Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Tito's Bojs
Label: ZARŠ Records
Release: 2014
Length: 47:35
Rating: 4/5
Trrrrrash!!!! And this time it’s Istrian! Tito’s Bojs, who have been tearing up stages since 1999, are back with their third studio album overall, »Schpitzock!« Recorded way back in 2010, the album brings a whopping 18 new songs. Short, simple, punchy solutions, of course, with no deep philosophy, no romance and certainly no needless instrumental fiddling.
All that counts is noisy, at times downright »hollered« rock ‘n’ roll that hits you straight in the forehead and teeth! Tito’s Bojs are textbook representatives of the Istrian punk rock school (and its long-lived scene), close in energy and vibe to their Pula compatriots KUD Idijoti. The legacy of the long Istrian punk rock tradition is rich and distinctive. Tito’s Bojs are the rightful heirs to what Pula’s Problemi, Boykot Fur and Gola Jaja were laying down back in the early eighties, and they’re slowly taking the scepter into their own hands as one of the main matadors of Istrian punk rock, even though they arrived on the scene a bit after bands like Fakofbolan and Antitodor.
Tito’s Bojs have thrown a huge number of songs at the new album, which means they’ve got a lot of important new messages too, ones they have to deliver straight to your face and without mincing words. Even though they stick to the »good old three chords« for building their guitar lines (two rather than four), the band manages, with its seething rebel wit, to carve out enough room for expression to loosen up the structures. The songs rush by one after another as they roll through the album. No sugarcoating. These street boys shake out their agonized rage at the dishonesty that the little guy is exposed to. You’ll definitely find a hefty dose of funny metaphors in the songs, drawn from the experience of close male-female encounters. A standout on the album is the excellent cover of the Dead Kennedys original Holiday in Cambodia, which the guys renamed Ferje u Rovinju for »Schpitzock!«. Franci Blašković, a member of their Istrian compatriots Gori Ussi Winetou, guests on vocals. An intelligent, socially critical, politically engaged attack on the system, with a thoroughly apocalyptic ring to it! It’s not the band’s first such musical adventure. Remember their take on The Clash’s London Calling, which Tito’s Bojs renamed Rovinj Gori.
The track Kuja opens the album with a distinctly garage-trash feel. The tune is cut off by a fast-spinning rhythm that knows only top gear. This opening punk rock wrecking ball quickly announces that the new Tito’s Bojs are putting themselves in the loudest light of their career on this album. Besides the inherited rhetoric of Istrian punk rock’s rich legacy, in Tito’s Bojs’ case you should look more for sensible nods to late-seventies English punk than to its North American incarnation. The motto »Shrink the melody to a minimum to get a maximum punch!« pays off in full! The deliberately off-key semitone twists intensify the feeling of dissonant roar, which is the logical punker anti-pose to harmony. The album was definitely played in the studio like a live gig. It sounds alive, honest, heartfelt and feels extremely cocky. The album’s minimalist content builds an extremely eruptive rock rage, which is exactly what punk music wants and demands. It works convincingly in every single second of the record. Without the »sweetener« that some American »punk rock merrymakers« tend to pick up from basing their melodies on major chords, »Schpitzock!« is grounded and real all the way through and a truthful document of a juicy, pointed confession, where vocalist Neno, fully immersed in the moment, reaches for typical Istrian slang to spice up individual verses. The album doesn’t skimp on dark »overdramatization« at certain points. Amid this musical mass full of uncompromisingly bristling shrapnel, there are also moments where the band shows a greater sense of musicality. That’s when the distortion lies low and Tito’s Bojs get, at times, downright »sophisticated«, as in the track Ludi kojot, which the track Vatra, krv i znoj later approaches in energy (a surf outline can be sensed in both) and especially Korea Love. This also includes Squat the World, backed by a rhythmic march, with its pronounced anti-war message and a pose of rebellious defiance of the individual’s uniqueness against mass uniformity. The album closes with the final “polka wreck” and ode to Istrian taverns called Punx, which makes for a one-of-a-kind detour on the album.
»Schpitzock!« is exactly what we look for in punk rock! Open revolt against conformity! It lays bare the unbearable gray of the status quo, in which flocks of sheep keep safe watch (in exchange for security (read: prison) they slave away for a handful of dust that conspiratorially holds all the strings in its hands). The album also knows how to be thoroughly entertaining, as it shamelessly hands out scoldings to wannabes who don’t know what they want or what to do with themselves, or who, in their “spiritual-emotional bankruptcy and personal shallowness”, simply wait opportunistically for the best-off financial bidder so they can start calculatingly “squeezing” them (Glupaća). 18 songs of strongly defined character that, with their dense, penetrating messages, violently crossed with rushing punk energy, will rattle your head and loosen up your neck vertebrae. With this album Tito’s Bojs bring no musical surprises, but they deliver their truthfulness and heart, and so we gladly count them among the pillars of the punk rock treasury of the Istrian peninsula!
Lineup
Neno – vocals
Percho – guitar
Njapo- bass guitar
Robi – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Franci Blašković – vocals on track no. 3
Production
Perica Šuran & Robi Bulešić
Tracklist
1.Kuja (02:15)
2. Fašo Policija (02:19)
3. Ferje u Rovinju (03:34)
4. Gott Ist Tot (01:43)
5. Hej Mama (02:06)
6. Ludi Kojot (02:25)
7. Fojbe (02:09)
8. Istra Bitter (02:13)
9. Glupača (03:37)
10. Mona (01:49)
11. Probudi Me (02:41)
12. Vatra, Krv i Znoj (03:26)
13. I Mi Smo Tu (02:58)
14. Korea Love (03:54)
15. Uzmi Mi Sve (02:34)
16. Squat The World (02:28)
17. Rezime (03:12)
18. Punx (02:02)
