Tamizdat Dispatch #3 / February 2001 [01.04.2001] post-rock/avant garde/electronic/indie-pop/ethnic/jazz/punk Dispatch is a newsletter about independent music from Eastern and Central Europe. For more info, please write us: info@tamizdat.org I. Music news: News, Tour Dates and Festivals II. Field report: Slovak and Czech Electronica Shooting off III. New cds! on our rapidly growing Tamizdat RPM Catalogue IV. Tamizdat distributors: a growing team of great distributors we work with I. MUSIC NEWS: TAMIZDAT SHOWCASE IN SXSW MUSIC FESTIVAL, Austin March 16, Ritz Lounge, Austin Featuring ECSTASY OF ST THERESA (CZ), KARPATY MAGICZNE (members of ATMAN, PL), EWA BRAUN (PL) and SKULPEY (SK/USA). Tamizdat and SXSW share a common mission of bringing interesting new talent to interested new audiences. Ifyou're headed to Austin, come check it out! For sampler CD, press kits, interview info, or other things, contact us right away: heather@tamizdat.org. See you in Austin!!! MILAN HLAVSA 1952-2001, founder of Plastic People of the Universe is sorely missed... Though the news may have already reached you, Friday afternoon, January 6th, Milan Hlavsa, founder and leader of the Plastic People of the Universe died of cancer in his home. This sad information comes only days before Hlavsa's 50th birthday, and halts the completion of the first new studio album by Plastic People album since the late 70s. The world has lost not only a visionary artist, but also one of the kindest people to walk the planet. DIGITAL RIGHTS DEBATE HITS HUNGARY Last month, an Hungarian alternative/historical archive music label made available MP3s of unreleased archival recordings of a defunct Hungarian punk band's live performances from the early 80s. Quickly a firestorm of debate about copyright infringement ensued. Some former members of the band Trabant threatened court action against the Bahia Records. The question was one of how to apply digital-age performing rights regulations to music which was created under Communism. II. FIELD REPORT: Slovak and Czech Electronica Shooting off like a maverick silicon rocket, the Czech and Slovak electronic music scene is carving out its own extraterrestrial course. In step with the vanguard of Euro electronica, the local scenes are whipping up innovative sounds and beats. In the capitals of Prague and Bratislava, subscenes of drum 'n' bass, garage, trip-hop, and ethno have erupted around clubs, parties, festivals, with the requisite fashion industry, exotic cocktails, exotic drugs, and new media. Drawing audiences from wee teens to 30-somethings, electronic music has made a massive impact on local industries. Cutting-edge venues proliferate, charged by the increasingly monied youth and an ever-lively tourist trade. Prague, especially, boasts a plethora of small, free, underground clubs where the city's healthy dance scene has room to germinate. Radost FX appeals to well-heeled Martini set as well as horn-rimmed cognoscenti. Hot resident DJs making the scene include OO BIDLO, LOUTKA, LADIDA, and BRAUN, who mix their own breeds of techno, house, trance, and jungle. At Prague's Roxy club, parties are hosted by RoxyDust, DJ TRAVA, DJ BUSHWACKA, as well as significant visitors like Kid Koala and Zion Train. Every night of the week at Palac Akropolis, in the hip Zizkov district, innovative sets are spun by DJs BABE LN and LIQUID A, to an everynight crowd of fans and other DJs. Other electro sweet-spots include Punto Azul, Spillka, 007, and Futurum. While Prague is certainly Czech dance center, local scene are growing in Brno, Olomouc, and Karlovy Vary. Local Czech labels NextEra and Intellygent Records put out cool compilations and remixes. For a summary check out all 3 editions on CD of "Future Sound of Prague" (Intellygent). In Slovakia, a techno club by the name U-Club resides in a former military bunker under the Bratislava Castle. Though U-Club was Slovakia's prime rock club throughout the 90s, it has morphed into the county's electro night-hub. III. NEW CDS IN TAMIZDAT's ONLINE SHOP EASY BAND ALLSTARS (PL) (s/t)...funkin' from Commodores to Digable Planets LVMEN "Raison D'Etre" (CZ) intense, dense, and unforgiving hardcore OLE LUKKOYE "Crystal Crow Bar" (RU) trip-hop celebratory ethno dirge ZIVE KVETY (SK) (s/t)...sultry Slovak song-writing (think Tindersticks) KORMORANY "Teraz" (PL) Canterbury scene Polish style? OHM2 "Scion" (CZ) lushious, soaring techno/house/electro SLEDE.ZIVE SLEDE "Rostliny!" (CZ) wonderous avant-song [bassoon, dbass,gtr!] KORAI OROM "Sound and Vision" (HU) electro-ethno simmered to perfection PERSONA NON GRATA "System of Logic" (HU) dance-hall electro prog-rock GNU "Srdce v Kusech Zvuku" (CZ) blastful post-hard-core PROJECT KARPATY MAGICZNE "Ksiega Utopii" (PL) imperative avant-ethnocore RALE "Soumrak" (CZ) multiethnic folk music twisted-up in poignant Brno-bred style PROGRAM (PL) (s/t)...what would happen if The Dwarves were from PL PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE "PPU IV: Ach to Statu hanobeni" (CZ) an important historical recording by PPU during the Second Festival of the Second Culture. This concert lead to the band's imprisonment which set in motion the chain reaction which culminated in the Velvet Revolution. This is a heavy and memorable disc. IV. TAMIZDAT DISTRIBUTORS AND SALES PARTNERS: Argentina: Mr Floyd Benelux: Lowlands France: Orkhestra Taiwan: Avant Garden Switzerland: RecRec UK: Shellshock USA: Revolver, Southern, Other Music Online: InSound, Clamazon
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