Author: Sebastijan Videc
Photos: Sebastijan Videc
Video: Sebastijan Videc
Venue: Trainstation Squat, Kranj, Slovenia
Concert date: 28.03.2014
Ticket price: 5€
If you’re looking for the home of alternative arts in Upper Carniola, then Trainstation Squat in Kranj is the address. The club is housed in a wooden shack that used to be a service building next to the train station. For the past two years or so, Kranj’s alternative crowd has been using it to put on all kinds of cultural events and workshops, and that of course includes gigs. This Friday night belonged to the champions of percussion, and so to the oddballs of our little country, TheStroj, while the local boys Didge warmed up the crowd with their debut performance.
Like I said, Didge are from Kranj. The band is made up of young guys: Nace Grgorinič (didgeridoo, vocals), Miha Markun (vocals, guitar), Martin Naglič (vocals, guitar), Primož Peršič (keyboards), Žan Jelovčan (bass) and Andrej Gregorc (drums). When it comes to young bands and their first gigs, I mostly expect covers, which is how most bands try to carve out a path onto the music scene and rack up the musical mileage they badly need using tried-and-tested recipes. So it was an even bigger surprise when the six-piece actually played six originals in their set of a good half hour. The guys draw most of their inspiration from progressive and psychedelic rock, which they spice up with other genres. That makes them hard to pigeonhole, but the music itself is extremely interesting and easy to listen to. How many bands in Slovenia use the didgeridoo, that Australian Aboriginal wind instrument? Not many, I’d say, and it’s not just the exoticism of the instrument that grabs the listener – the harmonies (three vocalists) and the recitations between the instrumental parts really pull you in too. Rhythms that get complex and switch up at times, psychedelic didgeridoo sounds elsewhere, and spoken-word bits all drag everyone into another world. The performance may not have been perfect, but for a first time out the band did very well. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, but the guys are on the right track, and I’m convinced that with more gigs they’ll have the stage completely under control. Since they were playing as the support act for The Stroj, though, the headliners’ contraptions took up the entire stage, so Didge had to play their gig down on the floor in front of the main stage. The result was very poor stage lighting, and the vocals got it even worse, as at times you couldn’t hear them at all. Still, Didge bring a breath of fresh air to the Slovenian music scene, and I recommend you catch them at one of their upcoming shows.
The Stroj, or destroy, whichever you prefer, don’t need much of an introduction. The band has been running under the leadership of Primož Oberžan since 1997. The original lineup was known for rhythmic, tribal percussion arrangements that had a destructive effect on the band’s instruments, which were made from scrap barrels and similar materials. After ten years most of the members left and founded StrojMachine, while Oberžan turned to sonic experimentation, cymatics and the like. Two years later the band returned to the scene with a revamped lineup, and the music became less destructive and more polished, with electronics as the new ingredient. Last autumn The Stroj released the album Metafonik, which revived listener interest and, as a result, contributed to more gigs around Slovenia. The jam-packed little hall of Trainstation Squat got its dose of rhythm this evening. As expected, the band served up a good chunk of the latest album; only Hang On was missing, replaced by Neus Nar, and the special surprise was a performance of the unreleased Terminator with singer Barbara Mratinkovič, better known under her stage name LadyBird. Sadly, the sound wasn’t kind to the stars of the night either: although the individual percussion sounds were well defined, the overall sound lacked depth, something the performers felt too. The set was as uncompromising as you’d expect, and it seems the fusion of modern electronic sounds and primal mechanical instruments works just fine. On the T-shaped stage, Oberžan held the front with an effects unit on one side and spring drums on the other, while the rest of the band spread out along the horizontal part of the stage. The crowd proved that their music doesn’t leave you indifferent, giving themselves to the rhythms with their whole bodies and, after the eleven songs of the main set, loudly demanding “Žg! Žg! Žg!” in true Upper Carniolan style. The industrial collective didn’t make anyone beg for long, and the delighted crowd got Berlin and Zombie Hunters served up once more as encores. The concert also marked the closing of a week-long exhibition, Pa¥P€r $oul.
Setlist
Didge
1. Undesirable Turn of Events
2. Enjoy the Ride
3. Tell Him You Saw Us
4. Farewell To A Childhood Dream
5. Scorched Dream Catchers In A Broken Paradise
6. Encounters In Endless Grey
The Stroj
1. Hangar
2. Samogon
3. Berlin
4. Zombie Hunters
5. Voyage Extraordinare
6. Mirror Clock System
7. Triton
8. Metafonik
9. Spirits
10. Terminator
11. Neus Nar
——–
12. Berlin
13. Zombie Hunters
Photo Gallery
