Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Zmajev rep
Label: Sanje
Release: 2007
Rating: 3.5/5
Zmajev rep are four young musicians from Bistrica ob Sotli, and with their third album “Sanje podob” they deliver (especially by Slovenian standards) a thoroughly solid and unabashedly ambitious record for all lovers of quality, expressive and emotionally rich instrumental music. Although their music isn’t confined to any one genre, I’d place it stylistically closest to jazz rock fusion, with an emphasis on short, individual improvisations. This jazz-based approach is common to a good chunk of our, sadly very rare, progressive bands, who mostly play for the fun of it, ignoring artistic boundaries and the commercial mousetraps of today’s aggressive turbo-capitalist music market, where the packaging matters and the content doesn’t.
The music on “Sanje podob” is full of interesting instrumental variations and free-form passages that, despite some obscure sounds, mostly stay anchored to a melodic backbone, so the album keeps you entertained no matter what you’re doing while you listen to it. Despite the title, though, the mood leaves little room for daydreaming, because Zmajev rep know how to light a fire under your feet with energetic motifs. The individual musicians have a nice dose of virtuosity, matched by a polished sense of melody, and they deserve real praise for it. Guitarist Andrej Boštjančič-Ruda loves witty solos and obscure passages in equal measure. I’d say he’s in charge of the main rock element in their music, yet he never comes across as dominant. Keyboardist Ambrož Božiček deserves praise too: he mostly sticks to a basic sound and melodic arrangements, but now and then he gets carried away into some soloing mischief. The rhythm section of Vid and Jošt Drašler is just as solid, straight out of the proper jazz school. Jošt’s bass plays a hugely important part almost the whole time, building tension and keeping the instrumental side lively.
The individual pieces on the album reflect the inner feelings of the band members during the recording, so you can’t accuse the music of lacking authenticity or spontaneity. The structures differ noticeably from one another, mostly thanks to the many interesting, dynamic and witty solo spots from the individual members. In “Misel na begu,” for instance, a witty keyboard passage awaits us, “Padec po stopnicah” is almost classic jazz fusion, and “Oprostite” is again a pretty obscure creation, where heavy tones slowly turn into lighter forms. Zmajev rep don’t offer any who-knows-how-extensive improvisations, and there’s still some work ahead before they reach a fully professional approach. But unlike most of our related experimental bands, their music breathes with full lungs the whole way through and radiates spontaneity, as if the ideas were being born on the spot while recording. Of all the legendary jazz rock fusion bands, the biggest influence you can feel in their music is the great “guru” John McLaughlin and his Mahavishnu Orchestra, which is certainly a great send-off for such a young band.
The production has a pretty lively sound, and you can tell the tracks were recorded live, in the first or second take. Zmajev rep reportedly recorded the album right in a kitchen. Because of that, the music on “Sanje podob” really carries the relaxed, homey feel of the place where it was made. Zmajev rep have made a very solid record that brings at least a drop of much-needed freshness to our impoverished music scene, where progressive bands that put the emphasis on novelty, variety and expressiveness are always in short supply, even if it’s just a tiny spit in the ocean of quality international jazz fusion, which flourished especially in the ’70s. Zmajev rep have plenty of what most of our experimental musicians lack today (by deciding to make purely instrumental music, they made a very smart move, since most Slovenian (prog) rock vocalists, no matter what language they sing in, often make me sick). They’ve successfully combined their extensive instrumental know-how with the spontaneity that usually grows out of free group jams. The guys have plenty of good ideas, and on one hand it’s a shame that on our soil they’ll stay relegated to the fringes of obscurity, known only to a handful of instrumental fusion fans. Abroad, their voice would surely carry much further than it does on our Slovenian chicken farm, where people would rather indulge in “music” whose mind-numbing primitivism eats away at brain cells, while the rest die off watching reality shows.
Line-up
Andrej Boštjančič-Ruda – guitar
Jošt Drašler – bass guitar
Ambrož Božiček – keyboards
Vid Drašler – drums
Production
Andrej Hrvatin
Track list
1.) Begne
2.) Prva soba
3.) Mravlje
4.) Tara Didlova
5.) Misli na begu
6.) Padec po stopnicah
7.) Oprostite
8.) Preobrazba
9.) Maske v preoblekah
