Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Prismojeni profesorji bluesa
Label: Dallas Records
Release: 2017
Runtime: 130:21
Rating: 4/5
»The birth of a supernova in the Slovenian musical sky« and the landing of four untamed intergalactic riders who, in their spaceship, cruised through a whopping 167 gigs last year alone, spent three months gathering experience stretched between the East and West Coasts of the US, and in the first half of last year also gave birth to their studio debut »Family«, which laid the official foundation for their own musical insight and, above all, their huge audacity.
Ladies and gentlemen: the quartet Prismojeni profesorji bluesa. A quartet embodied by an impenetrable shield of extraordinary camaraderie, a single-minded focus on hitting their goals, and above all a ton of grinding, grinding and nothing but grinding, they stormed in last year like a tornado with real, wholehearted gusto and won the big affection of the Slovenian music public. Blues revitalism, or, “roughly” and “too loosely” put, progressive blues, has never sounded so fresh, rich, juicy, challenging and cheekily good in the hands of any Slovenian band as it does in the hands of this brave and incredibly big-hearted quartet.
Then came 16.09.2016 and the band’s concert at Križanke. Dallas decided to release it as a double CD. There was more music played at that gig, and if these were the golden days, this release should have come out as a triple CD with a bonus DVD. Even so, we still get a “hefty” 130 minutes and 21 seconds of playing time in total. But not all of it is new material. On this live document the band kept punchy versions of the songs Run Hilda and Keep On Groovin’, taken from the studio debut »Family« (2016).
The nice bundle of new songs on »Križanke – Live« does give a feeling of sprawl, thanks to the many lion-hearted jams and the band’s big desire to serve the audience all of their authenticity and honesty straight up on a platter, with no extra cosmetics or primping. No brakes. In that respect, you could accuse them of a smidgen of excess. Across both discs, overlong repetitions of the main motifs have been left in, where not much really happens. So it can easily happen that you get so-called “empty” stretches of songs, where the main motifs repeat, repeat, repeat, and the rest of the crew can’t quite find the right way to fill that “void”. In other words, the album »Prismojeni profesorji bluesa, Križanke – Live« can be a double-edged sword to listen to. You have to see it strictly as a live album, since it’s clear that Prismojeni profesorji bluesa are best enjoyed at concerts. They’re so good they don’t need studio “cosmetics”. They’re strongest on stage, so it’s no surprise they wanted to show that by releasing this ambitiously conceived project.
Had this release come out as one whole piece, it would have been a first-rate live document. As it stands, looking at it as a live document, it’s a release that does give insight into the incredible heart, charisma and musical skill the four musicians are loaded with, but the numerous cuts between songs, meaning the pauses of “silence” between tracks, rob it of some of its energetic vibe, because you can tell something (more) is missing. Look at it as a new album and you know you’re hearing raw versions of new songs, which do show development in a relatively short time, but there’s so much rawness and rudimentary sketchiness that it’s clear the guys, in the studio, would have polished all these new ideas played on 16.09.2016 at Križanke some more and made them more compact as compositions, and above all trimmed the new tracks down to a proper running time of between three and six minutes a song. But that doesn’t even matter, since we’re talking first and foremost about a live show. On this release the band has poured even more oil on the fire of the cheeky punch that already adorns the debut »Family«. Given all the displayed comic zaniness of this record’s wild ride of a performance, it hardly needs saying that the elements of spontaneity and surprise are not missing.
On this document, too, Prismojeni profesorji bluesa stay within the bosom of a charming, loose genre doctrine of forging their own adventurously progressive blues skill, where blues effectively buddies up, in a dialogue of incredibly punchy and fluid kinetics, with swing, boogie, funk, country, psychedelic rock, of course rock’n’roll, and Julijan’s skillfully packaged “Hendrixisms”, while the guys, in their raw essence, recall the real retro sound of bands from the late sixties and early seventies, like Cream, when everything was still allowed in the world of rock’n’roll.
A bunch of guest musicians shape the look of individual songs, but their contribution doesn’t reach any particular expressiveness (e.g. Nigerian Space Programe). The female backing vocals tied to the lead vocals feel a bit superfluous, if not downright annoying, in the song Ed Gene, for example. Miha’s charismatic voice is plenty on its own there. What’s more, the feeling is that Prismojeni profesorji bluesa are entirely sufficient on stage. No extra guests needed. The band’s three lead vocalists deliver enough contrast to the songs, while the jams keep their dominant position throughout. In the song F.T.P. (a cover of the original by N.W.A.), bassist Miha Ribarič jumps in on lead vocals too and pleasantly charms with his “sassiness”. In this song Julijan moves over to bass guitar. Miha Ribarič’s sassy skills are worth exploiting even more cleverly in the future.
Otherwise, in their live performance the guys are in the right place at every moment. Even when they get carried away too far, they masterfully catch themselves and land back in the concise premise of the phrasing. Like skilled tightrope walkers. It wouldn’t be fair to predict where the road will take the guys in the future, but a bit of a break after the hot year 2016 certainly won’t hurt. The band can decide to record, in the relatively near future, a new studio album with firmed-up versions of the songs captured on this live document, or go a step further and record a completely new studio album with entirely new material. Either way. »Križanke – Live« is a gorgeous document in every respect and a must-have souvenir for everyone who was at this concert, which in many ways was a historic one for the band.
“Prismojeni profesorji bluesa, Križanke – Live” (2CD) – promo teaser:
Lineup
Miha Erič- vocals, harmonica, percussion on track no. 7 (CD 2.)
Julijan Erič – vocals, guitar, bass guitar on track no. 8 (CD 2.)
Miha Ribarič – bass guitar, vocals on track no. 8 (Cd 2.)
Zlatko Đogič – vocals, drums
FAMILY:
Jasna Kmetec – tenor saxophone
Domen Gracej – trumpet
Andrej Tomazin – percussion, congas
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Urša Mihevc – backing vocals
Anja Trobec – backing vocals
Vesna Godler – backing vocals
Igor Leonardi – guitar, synthesizer
Mario Babojelić – guitar, electronics
Production
Julijan Erič
Tracklist
CD1.:
1. Rock Me Baby Jam
2. I Need Love
3. Run Hilda
4. L.A.
5. DeathProof
6. Red Beans and Rice
7. Earth vs Space (Part I.)
8. Deep Cuts
9. Kitchen Girl
10. Keep ob Groovin’
CD.2:
1. Earth vs Space (Part II.)
2. Hot Summer Days
3. Jule Impro
4. Smartphone
5. Ed Gene
6. Framed Love
7. N.S.P. (Nigerian Space Programe)
8. F.T.P. (Fuck the Police)
9. Dawn Behind the Gates
10. Jam #35
