Location: Klub Roxly, Ljubljana
Concert date: 05.05.2008
Attendance: 25
In 2003, five seasoned musicians joined forces under the name The Tide. Their productivity showed right from the first year, with quite a few original songs coming out of it. Still, it took three years before their first studio release. In November 2006, the debut album “Love & Trust” saw the light of day. All that time the band was gigging hard, and in 2004 they won the Loka competition. They also did more than great this March at the Newcomer festival in Austria. The band’s success and the quality of their sound are also proven by their track “On Your Way”, which was used as a soundtrack in the film Horizont. They also contributed music to the film “Let me sleep”, directed by Miha Knific. And we can’t ignore the fact that their debut “Love & Trust” sold out!
Just under two years later, on Tuesday, May 6, the guys presented their fresh release “Live & Clean” at Roxly club in Ljubljana. It was recorded live on April 13, 2007, on the radio show Izštekani, hosted by Jure Longyka. They invited a bunch of guest musicians along, among them an eight-piece choir, tamburitza players and a flutist. After the unusual idea behind their first album (a CD hidden in the classic sleeve of an old vinyl record), they teamed up with the design duo Pop Up again and came up with another crazy idea – releasing an album without a CD! Hmm, how’s that even possible? The Tide revealed the answer at the launch itself. Everyone got a CD sleeve with a numerical code inside, which lets you download all kinds of multimedia content, including the whole album, to your own computer for free from their website http://www.thetide.si/izstekani. Then you “burn” the album onto a CD, stick a label on it (that’s in the sleeve too), and voilà, the album is right there in front of you. Fresh and clean! That way, they gave listeners the chance to become part of the creative process themselves. If you missed Tuesday’s launch – the CD sleeve will be available at their gigs, at most local music clubs, public libraries and a few other places.
Upon arriving at Roxly, the invited guests were treated to excellent white or red wine, and on the tables there were little baskets with pins bearing the new record’s emblem – a windmill – along with stickers. On the projection screen we watched video clips from the Ištekani show while The Tide walked us through the album itself. Even though this was a launch for a new record with no concert, the guys served up an original performance of the track “Whisper”. The Tide swapped their instruments for bottles, spoons and straws. To picture it: drummer Martin traded his drumsticks for straws, Dejan swapped his bass for a bottle of vodka, Janez his guitar for a bottle of beer, vocalist Tomaž sang into an ice cream spoon instead of a microphone, and keyboardist Drejc played around with his laptop. Interesting! Just like both of their album sleeves!
Despite the sad fact that most of the invitees didn’t show up, the guys kept a smile on their faces the whole evening. Only the best to say about everything seen and heard. With the new album “Live & Clean”, the guys once again gave us the real deal – music for the soul. Plus the kind of melodic touch that’s sorely lacking on the Slovenian music scene!
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