02 June 2009
1994
Milan Mladenović who died at the end of 1994 never saw his last album released. Angel’s Breath was recorded in the spring of 1994 by Milan and Mitar Subotić - Suba in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
The tracks captured Milan’s chilling lyrics, Suba’s instrumentals and the echos of the apocalyptic world of 1994 Serbia in which Milan lived like a ghost. For no song is this more true than for Crv (Worm in English), where Milan hisses at his countrymen:
"Blind and deaf, you selfish people. Making noise with no order or sense. With no why and no because, with no who for and no how. Without the question that perhaps might dry the proud smile on a tearless face, on the face that has never turned a face.
You mute performers of your ritual dance. You, happy in trance, in the world that exists only in the heads of the people that have no scruples, people that possess no mercy, people that have no memory. You who know no splashes of sound, color and smell… You people possessing no sense.
A scar, a case and a worm. A face and hair and blood.
You people possessing no mercy."
Milan’s last will and testament.
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TY 4 posting. Milan forever. (Did u see the documentary abt EKV? It's an absolute must.)
ReplyDeleteYou mean "Kao da je bilo nekad"? If so, yes. I thought, however, that the documentary failed at showing what EKV was about. Also, Milan's projects with Suba were omitted, and the same goes for Margita's individual projects. EKV had a cult following: fans would have done a better job.
ReplyDeleteSince nothing is perfect, that's entirely possible, indeed. Well, personally - on one hand I don't believe in objectivity of documentary films, on the other, I didn't listen to EKV at the time it was still alive and I didn't know much about the times and glory of the band from back then. Hence to me the documentary provided a very much needed insight into the band and, most importantly, helped me understand more the way of thinking from which this music derives. I felt the 2nd part being weaker then the 1st, but it gives me a fair ground to explore it further. You helped plenty with mentioning Angel's Breath, also. All in all, I find it a must-see for all people listening to this music.
ReplyDeleteFuck, I forgot the question, sorry: you said the documentary failed to show what the band was about. I wanted to ask, if you could explain about that a bit more, what do you mean with it and how do you see the importance and essence of EKV. It would be much appreciated, truly.
ReplyDeleteMany angles to start from, but space is limiting, so I will focus on one aspect.
ReplyDeleteIt was a Belgrade band mirroring Belgrade atmosphere in the 80s. Eerily correctly. There was plenty of dark sound around in the 80s. EKV had more than that. It held the listener in a trans and it transcended agression. Ie budi sam na ulici. Samo par godina za nas came out in 1989. War followed shortly. In 1989, though, war was not consciously perceived as real risk. But the lyrics – "they say that we have only few years for us" – felt spot on already then. The song had no trans, no agression in it. It felt like EKV was resigned, watching the rest of the people dancing in trans. Still gives me chills, that song. As far as I know, it was Milan’s favourite of EKV songs.