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.
Tomasz Organek is one of the key figures of the current Polish music scene. After ten years spent in the alternative R&B collective Sofa, he started his own project, simply called Organek. The debut album, "Głupi" (2014), was a good mix of blues and indie rock, but maybe a little too traditional. Released at the end of 2016, "Czarna Madonna" is way more mature and probably represents the peak of Organek's entire career. Blues and indie rock are still part of the game, but the songs sound darker and more epic. There's a sense of tension and violence throughout this record, which doesn't prevent it from being catchy. In fact, the album went all the way to no. 3 in Poland, remaining in the chart for months. In the meantime, Organek has become a sort of guru. He directed the popular Męskie Granie project in both 2016 and 2017, while rock legend Kora, the former singer of Maanam, has portrayed the lead character in "Czarna Madonna"'s videoclip. Even the young star Dawid Podsiadło has expressed his admiration for Organek. This is one of the few great rock albums released in 2016, and you really shouldn't miss it.
Third SBB album on Soviet Sam, and it won't be the last one. During the Seventies the band had the honour of touring outside of Poland, which was quite rare during the Iron Curtain era. They recorded this album in April 1977, in Prague. It was released one year later exclusively in Czechoslovakia and West Germany. It was sung entirely in Polish, but it probably didn't matter that much, since most of it is instrumental and the band only had a small cult following in those countries. Like their previous effort, "Ze słowem biegnę do ciebie", this consists of two long pieces, one on each side of the LP. The band seems to be more skilled than ever; the sound is beautiful, harmonic, deeply futuristic, but also able to show off some muscles. A mix of jazz rock, space rock, and occasional ambient parts, which partially predated the electronic world music of the Eighties (just think of the beginning of "Odejście"). All in all, this may be SBB's masterpiece. Józef Skrzek- keyboards, harmonica, vocals Apostolis Antymos - guitars, bouzouki Jerzy Piotrowski - drums, percussion Composed by Józef Skrzek Produced by Hynek Žalčík Lyrics by Julian Matej
