Various Artists - Druga Liga Prvo Kolo -1995- (CD, Helidon), Slovenia/Croatia

Druga Liga Prvo Kolo -Second League First Round - is an essential cornerstone compilation from post-Yugo 90's Slovenia. It compiles both Slovenian and Croatian bands that were active in the early and mid-90's in their respective underground scene. Eastern European underground bands from this time were very weird and unclassifiable, playing a combination of both unskilled punk and hyper-complex rock in opposition drenched in a healthy amount of absurdism while existing within a genuine alternative culture based on communal uplifting activisim and desperate local divertissement. Also don't forget that the decade of the 90's in former Yugoslavia and the Balkans was heavily loaded with political tensions and war sentiments that needed an explosive creative output in one way or the other.

Slovenian bands in general, also before the fall of the iron curtain and the disbanding of Yugoslavia, were always very intriguingly weird. With Laibach as main national music reference you know you're in for a blast when digging into the Slovenian musical underground. Other great alternative bands from Slovenia I can think of are Miladojka Youneed, Begnagrad, Lolita, Strelnikoff or the later Pinja Dzazna (who has those files for me!?)

The Slovenian bands on this compilation are experimental group Mamojebac (of which their whole and only existing tape from 1995 Tko Je Ovdje Kome Guzica? is present), strange punk band Absent Minded and the great avantgarde art-rock band Žoambo Žoet Workestrao. 

The Croatian groups present on Druga Liga are the demented HC-punk group Why Stakla (of which almost their whole cassette Daj, Dođi! from 1995 is compiled) and the free punk no jazz band from Rijeka Plod Mirže (I'm curious if more of their music exists). These bands also remind me of the Croatian band SexA.

Essential uneasy listening of post-Yugo punk-noise-insanity from the underground!

Get it HERE

De Reizende Verkoper - Aguardiente -1999- (CDr, Self-Released), Croatia/Netherlands

De Reizende Verkoper (Dutch for The Travelling Salesman) was an obscure freak jazz improvisation band created around Croatian avant-garde musicians who settled in Amsterdam during the nineties (maybe late 80's). The band consists of guitarist Razorblade Jr., drummer Marc and sax player Kafka (Damir Prica). Some members were a.o. also involved in the no-wave group Blisters and the highly recommended experimental group Pink Noise Quartet.

During the 80's and the 90's there were quite some Eastern European underground musicians that came to live in Holland. Many of them came from Ex-Yugoslavia. An example could be the great Croatian experimental punk band SexA. All these musicians brought a new energy to the Dutch and mostly Amsterdam local underground and improvisation scene. I know a lot more about this scene because I knew some people in person being a child, but I rather keep that personal.

Aguardiente is a great album of experimental improvisation and no-wave with free-jazz freak out moments. It was recorded in a matter of a few hours in an Amsterdam basement in 1999, probably with some good quality aguardiente involved. It's a pure example of the vivid Yugo impro scene that had an important influence on what maybe can be viewed as the last real vibrant time of music in the Amsterdam underground. At least it's a scene that was never properly covered or given the right attention in music history. Luckily some of the protagonists are still active!

Obscure impro greatness all over!

Get it HERE

Moonyana - Self-Titled -1991- (Cassette, FV Music, FV38), Slovenia

Moonyana was a free-jazz, impro outfit from Slovenia. This particular cassette is a recording of a concert in 1989 and released according to the label's website in 1991. I don't know whether this group existed for this occasion only, or if they had other releases or concerts. Since there is almost no info around on this group it's hard to tell. About some individuals in the group there is some information: Saxophone player Primož Schmidt is known for having made more releases as well as performing alongside Bosnian underground hero Marko Brecelj. Nino de Gleria is a quite renowned Slovenian bass player in the Slovenian jazz and RIO world.
This cassette came out on Slovenian underground label FV Založba / FV Music. From their website:

- As a label FV has been documenting with a pioneering spirit Slovenian alternative rock for fifteen years. It was the first to expose Laibach's music to the listeners. As a booking agent FV took two of the most exposed bands from its rooster Dicky B. Hardy and Hic Et Nunc to an American coast to coast tour in 1998. The tour marked the first occasion of Slovenian musicians having toured the States without the support of a multinational music label. As a promoter FV has been bringing challenging sounds from groups as different as Einsturzende Neubauten and Dead Moon to the audiences in Slovenia as well as in countries from ex-Yugoslavia. 

FV Music was established in 1985 by the musicians of the group Borghesia and a circle of music aficionados that had previously run Disco FV, the first punk club in Ljubljana. FV, for several years the only Yugoslavian independent label, was born out of necessity to satisfy the creative impulses of its founding members. Today FV is the nation's first in promoting and booking alternative r'n'r bands. It has a strong network of relationships with clubs and local promoters in Slovenia and other ex-Yougoslavian states. It has a number of long standing contacts with European and American agencies. And it has a rooster with some of the most exiting and popular r'n'r bands in Slovenia and Croatia - Dicky B. Hardy, Rhythm Thieves, KUD Idijoti, The Spoons and Bambi Molesters. These are the bands that on Slovenian and ex-Yougoslavian club circuit guarentee a good night out. In Slovenia of today FV is a synonym for rock & roll. -

The recording has quite some surface noise since it's a documentation of a concert transferred to cassette, transferred by me to the computer. Nevertheless, it's fine free jazz improvisation with some minor RIO hints.

Get it HERE