The way that punk (and "underground" music in general) crept through Eastern Europe fascinates me. Legendary bands who never released records or even proper demo tapes, just existing on myth and discreet handoffs of live recordings. A cold urgency from punks existing within while actively chipping away the Iron Curtain that separated them from the "west," and creating some of the most compelling music of the 1980s in the process. But what of Bulgaria in 1995? That's what I was asking when I popped in the JUST A PRODUCT demo and heard three tracks of stark, driving UK power pop drenched Eastern European punk. Like XS•ENERGY snuck onto the the Jak Punk To Punk comp or something....and it's cool. There are, of course, five other songs on this tape that completely blow all of my context out of the water because this was of course released after The Punk Explosion, after The (cultural) West had invaded the former Bloc nations, after MTV, after Green Day, and, notably....after NIRVANA. So after those three excellent (and quite compelling) tracks, JUST A PRODUCT offer up five NIRVANA covers recorded at a NIRVANA tribute show in 1995. So there's that.
No comments:
Post a Comment