TSENTR - "SDELANO V PARIZHE" [aka "TSENTR"] (1989)

Original band name: Центр
Original album title: Сделано в Париже (aka Центр)

Led by singer and songwriter Vasily Shumov, Tsentr is definitely a cult act of the former Soviet Union. The project is stilly active today, after dozens of albums, despite never breaking into the mainstream.

Tsentr had already relased thirteen magnetic tape albums in 1989, but their sound quality was not so good, as the band was not allowed to use professional studios. Finally they found a good contact in the person of Maxim Schmitt, a French producer who invited them to Paris, to record their songs with decent equipment.

This album is the result of the above mentioned French sessions. It basically contains Shumov's favourite tracks from his previous tapes, re-recorded and finally competitive with the international standards of new wave bands. Ten beautiful songs pumped by frantic guitars, echoes, samples, crystal sounding keyboards, and half spoken half sung vocals.

The album was titled "Tsentr" and released in France by Nord Sud Records. After some months it was released in the USSR by state label Melodiya, under the title "Sdelano v Parizhe" (Made in Paris). For Shumov it was the first legal release in his homeland, and despite the lack of any kind of promotion, it was able to sell 40.000 copies in one year.

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TOMAŽ PENGOV - "ODPOTOVANJA" (1973)

I hate not being able to say anything of interest about the albums I am presenting on the blog. Unfortunately, everything I was able to find about this artist is written in Slovene. The little I know is that this album was recorded domestically by singer songwriter Tomaž Pengov ‎(1949-2014) when he was a student and then released on vynil with the help of his university.

It wasn't a successful record but it became a cult classic over the years (even Branimir Štulić from Azra praised it). I'm posting it because I love Pengov's delicate voice and peaceful acoustic guitar style, but I know that I am probably missing out an important part of these songs, as I don't understand a word of their lyrics.

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HAPPYSAD - "JAKBY NIE BYŁO JUTRA" (2014)

With 700.000 fans on Facebook and three no. 1 albums as of 2014, Happysad are one of the most popular bands in Poland, and one of my favourites as well. In the Noughties they released four albums that demonstrated their huge melodic talent, notwithstanding a quite mediocre indie-rock sound.

Anyway, in 2012 "Ciepło / Zimno" showed a strong evolution, as it incorporated emo-rock influences, electronic sounds, and experimental noises. "Jakby nie było Jutra" is their new studio effort and it keeps its promises, adding some space rock tendencies, to give their formula a new level of epicness.

"Smutnie ludzie" is probably their best single ever, but every note on the album is well organized (i.e. the brasses on "Są momenty takie" and the folktronic arrangement of "Ciała detale").

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BIELIZNA - "TANIEC LEKKICH GORYLI" (1989)

Bielizna are a post-punk band led by singer Jarosław Janiszewski. They were founded in Gdańsk in the mid Eighties and this is their debut album. Even though it wasn't a huge seller at the time, it still managed to place three songs on the Trójka top 20. 

Today it is considered a cult classic and one of the first Polish examples of what English-speaking countries call indie-pop. 

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PIĘTNASTKA - "DALIA" (2011)

Piotr Kurek is an electronic musician from Warsaw. He has made some experimental albums where he mixes folk music and 8-bit sounds, videogame atmospheres and geometric melodies. This is his sole work released under the moniker Piętnastka (transl. Fifteen) and it probably represents his best effort.
I usually don't like instrumental albums, at least the recent ones, but this is really catchy and well constructed.

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