A new label out of Poland called GAD Records has been documenting seminal jazz and jazz-rock albums out of Poland, but now they’re venturing into the former Czechoslovakia with this release. Jazz Q were a progressive rock band who managed to incorporate blues rock and even a bit of free jazz into their oeuvre. This album documents them at their peak of their live powers in a 1975 concert held in Bratislavia, now Slovakia’s capital.
This is the first time I had the pleasure of reviewing something from Start-Track, a fine small label run by our friend Filip Zemčík. Porch Kiss’ music is sparse and lo-fi, reminding me of a lot of British indie band from the 1980s with lower production values and fine songwriting. Pensive music, and a great listen.
A bliss-filled release from out mappa Records out of Slovakia from a new name, Plume Girl. I’ll let the label describe this rather ethereal bit of emo folk, which you can read in full at their Bandcamp release site: “Already in its title, Plume Girl’s debut thoroughly lets things go and takes them in – all at once. “In the End We Begin” is the first solo full-length from Sowmya Somanath, a Hindustani classical singer/composer and half of alt-pop duo Felt Out. Plume Girl’s music takes inspiration from the semi-regular musical form of the rāga (translated as ‘tinting’), invoking mood…
Z Tapes is a small-but-mighty label out of Bratislava, Slovakia, who release everything from bedroom pop to properly polished indie music. They have a massive roster of artists they work with, and also, bucking the current trend for vinyl, offer cassette releases. There is a lot of appealing music on this comp, but the track that sold me on how good this record was was 動物園 by Stargirl, which you can hear below.
We’re on the road today in Las Vegas, Nevada, but listening to music never ceases. Today we share a Slovak dark ambient composer called Tomáš Vrana. His style is very cinematic, and you can hear references to composers like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Hiroshi Yoshimura and Abeoji (아버지) among others.
Canary Records is one of the best independent labels specializing in archival recordings. This batch comes from Lemko immigrants, who hail from the Carpathian Mountains, and it documents some of the tunes they brought with them to the United States.