Rock music from the socialist European countries and their successors. Comments are welcome. Please tell me when you find an expired link! :)
UPDATE October 2, 2021: I decided to revive Soviet Sam after a long hiatus. I also fixed most of the links, but maybe there are still some inactive ones.
Despite having lasted just one album and a couple of singles, Klaus Mitffoch was probably the most important band ever emerged from Wrocław. After their break-up, Lech Janerka (singer and bass player) started his solo career with this album, which also marked the Nowa Fala movement (I can't find any information about sales, but three songs reached the LP3 top-10 and today it is considered a classic). While "Historia Podwodna" is still post-punk, it sounds richer than Klaus Mitffoch's, expecially for the use of an electrified cello, played by Lech's wifeBożena Janerka, and for the peculiar saxophone of Tomasz Pierzchalski. Guitars are also heavily treated and thestructure of many songs hides unexpected twists. If you like adventurous music which doesn't deny infectious tunes, this can be your album.
This is one of the key-albums in the history of Polish music, in every perspective you want to read it. If you like singer-songwriters this is a must, if you like classical music this is a must, if you like experimentation this is a must, if you like pop music this is still a must (even though this is not a proper pop record, it influenced a lot Polish pop to come). As shown on the title, the album is entirely composed by Zygmunt Konieczny in its first high-profile work after years spent creating music for theatre. Obviously, it also marks Ewa Demarczyk's full-lenght debut. Arranged by Konieczny himself, it was recorded with the help of the Polish Symphony Orchestra, and produced by Antoni Karużas. Lyrics are written by various authors and poets, and are all equally moving and significant. The eleven songs featured here probably represent the strongest definition of what Polish people call "poezja śpiewana" (literally "sung poetry"): a musical style where lyrics often have the strongest impact, but arrangements sustain them with accurate mixes of folk, jazz or classical music, or even less usual forms such as bossanova and tango. A couple of translations I've found on the net: "Taki pejzaż"(Such a landscape) Lame dogs adorn the roads Devil tangles girls' legs Birds blacken the flowers of trees The dreams are being trampled by cadavers Such a landscape Such a landscape Rarely will the criminal weep with tears Blind beggar will find work Barefoot knight (will find his) laurel Such a landscape Such a landscape Winds sow crippled pines Useless although genuine A fool will smooth them into a song (he will) feed them with dreams (he will) betray the star There will be landscape melodic maudlin Such a landscape Such a landscape... "Tomaszów" So maybe my dear let's go for a day to Tomaszow Maybe during the golden dusk the same silence of September still sounds there In that white house, in that room where someone else's furniture had been put We ought to finish our old sadly-unfinished conversation So maybe will we my dearest drop-in to Tomaszów for a day Maybe during the golden dusk the same silence of September still lasts there And only from my eyes a salty drop streams to my mouth Yet there is no reply from you (and you) just eat green grapes This white house, this lifeless room till this day wonders, doesn't understand The humans put in the furniture and left that place in musing But after all everything was left there Even this silence of September lasts So maybe my dearest let's drop-in for a day to Tomaszów I still sing you with my sight "Du holde Kunst" And the heart breaks And I have to go So you say me farewell But your hand doesn't shiver in mine hand And I went, I left, like dream the conversation broke I blessed, I sworn, "Du holde Kunst" So like that? Without a single word? So maybe will we my dearest drop-in to Tomaszów for a day Maybe during the golden dusk the same silence of September still lasts there And only from my eyes a salty drop streams to my mouth Yet there is no reply from you (and you) just eat green grapes
"Specjalny rodzaj kontrastu" was intended to be the debut album of 1984, a cult post-punk band from Rzeszów, lead by singer and multi-instrumentalist Piotr "Mizerny" Liszcz. Unfortunately, their record label, Razem, was closed soon after the end of the sessions, and the record didn't have any distribution. In 2003 the album was finally released on Boofish Records, with twelve bonus tracks recorded during some old radiophonic sessions (which I have omitted, because they weren't part of the original album, and they are mainly alternative versions of already known songs). 1984 played a very dark form of post-punk with majestic basslines, echoing metallic drums, sharp effected guitars, and threatrical, grandiose vocal performances. Some of my favourites here are the urgent, epic "Ferma hodowlana", the solemn march "Manitou", and the intimate opening track "Pierwszy śnieg", for voice, piano and sound effects only. P.S. "Specjalny rodzaj kontrastu" is also the title for one of their songs, which was released before the album and excluded from it. You can find ithere.
Myslovitz is the most popular rock band to emerge from Poland in the late Nineties. They took the name from the city where they were born, Myslowice, making it the new capital of the local alternative scene.
This is their breakthrough album, the first of their mature phase (their previous works were not bad anyway, just a bit naive). It reached no. 8 in Poland, staying in the chart for one year. It reached a double platinum status in 2002, but considering that there wasn't any update since then (certifications have been totally reformed in the meanwhile), that the album has re-entered the charts on a pair of occasions (including three weeks in the top-20 in 2009, when a deluxe edition was released), and that today it is regarded as a classic, I think its sales are likely over the 200.000 copies mark, which would make it a diamond disc by nowadays standards. If "Miłość..." had been produced by an English band, today it would be considered a classic of the late Britpop era, as it contains some amazing songs. "Chłopcy" is introduced by a refined stratification of riffs and guitar effects, "Długość dźwięku samotności" is a touching love song with lounge-pop sounds, "Gdzieś" has some nice rhythm tricks and an explosive chorus, "My" is a softly depressive midtempo pierced by some subtle feedback noises, "Noc" is a celestial crescendo guided by acoustic guitars and percussions. P.S. This is strongly recommended to fans of Manic Street Preachers.
