Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Etno klub Zlati zob / Slovenia
Concert date: 04/18/2014
Attendance: 70
Ticket price: €8.00 (advance) / €13.00 (day of show)
Šinobusi, rockers from Novi Sad deeply inspired by the blues tradition and above all the retro sound of the seventies, have lined up a handful of gigs across Slovenia to present their new studio album »Nebo od skaja« (Dallas Records, 2013) – RockLine review HERE! The quintet of Milan Korać (vocals, guitar), Nenad Patković (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Stefan Stefanović (harmonica), Predrag Dmitrović (bass) and Đorđe Bubnjević (drums) is devoted to sonic and arrangement perfectionism. All of it original material, of course. It’s an utterly authentic musical statement that, for all its expressive range, draws parallels with the look and the work of old Yugoslav rock bands like Korni Grupa, Smak, Pop Mašina or Yu Grupa. Musical comparisons are also possible with Wishbone Ash (Šinobusi like to work the occasional guitar trio into their arrangements), Procol Harum (especially for the Hammond-flavored arrangement solutions), then Uriah Heep, and also the Doobie Brothers and the Allman Brothers Band, and there are plenty of detours back toward the primal roots of the blues, too. The kind from the Mississippi Delta.
Šinobusi are, in short, a one-of-a-kind melting pot built on the retro sonic message of the pioneering rock and blues bands of the late sixties and early seventies. They go about it with a huge amount of sonic and stylistic perfection. Besides the tight arrangements, their music is also known for the lyrically rich poetry of vocalist/guitarist Milan Korać, who writes most of the verses. The band kicked off their mini Slovenian tour on Thursday, April 17, 2014, with a show at Lokalpatriot in Novo Mesto, and a day later Šinobusi rolled into the Slovenian capital and its Etno klub Zlati zob. A completely different setting, which called for a different concert energy, vibe and mood. From the club scene to an almost “posh” hall. Etno klub Zlati zob is a charming, warm and tremendously welcoming venue, tailor-made for soaking up the organic, warm sound of genuine passion and emotion poured out by artistic souls. If the cave castle in Postojna has the Postojna Blues festival, Zlati zob could easily host a Ljubljana Ethno and Folk festival.
But back to our Šinobusi. It’s half past nine and things are lively on stage. Šinobusi are treating a crowd of some 70 heads, comfortably sprawled at their little tables, to their older, let’s say “already classic” repertoire. The band didn’t need much time to warm their fingers up to proper working temperature, and it quickly showed what a tight, flawlessly executed outfit this is. The sensitive Milan Korać won people over with his tenderness and subtlety, taking the lines of his poetry and sharing them with the audience as if reliving every one!
Milan and Nenad, the two guitarists, confirmed their chemistry with exceptional stage awareness and playing in lockstep, which the shared solos in individual songs showed off in abundance. The way they place their notes is outstanding, always subordinate to melodic perfection. Fingerpicking, with the pick used in smaller doses too! The band has a chapter all its own in harmonica player Gile. The guy is a modest 21 years old and is considered a “wunderkind”. His solo escapades in the improvisations showed an unbelievable sense of melody, the kind this musician must have been born with. And none of it would work, of course, without the highly responsive, highly versatile rhythmic drive.
After the first third of the show, which brought Moje ruke sad su ptice, Mirna Bačka, Kada svrake bulje u mene, U pravcu jablanova, Ćamac na Tisi, then Robert Johnson’s If I Had Possesion Over Judgement Day, which they of course bent to their own musical vision, then Bluz je đavo and Ravnodušna pesma, the guys wrapped up the first set with an excellent instrumental full of improvisational twists called Prašina.
A short break follows, and the band “gets the keyboards ready”, which Nenad “permanently” sat behind for the middle part of the show. The band decided to present the new album »Nebo od skaja« “in bulk”. In this stretch the band deepened the moods in contrast. You could feel how much the group enjoyed playing the brand-new studio material. The keyboards effectively handled many sonic simulations, among which the Hammond organ sound naturally stood out, which now graces Šinobusi’s music on the album »Nebo od skaja«. Apparently Nenad needed just a year to teach himself keyboards. A man with practically perfect pitch also has exceptional alertness. He hears every single note fired off on stage. Even the ones his bandmates create. He knows exactly how to put the right notes in the right places in the songs. And he always follows his refined sense of musicality, subordinating all his ideas to it. There are plenty of ornaments that astonish with this musician’s inventiveness, fantasy and artistic imagination. I’m talking mainly about his guitar work, where during the show the slide also “sang” and “wailed” with force, and the artist enriched the performance with special effects, above all wah-wah, plus stereo chorus. The songs Iz drugog ugla, Naš dan, Potera, then the excellent jazzy instrumental Noonism, then Ko zna, the dreamy blues number Skačem visoko, which was recently released as a single with a video shot for it, and the only English-language song on the new album, Greed. The middle section was rounded off by the excellent Vazduh and Bio sam tu, with which Šinobusi closed out the middle part of the show.
The fifteen-minute break, meant to let the bar rake in another euro or two, was cut short by Boli i mene! Next came Super bejbe, then Ja moram da te vidim što pre, Bluz novog dana, Jutro je sebi prokrčilo put and a fantastic cover of the traditional American folk song The Wayfaring Stranger. After it they cut loose with one more exceptional cover! This time they took on the original of Children Of Sanchez (orig. Chuck Mangione), where Nenad once again shone with his guitar inventiveness. The band spiced up the show with an almost progressive version of the Rolling Stones classic Miss You! And that wasn’t all. A final crescendo was still to come. First, a longtime friend and one of Slovenia’s most accomplished blues guitarists, Slaven Kalebič of Mojo Hand, joined the band on stage, and together with Šinobusi they cut a longer improvised blues number. The real rolling roots blues waltz, when leaden tears start falling from the sky. Then almost the entire Mojo Hand crew joins them on stage, thoroughly prettified with the female contingent, and the musicians tackle Let The Good Times Roll. For the finale, Šinobusi also played Muddy Waters’ Got My Mojo Working and Don Nix’s Going Down.
You’re left speechless after such an exceptional display of full-blooded, tangible, bubbling emotion and passion. The sound can be chunky, rugged, rough, or delicately tender. Both approaches have one hell of an erogenous pull. You hear every detail, played with precision and ease. They’re simply driven by pure enjoyment, and that’s enough. Šinobusi delivered a real lesson in adventurous art rock blues that evening at Etno klub Zlati zob, and the audience was beside itself with joy.
If Šinobusi are anywhere near where you live, do yourself a favor and go see this band live. You’ll start admiring them in an instant. For the authenticity and genuineness that is magnificently captured in the band’s incredible tightness, as well as their pithily defined, powerful compositional structures. After Ljubljana, Šinobusi continued west across our country and stopped in Koper. But that’s another story!
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