MENTALNIH FOTOGRAFIJA

I realised the other day that I haven't posted any music downloads on this blog for over a year. So to rectify this, here's some darkwave I've been listening to over the past few days. Recorded in Belgrade in 1988, this cassette, titled 'Album Mentalnih Fotograpfija' (which translates roughly to 'Mental Pictures'), was the only release from Psihokratija. I don't know much about the band beyond the above and that it was essentially the project of Goran Krstić (synth, lyrics, arrangements), accompanied by Zoran Petrović (vocals) and later Weselly Karel (keyboards).

The tape starts with 'Who Is Alive, Who Is Dead', the only song in English. The rest is in Serbo-Croat, and these unique sounding vocals/language helps Psihokratija stand apart from a lot of more familiar stuff from elsewhere. I was recommended this tape as another example of gloomy Yugoslav music by a friend of mine, Mihael who is from Zagreb and one half of Doomtown Records, after I bought the recent Dobri Isak reissue from the label. More on that band another time.

If you know more about this band/tape feel free to get in touch, and I can share it on here.

Download

UPDATE-

I've just seen that PMK Records, based in Serbia, have released a CD and download of the bands full discography between 1988 and 1991, featuring the above cassette, some extra tracks and an unreleased second album 'U Teatru Misterije' which was recorded in 1990-91 in Belgrade by Goran and some other musicians. I've not given all the other songs a listen yet but what I've heard sounds like the soundtrack to a horror film set in a circus. It also seems as though the project is once again active, having been stopped by the outbreak of war in former Yugoslavia. You can listen and buy the compilation from their bandcamp- https://pmkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/diskografija-1988-1991

State Control and Rock and Roll are run by clever men...

Like a lot of people I woke up this weekend to the news that Vi Subversa has died aged 80. In the course of finding some of my favourite Poison Girls songs to share on facebook, as part of what now seems to be 'the done thing' when musicians we like pass away, I found this video of Poison Girls performing in Ljubljana in 1988, with a short interview with Vi too so I'm sharing it here rather than attempt a pale imitation of the many tributes that have been popping up over the past few days. As an aside, I really love the Škuc graphics at the start.

RIP

I've been reading about punk in other socialist states in the 1980's and beyond, including a recently published overview of Punk In Russia, which focuses mainly on contemporary scenes in St. Petersburg, Vorkuta and Krasnodar.

 I came across this image from the front cover of a 'zine from the mid 1990's entitled 'Avtonom' and it amused me as I can't think of another time where I've seen Marx as a punk.

I also ended up listening to some songs by a band from Siberia called Orgazm Nostradamusa, including the video below. I've absolutely no idea how this song is 5 minutes long.