Artist: Štefan Kovač Marko (ŠKM) Banda
Label: god bless this mess records
Released: 2011
Length: 35:28
Rating: 4.7/5
Eclectic experimental-progressive noise post-rock jazz noir … ah, whatever. Either way, everything and then some can be found in the music of the fantastic Prekmurje natives ŠKM banda. This Slovenian phenomenon is putting out its third studio album this year, 2011, called “Rdeči”, but they showed their genius long before that, with their debut “Patentat” five years ago and “Šamar-Jankom” from 2008. Last year they also released a so-called live DVD, Izštekani. So ŠKM banda are definitely no newcomers on the Slovenian scene, but it’s both interesting and sad that, outside the underground, they’re more appreciated abroad than at home. Only recently, with the popularization of post-rock, have they made (and hopefully will make) a well-deserved breakthrough. One such chance will be their gig as support for the American math rockers Battles (event announcement).
“Rdeči” keeps the band’s unpredictability, which has been their trademark since day one. The wild switching between all sorts of melodies, rhythms, moods and volumes continues to create an impenetrable wall of sound that gives the record incredible dynamics and, of course, variety. In that respect, “Rdeči” is no different from its predecessors. But that’s exactly why “Rdeči” is certainly ŠKM banda’s most mature work, and in my opinion their best too. What’s more, “Rdeči” can easily hold its own against any world-class release of this genre … sorry, these genres. It’s marked by even greater guitar virtuosity, instruments complementing each other from every side, abstract and subtle melodies in the seeming chaos of overlapping instruments, a real grasp of feeling, and control over the creation and tearing apart of dimensions for us listeners, who are puppets to the music. I have to admit that if I heard this music without a title, I would never say it was Slovenian or that our scene is capable of it, which is sadly a narrow-minded, prejudiced view, but that’s how it is. The music is just that good.
My only regret is the album’s brevity. It runs just over 35 minutes, which certainly fits the band’s short concentration on a single melody, on an obvious common thread, but the album is too short, because after listening we simply want more. More of ŠKM banda’s one-of-a-kind music, which drapes genres in a veil of vagueness, undefinability and a “don’t-give-a-damn” attitude. Who approach music as if it were something new, not yet discovered, just born, and simply play whatever sounds good. Not good, phenomenal. And that’s far from saying the music isn’t well thought out – it offers the perfect epitome of the complexity that adorns progressive rock. But of course, as you’d expect from this band, the individual tracks come nowhere near the stereotypical length of prog-rock epics.
Those 35 minutes bring eight tracks. Eight varied tracks, even though at first glance it might seem that the musicians use up all the variety in a single track, which is true. The tracks don’t follow any predetermined pattern and flow almost straight into one another. They don’t dwell too much on concepts and higher rules, they switch between completely opposite atmospheres (from witty melodies to dark riffs in a nanosecond), double a guitar melody with an anti-melody, and produce orderly chaos. “Balada” is a fine example: the title suggests a pleasant, calmer melody, which of course we do get, but, as expected, not for long. Halfway through, “Balada”, which at 7 minutes is the longest track on the record, switches to hard-hitting thrashing, and later to an experimental mumbo-jumbo that it sticks to until the very end … almost. The ending is just balladic, a pleasant pop-jazz. And that’s the approach the band keeps up throughout the whole record.
“Rdeči” is a truly impressive piece of work. Despite the entirely instrumental lineup, the music reaches into so many areas that the record is, paradoxically, both for a narrow, select crowd and for a wider audience. Even though it has no common thread, since it colors you in its own way, the listener has no choice but to follow the music, because, as I said, there’s hardly much choice – ŠKM banda attach their strings to you and work you like a puppet. I personally have nothing against that, because “Rdeči” is an album almost without flaws, uncompromising yet carefully thought out, sensitive yet intellectually complex, with excellent compositional smarts. Štefan Kovač Marko banda thus have no equal in Slovenia when it comes to this kind of music-making.
Lineup
Iztok Koren – guitars, ružleki
Mito Sušec – guitars
Jernej Koren – bass
Jernej Sobočan – drums
Production
Plueg and ŠKM banda
Tracklist
1. Nema posta
2. Lajna
3. Iden
4. Oranžen
5. Jok
6. Na padalec
7. Daleč
8. Balada
