Avtor: Aleš Podbrežnik
Izvajalec: Various Artists
Založba: Društvo kočevskih glasbenikov
Izid: 2014
Trajanje: 71:11
Ocena: 4/5
Društvo kočevskih glasbenikov is one of the few organizations with real heart for the arts, one that regularly puts together a kind of annual musical almanac of the creative pulse of its own region, that is, the Kočevje region. So for the third year in a row, as the regular year wraps up, we’ve received a condensed collection of works from local acts. Some are making their compilation debut, but most are represented by our old acquaintances.
The compilation kicks off with the SKA outfit of veterans Skaktus and the endearingly gentle, “shy,” melancholic yet wildly catchy Zvečer. Gently chugging along. Ida Aupič wraps the compilation in the sphere of alternative cabaret chanson with the song Povej mi; Ida’s distinctive mid-range and slightly dark voice gives the song a recognizable feel. Ram Session, who delivered the anthem Špilej on the previous compilation, return on this new one with the excellent Spy, which, unlike the lucid Špilej, brings a markedly greater seriousness. The vocals carry concreteness and punch, which gives the song the recognizability it needs, while the guys have veered toward a retro, nostalgic revival of seventies hard rock territory. Although DidiWa don’t identify as Kočevje natives, one of their members lives there. The band delivers the excellent Svetilnik to the compilation, which expresses the musical tightness of an extremely refined and precise interpretation by excellent musicians. Once again, the expressively powerful and colorful vocals of Vesna Godler add the necessary interest to the song (giving it an alternative rock contour). The song even has jazzy hints and a gorgeous atmospheric turn in the mid eight section, where the band succeeds in continuing to string together a dynamic wave of moods. Ambient and then some! It’s always nice to listen to Pankeroschi and their new song Šef. The band keeps up its hardcore punk dossier of hooliganism. Honest, fierce and direct. Adrenaline rush with a finger jabbed straight in your eye! Later on the compilation, Sell Out join Skaktus, except that their SKA, represented by the song Popoln dan, is of course backed by horns. So a new album is in the works. Without the fury of the Bitova tolpa known as Nč od nč, the compilation “Kočevje špila” simply wouldn’t make sense. Nčodnč once again breathe nu-metal madness; the noisiest track on the compilation, Out of Nothing, carries a little hardcore, a little thrash, a little Pantera, in short, it’ll tear your ears off. Another welcome moment that raises the decibel yield is the song Vsak za svojo rit, with no shortage of insightful grumbling from the substantively tangible, socially caustic alternative rock screamers with a hardcore veil, called Sintetika.
Vocabella deliver pop funky groove on the album with the flirtatiously bubbling and fun Med vrsticami, again with female vocals front and center. Playful and fun! Radio-friendly. Wrapped in generous dance kinetics, Give Us A Night (Joe Krosher ft. Urš…ka) evokes the veil of seventies disco and the trendy hairstyles of pop soul R&B aesthetics, where there’s no lack of programmed sampling either, and with it an element of organic feel. It’s nice that the compilation also includes the song Rojevanje by the “true godfather” of Kočevje singer-songwriting, Pavle Benič, a legend from the Kočevje neck of the woods, who has a nice bundle of poetry and original songs up his sleeve and relies on the special resonance of his almost “proto-twelve-string” friend. Pavle has an exceptionally nice voice. For a studio album, though, he’ll need to use a somewhat better guitar.
All One to Me are also new to the compilation. One-minute rebounding HC with the song Gpass. We want more (and then some)! The compilation certainly couldn’t skip the rock-solid Gaber Brin, who, with his trademark nasal, manly vocal character, delivers Jutri je nov dan, gazing toward bright hope. The song Oaza skrbi, directed by The Perception (ft. Tonja Senčar), evokes a combination of retro seventies hard rock with pop and rhythm ‘n’ blues kinetics. If lucidity and sarcasm have a citizenship somewhere, it’s surely in the band Jaguar Februar, who deliver yet another piece of original insight in the song Z veje na vejo. The compilation closes with the quirky acoustic instrumental Dimljene devetke, in which Primož Grašič could also have taken part, since it opens up room for improvisation in abundance. It comes out of the blues, but it could very quickly slide into ragtime, though that’s up to its author Nanjara alone.
It’s nice to see that the album cover has lively colors, which is of course also a reflection of the colorful musical culture of the Kočevje region. Most Slovenian acts, after all, pick album covers dressed in black, white or every possible shade of gray. “Kočevje špila – razkačeno” keeps up the fury of the Kočevje region’s varied artistic diversity. Endlessly interesting to try out and get to know throughout, it keeps its strictly recognizable identity, within national borders! Let’s hope that flame never goes out, and let’s hope other Slovenian music regions will soon respond with similar releases. Slovenian music has an extraordinary mosaic of tangible authorial authenticity, which is getting harder and harder to discover these days. That’s why the work of Društvo kočevskih glasbenikov in these tough times, when only the kitsch and glitter of the colorless materialism of indifferent degenerates “count,” is of vital importance for preserving Slovenian (rock) musical and (more broadly) cultural identity.
Seznam skladb
1. Skaktus – Zvečer
2. Ida Aupič – Povej mi
3. Ram Session – I Spy
4. Urška Baković – Domine
5. Pankeroschi – Šef
6. Didiwa – Svetilnik
7. Static – Problem
8. Sintetika – Vsak za svojo rit
10. Vocabella – Med vrsticami
11. Pavle Benič – Rojevanje
12. All One To Me – Gpass
13. Gaber Brin – Jutri je nov dan
14. The Perception ft. Tonja Senčar – Oaza skrbi
15. Nčodnč – Out Of Nothing
16. Andraž Hribar – Prosi me
17. Sellout – Popoln dan
18. Joe Krosher ft. Urška – Give Us A Night (radio edit)
18. Jaguar Februar – Z veje na vejo
19. Semo – Počasi
20. Sebatage – Zgodba vsakdana
21. Nanjara – Dimljene devetke
