Label: Dallas Records
Release year: 2017
Production: Julijan Erič
Album length: 130:21
Rating: 8.0 / 10
»The birth of a supernova in the Slovenian musical sky« and the landing of four untamed intergalactic riders, who in the past year alone steered their spaceship through a whopping 167 concerts, spent three whole months racking up 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«, laying down the official foundation of their own musical insight and, above all, their great daring.
Ladies and gentlemen. The quartet Prismojeni profesorji bluesa. A quartet embodied by an impenetrable shield of remarkable camaraderie, a laser focus on hitting its goals and, above all a whole lot of grinding, grinding and nothing but grinding, swept in last year like a tornado, full of genuine heart, and won over the Slovenian music public big time. Blues revivalism, or, “roughly” and “loosely” put, progressive blues, has never sounded so fresh, rich, juicy, provocative and cheekily good in the hands of any Slovenian band as it does in the hands of this brave and unbelievably big-hearted quartet.
Then came September 16, 2016, and the band’s concert at Križanke. Dallas Records decided to release it as a double CD. More music was played that night, 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 “fat” 130 minutes and 21 seconds of playing time overall. But not all of it is new material . On this live document the band kept the hard-hitting versions of Run Hilda and Keep On Groovin’, taken from the debut studio album »Family« (2016).
The nice bundle of new songs on »Križanke – Live« does give a sense of sprawl, thanks to the many lionhearted jams and the band’s burning desire to serve its audience all its authenticity and honesty straight up on a platter, with no extra cosmetics or makeup. No brakes. In that respect we can accuse them of a pinch of excess. Song by song (across both discs) the overlong repetitions of the main motifs have been left in, and not much happens in them. So you can often end up with 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 look at it strictly as a live album, because it’s clear that Prismojeni profesorji bluesa are enjoyed first and foremost at gigs. They’re so good that 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.
If this release had come out as one whole piece, it would have been a first-rate live document. As it is, when we look at it as a live document, it’s a release that does give insight into the incredible heart, charisma and musical skill these four musicians carry, but the numerous cuts between songs, meaning the pauses of “silence” between tracks, take away some of the energetic vibe, because you know something (more) is missing. When you look at it as a new album, you know you’re hearing raw versions of new songs that show a developmental leap in a relatively short time, but there’s so much rawness and elementality that it’s clear the guys would have polished all these new ideas, played on September 16, 2016 at Križanke, further in the studio and nailed them down more compactly as compositions, and above all trimmed the new tracks down to a sensible running time of between three and six minutes per song. But that doesn’t even matter, because we’re talking first and foremost about a live show. On this release the band poured even more oil on the fire of the cheeky punch that already decorates the debut »Family«. With all the clowning of the comedy on display, which the wild performance rollercoaster of this release records, it goes without saying that the elements of spontaneity and the unexpected are not missing.
On this document, too, Prismojeni profesorji bluesa stay in the bosom of a charming, loose genre doctrine of forging their own adventurously progressive blues craft, where the blues is effectively buddying up, in a dialogue of incredibly penetrating and fluid kinetics, with swing, boogie, funk, country, psychedelic rock, obligatory rock’n’roll of course, and Julijan’s cleverly packaged “Hendrixisms”. At their core the guys recall the real retro sound of late-’60s and early-’70s outfits like Cream, from a time when anything still went 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 that tie in with the lead vocals feel somewhat superfluous, if not downright annoying, in the song Ed Gene, for example Miha’s charismatic vocal is entirely enough here. What’s more. It feels like Prismojeni profesorji bluesa are entirely sufficient on stage. No extra guests needed. The band’s three lead vocalists give the songs enough contrast, while the jams keep a 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 charms nicely with his “sharp tongue”. In this song Julijan switches to bass guitar. Miha Ribarič’s way with a sharp tongue is something worth exploiting even more skillfully in the future.
Otherwise, in the performance itself, the guys are in the right place at every single moment. Even when they get carried away too far, they catch themselves masterfully and settle back into the tight 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 of 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 tracks caught on this live document, or go a step further and record a completely new studio album with entirely new material. Whatever. »Križanke – Live« is a gorgeous document in every respect, and a must-have souvenir for everyone who was at this concert, which was historic for the band in many ways.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
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
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, conga drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Urša Mihevc – backing vocals
Anja Trobec – backing vocals
Vesna Godler – backing vocals
Igor Leonardi – guitar, synthesizer
Mario Babojelić – guitar, electronics
