Lollipop Shop LSCD 06
Eastern Space Cakes compilation (2006)
Lollipop Shop LSCD 06
From Aural Innovations #36 (May 2007)
My friend Henning Kuepper of Berlin sent this promotional compilation of
eastern European psychedelic music in to Aural Innovations from his Lollipop
Shop. I’ve met him at a few festivals in Germany over the past five years,
as we share a passion for the "Budapest" scene and other neighboring
lands. So he’s rather preaching to the choir in this case, as I already
know (via album or on stage) six of the ten artists included here.
The Magic Carpathians Project is the duo of Anna Nacher and (ex-Atman) Marek
Stycynski of Nowy Sacz, Poland. I was lucky to have seen them perform their
interesting brand of experimental psych music two years ago in northern Sweden.
With a live recording (from Chicago!) of “In the Prison of Mind,”
the Carpathians’ contribution is a real gem with echoed sampled guitar,
and a host of freakout noises. Oranzada, another Polish export, is new to me,
a rock ensemble doing a neo-psych number (“Koszula wspomnien”) like
Sundial or On Trial, with lyrics sung prominently in their native Polish. Volga
is a Russian psych/folk quartet fronted by Angela Manukjan, and their offering
“Pomol” is typical of their brand of traditional folk-chants mixed
with modern technology, here employing a kind of tribal electronic beat. Interesting
stuff, though I personally favor Deti Picasso's similar ethno-electronic amalgam
(see below).
NU, from Romania, I hadn’t heard before – their track “Ezaro”
is a kind of free-form experimental piece with voice used as instrument. You
can hear more of them on their page at www.myspace.com/projectnu, more interesting
experimental stuff akin to Can and latter-day Embryo. Korai Orom should be well-known
to any self-respecting space-rock fan. The “hypno-trance” Budapest
ensemble, with at least six studio albums and a number of live and remix works
already on the books, has also been a festival highlight all around Europe for
more than a decade. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen them live four
times to date, and have to say that they are one of my favorite live bands of
all time. 'ESC' samples the third track from the most recent ‘2005’
album, something that would satisfy the tastes of any Ozric nut out there. And
I mean “Out There.”
Uzgin Uver, fellow Budapest natives, perform more experimental folk music, employing
wood flutes and violin but also with lots of psychedelic effects and samples,
as we hear on “Pallo” from their 2004 album ‘Voros Rebek.’
Trottel Monodream is related (the precursor?) to the Trottel Stereodream Experience,
another band I was eager to see live at Sziget ’04 at home in Budapest.
To be honest, I was not totally sold on TSE then, but “Fluid,” the
long track appearing here on Space Cakes is a real wonder. Very spacey, groove-laden,
and delightful, with female space whispery vocals and lots of cool electronics
and soaring guitar. I wish they were like this in ’04! I will have to
seek out this album of the same name (ie., ‘Fluid’).
We return to Poland for the final three tracks, starting off with “Malfor”
by the band Archinta, sounding much like Volga in the psych/trad. folk vein.
Frankly, while female lead vocalist Grazyna Jasman’s ethereal vocalizations
are initially attractive, the song goes on for the full five minutes without
much development and it becomes a little repetitive in the end. Still, I would
be interested to hear more from the band. “Glo” is a track by the
four-piece Pathman, an inventive kling-klangy work heavy on acoustic guitar
and various bits of percussion but not much else. And finally, a sample of the
CD full of ‘Landscapes’ by Warsaw’s Asunta, an album I already
knew. Part VIII, representative of the album as a whole, is essentially a breathy
saxophone solo atop a warm drone backing. Nice tonal flavors, though a bit minimalist
for my tastes.
Well, there you have it! But...before we go, let me give a few more thoughts
about some other eastern Europe music I've heard about myself (although I think
Henning probably carries this stuff at his Lollipop Shop as well). As alluded
to above, I made a pilgrimage to the Sziget '04 festival in Budapest to catch
several of the wonderful local bands in the realm of "hypno-trance-rock"
or whatever particularly stupid label you wish to apply. Korai Orom, Colorstar,
and Masfel were the three bands in particular I went to see, but on the premises
I discovered several others. TanuTuva were a brilliant Ozrics-style space-trance
band, as I mentioned in my Sziget review (http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue29/sziget04.html),
and I'm still waiting to find out about there supposed debut CD. Their webpage
seems to have oddly disappeared from the SoundFreedom.org
site that originally hosted it, so I don't know where to find out more.
Gaya Arutyunyan
Korai Öröm
Uzgin
Uver
But perhaps the most interesting discovery was Deti Picasso from Russia. Lead
singer Gaya Arutyunyan is actually ethnic Armenian (I think), so their particular
brand of psych-folk (or I guess the Kool Kidz are calling it "freak-folk"
these days) relies on some traditional Armenian songs and themes. As I couldn't
locate anybody to buy a CD from in '04 (which was upsetting), I still don't
have any Deti Picasso recordings, but you can look them up at www.myspace.com/detipicasso
and hear some samples. "Merik" and "Ninare," the first two
tracks currently on there, are the kind of thing they do most often, very traditional-style
folk done with psychedelic effects. But then check out the (current as of 4/07)
third track "Shut Mi Antsekh" - Wow...that's some cool psychedelic
madness! Interestingly, the Picasso's must have met up with tres-cool Masfel
at that Sziget gig, as Arutyunyan is now appearing on their work as a guest
vocalist. (That's up now at Masfel's myspace page, linked from DP's, as well...look
for "Aerosoul." And pick up Masfel's great 'Angyaltojas' CD at some
point.)
So now that's really all I have to say about Eastern European neo-psych music. Having spent some time in Croatia and Slovenia, as well as Hungary, I could see with my own eyes the emerging optimism that continues to explode there! As I cynically tell people who say that the "West" won the Cold War, "I disagree...if the West won the Cold War, why is it that we ended up with such crappy governments led by the likes of Bush II and Blair? Nope, I'll tell you who won the Cold War...the common folk of eastern Europe...for the first time in a thousand damn years, the young people there can look forward to a future free from the brutal dominance by whatever major regional power decided to repeatedly stomp all over their lives, whether it be Istanbul, Vienna, Berlin, or Moscow. Go and visit there, and see (and importantly, hear!) for yourself...perhaps the commercialization and consumerism will eventually ruin everything (as it always does), but for now, the people are still dancing in the streets, celebrating their new optimism and opportunity to better their lives and express themselves. (Some by way of the coolest of psychedelic sounds.) It's contagious. Plus, the exchange rates are wonderful (vs. the Euro, Pound, and Swiss Franc at least).
Photos from Sziget '04 (KHenderson):
Visit the Lollipop Shoppe web site at: http://www.lollipopshoppe.de
Reviewed by Keith Henderson