Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Ludovik Material
Label: Kapa Records
Release: 2015
Length: 36:29
Rating: 4/5
Time flies at breakneck speed. Three years have gone by like it was yesterday. After the impressive studio debut »Passion for Red« (2012), alternative rockers Ludovik Material are back with their second studio album, »Model Generation«. Right at the start of their career, the band made it clear with that debut that this is a special group, one that sharply breaks out of the loose umbrella term of alternative rock and stretches its boundaries. The blend of noise and post rock, occasionally dosed with digital electro programming and even hints of post punk, is more defined and concise than ever on the new album. Even though the new record is once again full of gloomy vistas, an imprint of the band’s perception of all the rot in the system we so blatantly serve as slaves, it boasts more defined compositions and more musicality than the debut. The band is simply growing and evolving artistically. And that’s a good thing, because this evolution is following a natural path and feels totally unforced. »Model Generation« is an honest, genuine record of rebellion.
The new album deepens the vulnerability of this sensitive, responsive trio to the stimuli around them, a mirror of the moral, emotional and spiritual devaluation of humanity. It’s the result of our inbred evolutionary flaw: we destroy, we endlessly only take, and we put the material wealth of a handful of people above the common good, all the way to the planet’s final destruction. The band poured its anger and dissent, clearly and uncompromisingly, in the language of eclectic musical superiority, straight into a good 36 minutes of music. The recent work of the excellent singer Tina Perič in the project Škrip Inc. is no surprise at all, and on the new album she delivers yet another full-blooded display of top-class vocal excess. Despite the musical distance between the two stories, they actually call for the very same vocal approach. Irritated, foaming at the mouth, accusing, full of disappointment but also rage and pain in the agony of realizing injustice, it’s totally loose in the melody of the verses and full of unpredictable vocal swerves. Above all, though, it’s explosive, honestly conveying a sense of utter disgust at the total transparency of the labeled masses and the corporation’s victory over the individual’s free will. From here you can draw parallels between Tina’s vocal excess and the one created by Kristina Gorevska (Bernays Propaganda), and the kinship between the two singers’ vocal approaches is sensibly tied together in the project Škrip Inc.
The instrumental side of the band builds an exceptionally gloomy backdrop to their otherwise dedicated, heartfelt playing, with hyper-smeared, distortion-roughened guitar tones that unleash unbridled noise and a vibrating drone across the album. All of it bathed in a production-wise »scuffed-up« garage liveliness, where repetitive loops of guitar phrasing suck the story toward a post-rock hinterland. The minimalism of the guitar riffs is reinforced by a framework of simple, hammered-out rhythms that are twisted toward the danceable, yet in their punchiness form a hugely important contrast in the character of the overall sonic picture.
With the new album, Ludovik Material have taken an exceptionally important creative step up. Comparisons with other bands are not really fitting and are damn hard to make, but the band is sure to spark interest in those of you who get fired up by the same kind of originality in alternative-rock-flavored acts, such as Repetitor, Nikki Louder, Nina Bulatovix and/or Bernays Propaganda. With the new album, Ludovik Material offer a glimpse into a band with real heart. Boldly, and bathed in the glow of full-blooded, freedom-loving musical substance you can almost touch, they build up their sonic and stylistic originality while effectively nurturing and sharpening their own musical ID and charisma.
Line-up
Tina Perić – vocals, lyrics
Jernej Koren – drums
Matija Dolenc – electronics, guitar
Production
Ludovik Material, Jure Vlahovič & Jernej Černalogar
Tracklist
1. All Yours
2. Model Generation
3. Summertime
4. Reign of Silence
5. Let’s Unite!
6. Cleansing
7. Failed Plans
8. Workin’ Ass
