This RockLine piece is all about albums by Slovenian artists that dropped last year and are so good they deserve a special shout-out.
But still… Not every album by a Slovenian artist released last year actually made it to our editorial desk, so some never got a review, or at least never got a real chance for us to sit down and give them a proper listen. Some of you may feel a little shortchanged because of that. Spotless objectivity is really the work of perfection and a slippery thing to catch, if not an outright utopian ideal, but we try for you every year. And that’s how it’ll stay in the future too.
RockLine has sifted through the best of the best that Slovenia’s music scene gave us last year for you – the albums that, out of all the notable musical achievements, are especially worth (your) attention and ears. They’re listed in alphabetical order.
All Strings Deatched: “Septet” (ŠKUC Ropot)
“Vesna and Jana have ‘armed’ themselves this time with a backing crew of five outstanding musicians who are right at home in the worlds of neo-classical music, jazz and ethno-folk elements. In the alternative rock dossier of All Strings Detached, these elements sneak ‘underground’ into the arrangements very effectively, while the confessional alt-rock character, clearly mapped out on the previous two albums, stays intact. And then some. These elements, the most striking of them being the neoclassicisms brought in by the string trio, artistically widen the duo’s expressive reach and push it to a new level of artistry and eclecticism. At the same time, the album delivers an extremely effective musical payoff and is incredibly listenable and accessible.”
AKA Neomi: “Beautiful Disasters” (Samozaložba)
“It’s hard to find parallels for this band. Basically, there are none. Still, AKA Neomi know how to win over fans of acts from Silence to Pliš or the late Melodrom. That tells you nothing, or rather hints that the level of cross-genre blending on ‘Beautiful Disasters’ is everywhere, making it a super-genre album. Here, the charisma of a new soul and pop hairdo, cabaret chanson, pronounced experimentation with electronic sounds, a cunningly disguised indie rock element and a passing breeze of jazz keep shaking hands in remarkably peaceful dialogue. So it’s clear that AKA Neomi are one-of-a-kind musical self-starters, with an art rhetoric leavened from entirely homegrown musical dough.”
Bogunov: “More bijesa” (Dallas Records)
“An album of strong, expressive nuances. Yearning, passionate, melancholic, yet firmly grounded. An art rock album you can hardly add anything to or take anything away from. Bogunov walked into the studio to record it with a sharply defined character identity, embodied in this superb set of thirteen tracks of polished intellectual eclecticism. It’ll thrill those of you after rich sonic arrangements and small details, along with real musicality, and Yu-rock nostalgics will take a liking to it too. An album of ravenous melody and messages, simply bursting with sincere heart!”
Boštjan Gartner: “Čas brez iluzij” (Akord Records & Kulturni center Maribor)
“Time pours a river without illusions! Even if the illusions lie shattered beneath giant blocks of rockfall, a fiery glow smolders under them. Constantly, into eternity. Even when only nothingness and music remain. Traces of time, licked every morning by the first sunbeam from the dew on meadow flowers. A play of eternity and longing. The illusions are gone, but hope remains. ‘Čas brez iluzij’ is a moving and deep achievement in every way, and with his confessional one-of-a-kind voice, Gartner adds to the rich and colorful heritage of Slovenian singer-songwriter music another musical gem, one that’s been missing from this mosaic for far too long.”
Brest feat. Vesna Zornik: “V polsnu” (Samo Records)
“An album with a huge amount of musical substance, one where you’re pleasantly surprised to find that 14 tracks is by no means too many, since its 64-plus minutes fly by in a blink. There’s no wobble in quality between the songs. They reach a great degree of creative and arrangement variety and dynamic shifts in mood, and that gives the album remarkable artistic consistency. The chemistry is here! It works superbly, the way ‘V polsnu’ grabs you full-bloodedly. Let’s hope that, given the musicians’ heavy involvement in all sorts of projects and challenges, Brest stick around and become a constant, one that keeps enriching the Slovenian music scene, so often starved of ideas, with its homegrown and daring creativity, backed by a team of colorful musical artists, in its brilliant artistic originality and eclecticism.”
Divje jezero: “Korak iz okvirjev” (Celinka)
“The band has come out of this new album artistically even stronger. With an exceptional degree of focus and commitment, they’ve created a document of great creative freshness. Exploring newly discovered musical territory, with a bold integration that includes the vocals, they’ve made a new evolutionary leap up in maturity. As a whole, the record radiates huge confidence and maturity. This is surely not the last act of this superb band, who keep sailing their own homegrown path in their own free-spirited idiom. Totally independent and eclectic! ‘Korak iz okvirjev’ is without doubt an artistic high point within the Slovenian music pulse of 2020!”
El Kachon: “Mi nismo” (Samozaložba)
“‘Mi nismo’ is, as stated, the best El Kachon album to date. A sextet of outstanding musical characters, showing off a remarkable mix of full-blooded emotion, passion, brilliant creative freshness and eclecticism, traditionally inspired by blues rock yet with a streak of provocative experimentation, reaches a new kind of eclecticism and uniqueness. Given the unsuspected talent of both the individuals and the whole crew, it’s a bold presumption that this isn’t yet the creative peak of the band’s career. El Kachon can reach even higher. Still, it’s true that with ‘Mi nismo’ the band made a fantastic art blues rock album that has no equal in Slovenia, so the challenge of topping it with a more mature follow-up will be all the bigger. The band could rest on these laurels, but that would be anything but good for them. So: an album you absolutely must check out and add to the music collection in your household.”
Emil and the Detectives: “Sandcastles” (Samozaložba)
“Compared to their debut, Emil And the Detectives have taken a thrilling creative step up the path of artistic maturing with ‘Sandcastles’, an album that, put simply, hints that we can expect plenty of grand moves from these quiet, solid musicians in the future. Especially superb instrumental jazz rock fusion. The album bursts with glow, heart and devotion to the musical vision, so, immodestly put: a strong, varied, provocative, bold and lavish musical achievement the band can rightfully be proud of.”
Feedback: “Predvidljivi in iztrošeni fusion vzorci” (Samozaložba)
“With their fifth album, Feedback have once again confirmed they’re a one-of-a-kind musical story. Far from what the otherwise funny and debatable album title suggests. It’s hard to find parallels. Looking back to the seventies, you might catch a shared vibe with Camel’s debut, or with early-period Santana. ‘Iztrošeni in predvidljivi fusion vzorci’ simply seduces you, bewitches you and charms you. ‘Feedback’ remain among the great masters of their musical craft in what they do, and few are their equal. In our country, none. The guys put together another highly appealing all-instrumental piece, a more mature step up from past achievements. Once again it embodies the band’s great finesse and subtlety, reconciling complexity and musical catchiness. A nebula is born. Welcome home again, guys!”
GHB (Grega Habič Band): “Vrane” (Samozaložba)
“The main goal of ‘Vrane’ has been reached. Grega didn’t sacrifice a single drop of his unique artistic individuality. If anything, he’s widened the vividness of his guitar genius with new strokes and ideas, successfully weaving into his style a flirtation with genre territory he’d avoided until now. The fusion worked and the ‘patient’ kept all the eclectic nature of the singular musical rhetoric that only Habič’s creative mind brings. Clearly, ‘Vrane’ marks the start of a new artistic path for Grega Habič Band. And the opening steps along that path are more than thrilling.”
Mephistophelian: “Anotos” (Samozaložba)
“Anotos is a release that sensibly merges elements of the old and new school of death metal. It boasts intensity, uncompromising attitude and dynamics. The saddest part of all is that the album is the band’s only release. Still, it can certainly be confirmed as a top-notch achievement of the Slovenian metal scene, so here’s hoping the guys get the itch to create something new or return to the stage.”
Samo Šalamon Trio (feat Igor Matkovič & Kristijan Kranjčan): “Common Flow” (Samo Records)
“This February saw the release of two albums by a trio that unites the unsuspected musical talents of Samo Šalamon, Igor Matkovič and Kristijan Krajnčan as ‘Samo Šalamon Trio’. Of the three, the name Samo Šalamon stands out. Thanks to his exceptional expressive musical qualities and incredible diligence and creative productivity, he’s earned a reputation on the international scene as one of the most interesting and ‘hot’ jazz guitarists of the new era in the world right now.
If we have to pin this album down to a genre, the ECM label fits nicely. Looking at artists like Jan Garbarek or Keith Jarret and the ECM style itself, which established itself in the eighties as a contrasting answer to free jazz, Šalamon, Matkovič and Krajnčan on this jazz voyage also reach for elements of world music, classical music and even rock, which adds up to an extremely accessible and relaxing achievement of a cerebral nature.”
Samo Šalamon Trio (feat Igor Matkovič & Kristijan Kranjčan): “Rare Ebb” (Samo Records)
“This album will be even more interesting to music gourmets than ‘Common Flow’, since in terms of how the arrangements are adapted, it speaks in a more unusual way and, because of that, is more challenging in its eclectic payoff.
The ‘brotherly different’ albums ‘Rare Ebb’ and ‘Common Flow’ are worth hearing back to back. That way the listener gets a more intense and contrasting sense of the trio’s basic goal: to carry the same compositions, through a changed choice of instruments, into a completely different kind of soundscape development, which in turn results in a brilliant character reversal of ‘ebb and flow’.”
You can read the piece on the most notable Slovenian albums released in 2019 HERE!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
