Big news, mates!

Hi there! I haven't posted anything for almost a year because of it was very hard year... Final exams, state exams, acceptance tests for university... But now, everything is succesfully done and I'll have a lot of free time this summer.

It means that I will reupload some older stuff, post some new music.. answer some of the things you were asking me if I didn't do that already and so on.

Looking forward to bring you slovak and czech music you may not know! See ya ;)

Oh yeah, and I will also change the design of the site. This one looks pretty silly.

Collegium Musicum - Konvergencie (1971)

Konvergencie was a double album with four songs of about twenty minutes in lenght each, but this new release includes also some bonus tracks - rock compositions of classical music or jazzy smashes (with incorrect english lyrics). A legendary album with a legendary line-up. And a little bit of trivia - the original coverart had to be changed because of the communist regime, and so Marián Varga's cigarette had to be removed. Accidentally, it was done very amateurishly, so he looked like he "had a herpes".


Size: 312 Mb
Bitrate: 320 kbps
Total time: 136' 32''
Sounds like: ELP, Dire Straits
Remarkable songs: Suita po tisíc a jednej noci, Ulica plná plášťov do dažďa
Rating: 5/5

Line-up:
Marián Varga - organ, piano, subharchord
František Griglák - guitars, vocals
Fedor Frešo - bass guitar, vocals
Dušan Hájek - drums
Pavol Hammel - vocals

Tracklist:

Disc 1:
01. Hommage à J. S. Bach (7:17)
02. If you want to fall (13:27)
03. Strange theme (13:44)
04. Concerto in D (by J. Haydn, 12:40)
05. P.F. 1972 (22:00)

Disc 2 :
01. Suita po tisíc a jednej noci (Suite after one thousand and one nights) (22:36)
02. Piesne z kolovrátku (Songs from a music box) (17:56)
03. Eufónia (Euphony; e-UFO-ny) (20:11)
04. Ulica plná plášťov do dažďa (A street full of raincoats) (6:41)

Download link:
disc 1: http://rapidshare.com/files/143057347/cm_1971_k_d1_r3p.zip.html
disc 2: http://rapidshare.com/files/143074788/cm_1971_k_d2_r3p.zip.html

Fermáta - Huascaran (1977)

The best album that Fermáta ever did, by many considered to be one of the best jazz rock/fusion albums ever. This band was founded in 1973 by Fero Griglák, talented slovak guitarist that started to play professionally (in Prúdy and Collegium Musicum) when he was only 16 years old (!). In the time of making this album he was 24 and was surrounded by other legendary slovak musicians. The album is fully instrumental and is inspired by a big tragedy that happened in 1970 in Peru - whole the expedition of czechoslovak climbers died because of unexpected earthquake that made a substantial part of the north side of the Huascaran mountain to collapse. The musical form of the earthquake is very interesting and whole the album is a jewel of slovak music. Well... it makes me sad. So many beautiful music couldn't be spread over the world just because of the communist regime that ruled here for so long. Now you've got chance to know it, so I hope you'll enjoy it.

Size: 70 Mb
Bitrate: 192 kbps
Total time: 51' 27''
Sounds like: Pink Floyd, Chick Corea, Dream Theater
Remarkable songs: Huascaran I, Solidarity
Rating: 5/5

Line-up:
Fero Griglák - solo guitar, piano, Roland synt., ARP synt., Elka Strings
Tomáš Berka - piano, Fender piano, Hohner, Roland synt., ARP synt., Odyssey, Elka strings
Ladislav Lučenič - bass guitar
Karol Oláh - drums, percussion
Peter Oláh - vocals
Dezider Piťo - cello

Tracklist:

1. Huascaran I (F. Griglák) 13:41
2. 80 000 (T. Berka) 7:30
3. Solidarity (T. Berka) 6:34
4. Huascaran II (F. Griglák) 11:13

Bonus tracks:

5. "15" (T. Berka - F. Griglák) 4:03
6. Valparaiso (T. Berka) 6:09
7. Perpetuum (F. Griglák) 2:17

Download link:
http://rapidshare.de/files/40077304/f_1977_h_r3p.rar.html

Dežo Ursiny - Modrý vrch (1981)

Dežo Ursiny, the pioneer of slovak progressive music, is originaly a documentary film-maker. He was the frontmen of a couple of slovak jazz-rock bands, mainly of The Soulmen and The Beatmen. In the summer '74 he met a slovak poet Ivan Štrpka and decided to transform his poems into songs. This decision resulted in 11 jazz-rock albums (album Modrý vrch is considered to be the best slovak album ever by many people ). It's often called "the symbol of slovak wave of big-beat" because of its cadence and avant-gardness. Ursiny was also making film soundtracks and short documentary films and influenced a lot of musicians and artists. In 1989 he became sick of cancer and recorded four more emotional albums before he died in 1995. Rest in peace.

Size: 63 Mb
Bitrate: 192 kbps
Total time: 45' 51''
Sounds like: nothing else :)
Remarkable songs: Všetko vo vajci, Pod hladinou, Cestujúci
Rating: 5/5

Line-up:
band BURČIAK:
Pavel Daněk - bass guitar
Ctibor Hlinenský - drums
Dežo Ursiny - vocals, solo guitar, ARP 2000, Polymoog, percussion
Jaro Filip - piano, Fender Rhodes, Hohner D 6, ARP 2000, percussion
guests:
Martin Karvaš – oboe, Polymoog
Ľubomír Tamaškovič – tenor saxophone, percussion
Marián Varga – Wersi organ
Ondřej Konrád – harmonica
Milan Brunner - flute
stringed music lead by O.Willmann

Tracklist (including translations):
01. Cestujúci (The Traveller)
02. Lúka (The Meadow)
03. Obrázok hráča (A picture of a player)
04. Modrý Vrch (Blue Hill)
05. Pod hladinou (Under the water)
06. Pristátie v marci (Landing in march)
07. Spomienky na drozda (Memories of a blackbird)
08. Modrý vrch II (Blue Hill II)
09. Nad riekou (Behind the river)
10. Útok z hlbokého rána (Attack in the early morning)
11. Všetko vo vajci (Everything is in an egg)

Download link:
http://rapidshare.de/files/39974108/du_1981_mv_r3p.rar.html

Gattch - Komplet (1971, 2002)

It was always difficult to discover some facts about this slovak progressive rock band. They have released only one LP called "Gattch" in 1971 a then they split up "because of different visions of their future". The band consisted of four young students playing the classic rock instruments - solo and bass guitars, piano and drums. Although this fact the sound of Gattch was very innovative thanks to the juicy experiments, unusual melodic sequences and rhytmic changes. I also have to say, that communists insisted on distorting the vocals, so that nobody could understand the provocatice lyrics. No wonder that Gattch is considered to be one of the most progressive slovak bands. This remastered reissue of their complete works consists of two CD's. The first disc includes the EP Gattch (tracks 1, 2), their eponymous LP (tracks 3-10) and some rare recordings (tracks 11-18). Disc 2 is a record of live concert in Ostrava in summer '72, it is full of jazzrock improvisations and saxophone solos.

Size: 182Mb + 177Mb
Bitrate: 320kbps
Total time: 79'38'' + 77'13''
Sounds like: Yes, King Crimson, The Beatles (Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band)
Remarkable songs: Narodenie, Kontrapunktická etuda, Vlak, Celý kraj
Rating: 5/5

Line-up:
Juraj “George“ Štefula - drums, percussion
Ľudovít “Ali“ Beladič - piano
Tomáš “Tomy“ Rédey - solo guitar, fiddle
Anton “Tony“ Lančarič - bass guitar
guest: Gabriel Jonáš - soprano saxophone

Tracklist (including translations):

CD1: EP Opus (1, 2) + LP Opus (3-10) + rare recordings

01. Na na na
02. Kontrapunktická etuda (Contrapuntal Étude)
03. Kvapka medu (Honeydrop)
04. Pieseň bez slov (The Wordless Song)
05. Narodenie (The Birth)
06. Neznáma tvár (Unknown Face)
07. Vlak (The Train)
08. Vokálna štúdia – Reminiscencia I (Vocal Study - Reminiscence I)
09. Reminiscencia II (Reminescence II)
10. Kontrapunktická etuda (Contrapuntal Étude)
11. Celý kraj (The Whole Land)
12. Už kvitne biely orgován (A White Lilac Is Blooming)
13. Brička (The Cart)
14. Neznáma tvár (verzia)
15. Reminiscencia II (verzia)
16. Rapsódia (Rhapsody)
17. V zeleni jarin (The Green Spring)
18. Reminiscencia II (verzia)

CD2: live in Ostrava 1972

01. Krásne včely (Beautiful Bees)
02. Celý kraj (The Whole Land)
03. Sivé oči (Grey Eyes)
04. Neha (Tenderness)
05. Neznáma tvár (Unknown Face)
06. Pešiak (Footman)
07. Brička (The cart)
08. D-Mol - Koncert D-Mol (Concerto in D minor)
09. Rapsódia IV (Rhapsody IV)
10. Bum vam
11. Reminiscencia II (Reminiscence II)
12. Potlesky (Applauses)
13. Sedem minút (Seven Minutes)
14. Narodenie (The Birth)
15. Sonet o snehu (Sonnet About The Snow)
16. Kontrapunktická etuda (Contrapuntal Étude)

Download links:
CD1: http://rapidshare.de/files/39973009/g_2002_kcd1_r3p.rar.html
CD2: http://rapidshare.de/files/39973873/g_2002_kcd2_r3p.rar.html