David Byrne - Live at Krizanke, Ljubljana, 10.07.2009.

Photos stolen from this guy.

Here is a bootleg I am especially happy to have found, as it is of a show I attended, and had a wonderful time at. This is from the 2009 "Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno" tour, when David was promoting the then-new "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" album, along with older material he did with Eno (early Talking Heads records, "The Catherine Wheel" solo album and the "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" collaboration), and a few songs which had nothing at all to do with Eno, but were huge hits, seemingly deserving of sacrificing the concept of the tour (similar to the Iron Maiden "Somewhere Back in Time 1980-1989" tour, where every show included "Fear of the Dark", from 1992 - ah well). It was a great show, with a strong visual element you won't be getting here, but which you can see on the new "Ride Rise Roar" DVD - I haven't seen that yet, but I'm sure it is excellent.

I was rather disappointed to arrive at Krizanke and find out that the show was a sit-down affair, even thinking I wouldn't have taken the trip had I known that before; however, when all the dancing shenanigans started, I realised that being able to walk around, go to the bar and back, etc. would just be distractions to the whole experience, and that the show required your whole attention, which you really can't give unless seated down. Towards the end of the show, David called the audience to come forward and dance, and I believe this was the first occasion that I danced sober since finishing elementary school. I'm happy that you won't get the visual of THAT!

Anyway, the show is complete and very long, the sound excellent, and I'm very grateful to whoever recorded this for enabling me to relive the experience and share it with you, the loyal reader. Enjoy!

Track listing:

Disc One:

1. (introduction) (2:13)
2. Strange Overtones (4:45)
3. I Zimbra (4:40)
4. One Fine Day (5:56)
5. Help Me Somebody (3:48)
6. Houses in Motion (6:44)
7. My Big Nurse (4:06)
8. My Big Hands (Fall through the Cracks) (3:23)
9. Heaven (3:59)
10. Air (4:01)
11. Home (5:41)
12. Life Is Long (4:31)
13. Cross-Eyed and Painless (6:37)

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Disc Two:

1. Born under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (5:18)
2. Once in a Lifetime (6:04)
3. Life During Wartime (5:50)
4. I Feel My Stuff (6:28)
5. (encore break + band introduction) (3:19)
6. Take Me to the River (6:10)
7. The Great Curve (5:54)
8. (encore break) (3:00)
9. Road to Nowhere (4:23)
10. (burning down the house introduction) (1:04)
11. Burning Down the House (3:40)
12. (encore break) (2:48)
13. Everything That Happens (4:43)

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Carcass - Live at Terasa Verudela, Pula, Croatia 05.05.1992. - VIDEO

Here is the complete video of the first foreign band playing in Croatia since its declaration of independence and the beginning of the war, which was still raging when Carcass came to Pula. You can grab the audio of the show, along with the set list and a few pictures, here - it's a great blog ran by the guy who had recorded this show almost twenty years ago. Also check out a nice amateurish interview done by Croatian television here. Oh yeah, the opening acts were bands called HATRÖSS and CENOTAPH - I wonder what they sounded like? :)

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Paraf - Demo

Woohoo, finally!!! I have a five-song demo recording by PARAF, one of the most important Yugoslavian/Croatian punk bands ever! This is only a small part of their demo legacy - there are lots of songs which were never released in any form, and which I have yet to hear - but these five songs, mostly later re-recorded for their debut single and LP, are still a thing to behold. The sound quality is wonderful, the lyrics less polite than on the officially released versions (the exception being "Narodna pjesma", which was released on the "Novi punk val" compilation LP in this same version), and this studio recording of the song "Goli otok" is the only one I am aware of, so what are you doing still reading this?!

Track listing:

1. Rijeka (2:11)
2. Narodna pjesma (1:52)
3. Moj zivot je novi val (1:48)
4. Zivjela Jugoslavija (2:21)
5. Goli otok (2:15)

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Rangoraks/Narcisi - Nula bodova! + Astro-Core

Another old band from Osijek, Rangoraks were playing fun melodic punk rock for several years before slowly fading away at the turn of the century. They had one "official" release, a split tape with Narcisi from Nasice released by the "M/F Scum" label, and a short CD EP, released after they stopped playing, if memory serves. During their time as an active band, we considered them to be equals with Debeli precjednik/Fat Prezident; however DP/FP are still playing, releasing records and are probably the most popular "underground" punk rock band in Croatia, while Rangoraks has fallen into obscurity. Here's a small reminder then - and if anyone has the M/F Scum tape, you probably know me and know how to reach me, so send a copy my way...  updated with their side of the split tape thanks to Ćoske.

Track listing:

1. Mysterious Letter (1:15)
2. Homeless (2:41)
3. Final Fight (2:32)
4. No Fun (1:53)
5. Sve svejedno je (2:17)
6. You (2:19)
7. Fighting for the Truth (2:22)
8. Electricity (2:09)
9. Everybody (Drugboy) (2:40)
10. Resist (2:46)
11. Can't Believe It (2:16)
12. Big Difference (2:49)
13. Cocaine (2:10)

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Narcisi track listing:

1. Betmen (1:16)
2. Daj mi da zivim (1:25)
3. Novi svijet (1:35)
4. Prica (1:19)
5. Skupo pivo (obrada) (1:27)
6. Proslo je (1:46)
7. Epidemija (2:38)
8. Sve sto imam ja (1:40)
9. Koliko (2:06)
10. Grad (1:56)
11. On nju voli, a ona njega ne (2:46)
12. Blame (1:22)
13. Lagana (2:25)

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forgetters & Jawbreaker - Radio Sessions

Picture taken by dperitch at the Ljubljana show.

forgetters are a new-ish band featuring Blake Schwarzenbach on guitar and vocals, which is why I have coupled their recent session for the WBEZ Radio with two archive ones by Jawbreaker. I was lucky to be able to catch them on two shows of their European tour, in Ljubljana and Zagreb, and although I do tend to be somewhat too forgiving to people from bands I like (I have actually bought the last Clash LP!), I think forgetters really are an excellent band. Their recorded legacy so far consists only of one double 7" release, which you really should buy; however, they have plenty of songs that still wait to be officially released, and five of them (one being a Human League cover) were played at this session. If you clicked on the WBEZ link above, you might have seen an mp3 file available for download there - I only made separate files for each song and added ID3 tags, to make listening easier.

The Zagreb show; Darko Vaupotic.

As for the Jawbreaker part of the archive, it's a pair of ancient recordings from 1990 (read: before they have gotten REALLY good), and with rather poor sound quality, too. However, it does include two otherwise unreleased tracks, and makes a nice contrast with the main thing. Hope someone enjoys it.

WOW.

Track listing:

WBEZ November 10th 2010
1. forgetters - I'm Not Immune (4:38)
2. forgetters - Interview 1 (6:48)
3. forgetters - Hart Crane Pike (6:22)
4. forgetters - Interview 2 (4:29)
5. forgetters - Seconds (The Human League) (3:55)
6. forgetters - Interview 3 (3:31)
7. forgetters - Death Trip (4:48)
8. forgetters - Interview 4 (0:57)
9. forgetters - Stupid Libations (3:52)

WFMU June 28th 1990
10. Jawbreaker - Welcome to Our Band (2:48)
11. Jawbreaker - Softcore (3:35)
12. Jawbreaker - Seethruskin (2:28)
13. Jawbreaker - Tour Song (4:03)
14. Jawbreaker - Eye-5 (5:54)
15. Jawbreaker - You're Right (4:28)
16. Jawbreaker - Big (5:12)
17. Jawbreaker - Lawn (3:31)
18. Jawbreaker - Pack It Up (The Pretenders) (2:54)

WNYU March 29th 1990
19. Jawbreaker - Gutless (2:54)
20. Jawbreaker - Want (3:20)
21. Jawbreaker - Fine Day (4:05)
22. Jawbreaker - Seethruskin (2:25)
23. Jawbreaker - Driven (3:37)
24. Jawbreaker - Equalized (2:56)
25. Jawbreaker - Shield Your Eyes (3:29)

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Borci protiv pokvarenog sistema - Diskografija

I've been away from the blog for a while, so this is sort of a "comeback" post - and what should a punk rock comeback be like? Judging by most historical examples, it should be... shitty. Hence, my band from the turn of the century, Fighters Against the Rotten System, or Borci protiv pokvarenog sistema. I played bass, wrote lyrics, sang a little, and masterminded the whole shenanigan, and the story goes something like this...

Back in 1998, Croatian punk rock scene consisted almost exclusively of anarcho bands, who were mostly nice people and had completely laudable goals; however, in mine and my friends' opinion, they played generic music and wrote inept, naive and boring lyrics, aimed at people who already knew and agreed with everything they sang about. That's why we decided to start the most retarded and generic anarcho band there ever was, probably hoping to prove something, and to master our instruments enough to start a "real" band someday. The real band never came to be, my bass guitar got sold for 100 deutsch mark when money ran out on a summer vacation, and all that remains of my musical career are two demo recordings, two atrocious live shows*, one sadly prophetic song title, and fun memories. Here for the first time (and I know you've been craving this since you first heard about this strange thing called "punk rock") is the complete B.P.P.S. recorded legacy, for the whole world to see, hear, and dismiss as stupid childish prattle that it was. What the hell, we've had fun!

You can find the complete lyrics at the B.P.P.S. web site, proudly not updated since 2001, here. They're not great but they certainly beat the music - and that approach worked wonders for Anal Cunt, didn't it? There's also a completely fictitious band history, which a surprisingly large number of people took seriously - I guess you really can't make a parody obvious enough.

And yeah, if you can't speak Croatian, forget about the whole thing. Did I mention the music was shitty?

"Anarhija uzvraca udarac" - full band demo + assorted bonus tracks

1. Intro - PMS (Ramones) (1:33)
2. Najbolji hrvatski pankeri (Psihomodo pop) (1:42)
3. Ne jedite zivotinje (1:41)
4. Revolucija kao nacin tvoga razmisljanja (1:35)
5. Homoseksualci su dobri (1:43)
6. Nalocimo se alkohola (1:20)
7. Moja mater pece langose (1:39)
8. Zelim biti skinhed (2:24)
9. Moras slijediti Fistru (2:31)
10. Bojkotirajmo proklete multinacionale (2:36)
11. Outro - PMS (Ramones) (0:53)
12. Tucimo sminkere (2:25)
13. Blues mlade pankerice (1:26)
14. Ne jedite brze zivotinje (0:53)
15. Borci luda vojska (live) (The Exploited) (2:44)
16. Can't Truss Da Pozeurz (Public Enemy) (2:18)
17. Hajde da pogujemo (Tatjana Matejas-Tajci) (1:30)
18. Moras slijediti Fistru (super anarcho mix 2000) (3:58)
19. Green Power (Skrewdriver) (1:43) **
20. McDonald's Blues (Traditional) (3:39)

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"Rarities" - original acoustic demo + live shows

1. Nalocimo se alkohola (1:22)
2. Najbolji hrvatski pankeri (1:42)
3. Homoseksualci su dobri (1:35)
4. Moras slijediti Fistru (2:19)
5. Bojkotirajmo proklete multinacionale (1:00)
6. Blues male pankerice (1:27)
7. Policija ne voli Gigu (1:40)
8. Tucimo sminkere (2:27)
9. Lale seljacino (2:59)
10. Intro (live) (1:25)
11. Nalocimo se alkohola (live) (2:08)
12. Najbolji hrvatski pankeri (live) (2:30)
13. Revolucija kao nacin tvoga razmisljanja (live) (3:15)
14. Borci luda vojska (live) (2:46)
15. Ne jedite zivotinje (live) (3:07)
16. Zelim biti skinhed (live) (2:27)
17. Moja mater pece langose (live) (2:06)
18. Bojkotirajmo proklete multinacionale (live) (5:07)
19. Intro (live) (1:13)
20. Revolucija kao nacin tvoga razmisljanja (live) (1:56)
21. Ne jedite zivotinje (live) (2:40)
22. Zelim biti skinhed (live) (2:23)
23. Homoseksualci su dobri (live) (3:35)
24. Najbolji hrvatski pankeri (live) (2:20)
25. Moja mater pece langose (live) (2:47)
26. Nalocimo se alkohola (live) (2:30)
27. Bojkotirajmo proklete multinacionale (live) (0:42)
28. Green Power (demo) (2:18)

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________________
* The first show was delayed for a week because our president/dictator died on the day of the show. How punk rock is that?
** I must admit that even after all these years, I'm still a bit proud of writing a pro-vegan cover of a Skrewdriver song. If we don't free our cattle, indeed!

Slayer - Live at Olympic Stadium, Moscow, 15.03.2011.

Slayer in Zagreb.

Here's a rather good sounding show from the current Slayer tour, European Carnage 2011. I was lucky to see two shows on the tour, one in Rome with Gary Holt replacing Jeff Hanneman, and the other in Zagreb, with Pat o'Brien replacing Gary replacing Jeff. Both shows were absolutely wonderful, and so is this one - the set list differs slightly from the one at the shows I saw, with "Snuff" and "Seasons in the Abyss" replacing "Hallowed Point" and "Mandatory Suicide" in the latter part of the tour, but most of it is the same. With the last two Slayer albums being an incredible return to thrash metal form, because of me never having seen them before, and after all the hassle of getting into the sold-out show in Rome (through a hole in a fence, across a tennis field, by the roadies, through the kitchen, and into the first row!), I will always remember that evening.

And the Devil saw that it was good.

Track listing:

1. Intro (1:31)
2. World Painted Blood (4:59)
3. Hate Worldwide (2:58)
4. War Ensemble (5:19)
5. Postmortem (3:44)
6. Hallowed Point (3:33)
7. Dead Skin Mask (5:53)
8. Silent Scream (3:13)
9. The Antichrist (2:57)
10. Americon (3:43)
11. Payback (3:10)
12. Mandatory Suicide (4:16)
13. Temptation (3:32)
14. South of Heaven (4:23)
15. Raining Blood (3:08)
16. Black Magic (3:42)
17. Angel of Death (6:10)

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