually focus more on the musical substance of the bands involved.
The growing interest among musicians in sonic manipulation, opened up by the realm of electronics, synthetic makeup and blending those elements with the classic building blocks of alternative rock sounds, has been a fact of life for the past few years. The fascination with the retro sound of synthesizing, sampling, modulating and looping simple rhythms, inherited from the days of »new wave«, has brought no fewer than five acts to this compilation who tap into this kind of musical »esoterica«. The first name on the comp is Your Gay Thoughts. Both tracks, with their alternative electronic bent, are defined well enough to give a really credible glimpse of the finely crafted musical vision the band follows. Skeletonium goes even further in electronic subversion. One-man D.I.Y. wizard Simon Gregovič strips arrangements and sound down to the bare minimum, which brings him close even to the reference points of the German new wave of electronics. Alienation, a feeling of dread and hopelessness are just some of the emotions stirred up by the cold atmosphere of industrial tolerance. A real oddball is singer-songwriter Miha Robida a.k.a. 12. If the first track, Cocaine Bay, is dedicated to psychedelic trippy blues, the second, Dime Amore, is a properly atmospheric creeper. The two tracks are expressively worlds apart, which hints at the multilayered musical sensibility of an artist with exceptional potential, and let’s hope it gets realized in the future. The dominant chord of Dime Amore hauntingly reminds me of one of the chords in the intro of the Pink Floyd track Don’t leave me now, the ones that form the core of the motif. Is that just a coincidence, or what? The comp also has a third D.I.Y. wizard: Domen Slovinič a la Akami, who approaches the fusion of guitar distortion (phrases) and electronics in a slightly different way again. It’s precisely the experimenting, with its implanting of electronic sounds and loops, that effectively masks the predictability of the guitar phrases. The murmuring, icy-cold yet harmonized vocals, placed in the soundscape as if they were coming from another dimension, react to the music in their own peculiar way.
The noisiest band on the CD is HillbillyWithaChainsaw, as the unhinged, lucid band name alone already suggests. It’s a lively, raw garage ruckus, strictly instrumental, with the guitar phrase taking the central role. Since the tracks have no real head or tail, we can assume the band is still putting together its proper lineup, while the creative core of ideas already exists. The band could easily integrate vocals down the line, and otherwise you can pick out influences of hardcore punk with a few stoner touches. So let’s give it time.
Koala Voice present themselves with two nicely defined tracks. The female vocals are girlish, but angry as required, and the band blends elements of alternative rock and blues in its vocabulary. Worth noting too are the funky bass line in The Great White Buffalo and the occasional disco-flavored rhythm, while the even tighter Playing with Fire uses elements of rock ‘n’ roll as its rhythmic framework. Koala Voice’s guitar prefers a sophisticated use of clean tones backed by a prominent reverb effect rather than pushing into distortion.
As expected, this year’s Klubski Maraton compilation also threw up a few musical thrills. Great oaks from little acorns grow. But let’s not be modest! A fair few moments on this comp make it clear that the names behind these tracks hide some real artistic potential, so let’s hope the near future brings them studio debuts and as many live shows as possible!
Tracklist
1. KM 14 (popotnica)
2. 12 – Cocaine Bay
3. Akami – PM
4. HillbillyWithaChainsaw – John Deere
5. Koala Voce – The Great White Buffalo
6. Your Gay Thoughts – Nonstopsampanjac
7. Skeletonium – Temneva
8. Koala Voice – Playing with Fire
9. Akami – Exit Lover
10. 12 – Dime Amore
11. Skeletonium – Expose Yourself
12. HillbillyWithaChainsaw – Jason Evelich aka Jsan Zlokić
