Clean

Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Year active: 1998 - 2000

Members: Ivan Jakić, Krešo Žerjav, Neven Kamenski, Srđan Jelić, Željko Marušić

Related bands: Amok, Dead Dog Summer, Don't Mess With Texas, Kinoklub, Latest, Nikad, Ponor, Radio Free Isaac, Senata Fox, Storms

Labels: Choose Life, My Favorite Records

FFO: Closure,  Azure, Embassy, Life At These Speeds

Sorry for the radio silence! I was supposed to publish a post on this one, but my work had me busy, so let's just say i took a break for nearly a month. Now i'm taking the time to publish it.

Clean (or Cleanxxx) is one of the early bands from Zagreb, Croatia, formed in 1998. They played Ebulition/Stonehedge styled 90's emocore with XStraightxEdgeX ethics on their sleeve. They released a very small discography, one having an EP released in 1999 and later released a discography tape containing new songs recorded in 2000 before finally calling quits. Afterwards, the members went on to play Amok, Dead Dog Summer, Don't Mess With Texas, Kinoklub, Latest, Nikad, Ponor, Radio Free Isaac, Senata Fox and Storms.

Their music is slow but steady, melancholic and cathartic with soft-loud dynamics. Part spoken word, part shouting and part raw, out of tune singing just spurs of an emotional moment. It's been hard for me to pick any song from them since the entire discography is already good. Let's just say these two songs right here can speak for themselves.

Theft of October

Location: Kotor, Montenegro

Year active: 2013 - 2016

Members: Denis Balavac, Luka Jovanovic

Related bands: Chandlers Oak, Moa Loni, Snow Creation & Trumpetman, Wow Tea Sticks.

FFO: American Football, Algernon Cadwallader, TWIABP, Modest Mouse, Sunny Day Real Estate

I cannot believe that this is the only band that i've found from Montenegro. It all just makes this archiving task much more nerve wracking and complicated! Which is why i'm lucky to have finally found it.

Not even that, i also managed to track down one of the members, Denis and asked him for more information about Theft of October.

From what i gathered, it used to be a solo project founded by Luka (who also founded the name) and Denis was in college at the time. One day, Denis met Luka and asked if he was doing anything new, Luka decidedly showed him the tracks and he was totally enthused, thus joining the band and they started recording together.

It would all go well, until eventually, Luka decided to part ways with Denis, making him the sole member of Theft of October.

During the active years, he recorded a self-titled demo EP (released in 2013, but discogs stated it was released in 2015 for some reason) and Fears (2016) before finally calling off.

To think that this is not the only project Denis had ever done, as he has experiences in bands/projects such as Chandlers Oak, Moa Loni, Snow Creation & Trumpetman, Wow Tea Sticks.

When i think of Theft of October's music, i think of dreamy, mathy, eclectic and sentimental piece of music one can find. Sweet sounding guitar work, uncommon time signatures and impressive emotional vocal work. It's also worth noting the instrumental works such as this piano laden piece "God In Me" and its guitar laden continuation of some untitled track (no tracklisting was provided anywhere) that are definitely worth listening to. Although the former has some cheap production, it still has a lot of heart and effort put into it.

It is a rarity, particularly for bands like this to be into math rock, as it's one of the most complex subgenres.  Theft of October manages to exceed itself and, of course not step into the twinkle daddies territory. It is just so soothing and inviting to the fullest.

Their bandcamp is unfortunately defunct. You can find them on YouTube here:

Or, download their discography here.

Nikad

Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Year active: 2000 - 2002

Members: Ivan Jakić, Krešo Žerjav, Neven Kamenski

Related bands: Amok, Clean, Dead Dog Summer, Don't Mess With Texas, Kinoklub, Latest, Ponor, Radio Free Isaac, Senata Fox, Storms

Labels: Firewalk With Me, My Favorite Records, Get Off Records, Black Star Foundation

FFO: Mohinder, Angel Hair, Ivich, Jasemine, early Raein

A mail came to me this Monday morning. I remember it took about 31 days to get here, getting anxious on whether the customs would either accept it or return it to the Discogs seller, forcing me to ask him for a 21 euro refund. I was rightfully relieved when i accepted the package and happily played on my gramophone. It sent me through a trip down to memory lane of how i discovered them in the first place.

Back in 2011, i remember feeling hopeless and alone thinking that there's no way that not one band that plays this particular style can exist in this region. And that is until i accidentally found this band, either on YouTube or last.fm. As i've read the description revealing them being from Croatia, i had to check it out. I could not believe what i've either seen or heard. This cannot be real, i thought, this is some good shit right fucking there. I was both relieved and mind-blown of its very own existence.

Nikad (trans: Never) was formed in Croatia's capital, Zagreb in 2000. All members previously played in SxE Emocore band Clean (or rather Cleanxxx). At the time of this band's existence. They're released a s/t demo EP via My Favorite records, followed by their split release with Children of Fall (GER) titled "Four Symptomatic Poems Of A World Gone Insane", released by Get Off Records and Black Star Foundation. Then finally, Nikad dropped their s/t LP before breaking up in 2002. After that, they moved on to perform in Amok, Dead Dog Summer, Don't Mess With Texas, Kinoklub, Latest, Ponor, Radio Free Isaac, Senata Fox and Storms.

Since i already ordered the LP that came, i feel like this might be the chance to review it anyway.

"Man or Machine?" starts with worrisome quiet guitar playing for 1:10 minutes before drums and guitar kick in, joining in a tornado of shrieking, desperate vocals in the midst of chaos during the last half of a minute, packed with minimalist, confessional lyrics. The desperate vocals lament the effects of depersonalisation. Next in "Farewell", after a few strings pulled we're quickly pulled in to witness the chaos of the unthinkable, as lyrics suggests being suicide. "Last chance to say goodbye, last chance to try again". Then follows the heartfelt quasi-instrumental "This Letter Says..." along with the tearful movie sample about being unable to confess one's own desires. The side A ends with their cover of Rites of Spring's "Hidden Wheel". While it's a great nod to the pioneers of the genre, it sort of falls off the pace.

Side B picks us up again into the emotional rollercoaster of "Ivan The Dancer" which make a turning point in 0:44 where this melancholic guitar turns into the oceans of sorrow throughout the song. "Papermade" goes off thunderous and strikes its storm one last time before quieting down, letting a furious sample of True Lies before calling it off with their instrumental closure "Ran Over By Volvo".

The LP is very reminiscent of 90's cali screamo bands, particularly from San Diego scene such as Gravity records. It has plenty of Mohinder and Angel Hair influences running around, as well as from europe, including Jasemine, Ivich and Raein.

It's definitely one of the most underrated out there and it totally wears its heart on its sleeve. If only this band gets reunited and starts performing soon, i will not hesitate to see them and neither should you.

Check their Bandcamp here!

Spring Break

 Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Year active: 2023 - Ongoing

Members: ???

Related bands: ???

FFO: Not really lmfao

Conflicted. That's the first word i would like to describe the feeling i had when hearing this project from Croatia's capital. I can't even put words whether i'm amazed or fucking offended at this piece of shit. I don't know whether i should cringe or laugh. Honestly, it doesn't fucking matter at this point. Imma review it anyway.

So this one person project, being "Spring Break" is a poorly mixed up mess of at times out of tune twinkle daddies, with vocals that borders on goregrind abominations that i can't mention here. The vocals here completely overtake the poor mix and it's honestly really, migraine-inducingly terrible and laughably over-the-top at the same time. Not to mention the bandcamp tags such as dsbm, hate and noise pop just adds to the shitz n giggles absurdities.

Any hxc punk/emo perfectionist who gets to hear it will cringe to death and warn others not to listen to it. I, on the other hand, am glad that this thing exist. Honestly, this whole thing is played like a big joke and i'm having a good laugh at it. This whole thing makes The Shaggs (unironically, my personal favorite) sound like a proper band lmfao.

Stream at your own risk.

.minmo

Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Year active: 2022 - Ongoing

Members: ???

Related bands: ???

FFO: Raein, Marjory Stewart Baxter, Eva Ras, Minaret, Mischa.

Label: Khya Records

When i was doing some house work, a band named .minmo contacted me, asking for a submission of releasing their stuff into tape. When i first read about them being from Serbia, i couldn't believe my eyes, then i had to do the research and i only found a blog post about them on Miss The Stars who stated the same. Nevertheless, i was more than happy to help release the demo for them.

.minmo is an upcoming band from Belgrade, Serbia, formed somewhere in 2022. With little to no information about them, the band seems to share vocal duties with their friends, also uncredited. They have recorded their three-track demo EP and then their 7-track demo EP, eventually released on tape by Khya Records.

Their music is a short, confronting and dark emoviolence with a hint of influences from the European bands, such as La Quiete, Minaret, Raein and Mischa and of course, post-rock.

The entirety of this short gem is simply fucking fantastic shit, nothing but pure raw lo-fi energy. Since this band is completely new, i'm totally looking forward to hearing what they'll be doing next in the near future.

STREAM THEIR MUSIC HERE.

The Love Typewriter

 Location: Ajdovščina, Slovenia

Year active: 2001 - 2003

Members: Aljoša Todorovič (guitar), Jani Peljhan (bass, backing vocals), Matej Likar (guitar, vocals), Simon Mislej (drums), Tadej Grahovac (vocals)

Related bands: Bed Religion, Cloudland, Harry, Real Life Version, UpJohn 

Label: EKO*RDS

When i happen to discover only two songs uploaded on YouTube, i tried and failed at finding a possible download link to their S/T demo. Not all hope was lost as i accidentally found a copy on Discogs, being put on sale by one of the people running Moonlee Records. I initially contacted him and we agreed to meet up in Belgrade, where i would buy the tape from him without having to struggle with the shipping cost. In fact, i was lucky to have a real proper copy and not a bootleg. I've been attempting to properly rip the tape to mp3 multiple times in order to upload all of them on my channel.

The Love Typewriter is an incredibly short-lived midwest emo band formed in Ajdovscina, Slovenia, lasting no more than two years of their activity. It all started when Matej of UpJohn met up with the members of Cloudland and came up with the idea of forming a new band, thus came The Love Typewriter. They have released their only self-titled effort through their record label EKO*RDS. Not far after this, they broke up and went on to play Real Life Version and Harry, respectively.

The demo opens up its 8 tracks and flourishes their midwest emo influences as well as bordering on the emocore roots. Heartfelt punk guitar melodies delivering with raw energy, accompanied by pained and wounded clean vocals belting out personal and confessional lyrics that aren't to be found anywhere, not even in an inlay of the copy that i have. The ever prominent lo-fi production blaring through my walkman speakers just adds to the charm of the genre on its own.

I'd say that The Love TypeWriter is one of those from the region that are able to pull off this raw energy, especially with Emo. Even if they are nothing groundbreaking, it's indeed a must-have for any hardcore emo fans out there.

LISTEN HERE:

Uzmi Ruke

Location: Varaždin, Croatia

Year active: 2001-2002

Members: Tomislav Pintarić, Krešo Žerjav, Ištvan & ????

Related bands: Britney's Pierce, Clean, Dead Dog Summer, Directed Crew, The Farewell Reason, Nikad, Ponor, Senata Fox

FFO: Slint, Toundra and Indian Summer (Promo demo).

Ashes, Friends Unseen, Everyone Asked About You (Unreleased demo).

One day, I came across this band on Discogs by accident. The release was submitted by Karmakumulator aka. the owner behind GuranjeSLitice label and is responsible for his YouTube channel archiving obscure Croatian underground music scene. Admittedly, he only has the artwork whose CDr was lost at the time, therefore rendering it hard to find. Like him, i too tried my hardest to dig through the depths of the internet. Luckily, one member of Punk U Jugoslaviji FB group was so kind to send me the three track demo and i was more than happy to put it up on my YT channel. Alternatively, a friend of mine gave me a bootleg mixtape containing several bands, including Uzmi Ruke at the end of one side.

Lo and behold, Uzmi Ruke (Take the hands), a really (and i mean REALLY) short-lived band from Varaždin. They play post-rock (with a hint of Slint) and emo (kinda like a southeastern european Indian Summer).

The Promo Demo opens with an untitled instrumental first track clocking around six minutes and we are finally introduced to pained and heartfelt male vocals on "Udahni" for 4 minutes and "Merrin". The last track feels longer (seven minutes) than the first two and is minimal in terms of vocal use while still being epic. It is also reminiscent of Toundra (who didn't exist yet back then) without metal elements.

S/T Demo (2002)

Stream here.

But i didn't find just that one. When i came across a rare live pic (with Tomislav visible) of an apparent band (with female lead singer not present on the 2002 demo) on last.fm, i had to contact the uploader who then went through great lengths in sending me 4 more tracks and believe me, this sounds different. Similar but different.

In this 4-track demo EP, it takes on a more-or-less typical emocore approach, in the vein of Ashes, Friends Unseen and pretty much the midwest emo that we're familiar with. Slow, emotional and heartfelt music accompanying raw but genuine female vocals. Best example being track 1 (which i'd call Probudi se [Wake Up]). The last three tracks are more of the same as the first one, but still true to the genre regardless.

Stream here.

So not only did i find one release by that band, but i also found another one, which sounded different. The question is, has Tomislav been in the band the entire time? Who knows, but maybe only he can answer the question and i'm more than glad to hear it.

Download here.