Ah.. Projekt203, my heart skips a beat.
Lately I haven’t been reviewing much, as I have been busy with my music and bands and blah, who cares? The other day my editor Rudolf informed me that my favorite Slovakian electropop band had new material out, and there is no fucking way I’m not writing about it.
Now, from this very moment I am going to listen to this and write down my thoughts as it plays…
Track 1 : Nevhodný obsah (Unsuitable Content)
I am immediately hit by this screaming in the background and a hard disco-ish beat. It smacks me heavy in my brain and reminds me of something. Can’t put my finger on it but then I remember I’m thinking of “Figaro” by Nine Muses! It isn’t similar at all but reminded me of it…
I’m associated with Black Metal…but I believe, by now, everyone knows I love dance music. All kinds of dance music. I grew up on this shit. My mother’s disco records were quite influential on how I see/hear music.
Of course, I prefer the darker side and Projekt203 brings the darkness.
Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, and here comes…
Sissi Enns’ beautiful voice knocking me out of my stupid chair with its energy.
Ondrej is definitely working hard on this music and my ears are thanking him, gratefully as boom! Here comes Ondrej on vocal? And they even duet. Okay, you two. I’m in. I’m ready for this EP. Good song; repeated listening. I love the duet vocal chorus and the change 1 minute and 30 seconds in. It drops outward and dips back in. Left to right… a mindtrip of dubious, sexy, devilish proportions. Since my first hearing this band I really fell in love with the chemistry of the two musicians involved. 2:45, my mind is completely blown. This really is perfection – everything I wanted in new material from Projekt203.
Track 2 : Paranoja (Paranoia)
Fooom…Foom….Industrial sized mallets hitting you (slicing you?) and render you pretty much unready for what’s coming. 8 seconds in and I’m ready to go down the rabbit hole. And Sissi’s voice comes in… her absolutely stunning voice. Harmonizing with herself. Some of the top vocalists of my life did this. King Diamond. Ozzy Osbourne. Rob Halford. Dio.
Sissi… she builds you up to the :56 mark when we go all the way into this weird tripped out cavern of paranoia. This song sounds like what being paranoid feels like. The music is massive here. It seems to be a solid wall I can’t escape from. A mental institution… you’re the patient… the prisoner… the music is the wall. The vocal keeps you inside the walls, paranoid but not minding it. I come to the conclusion that if I could get so paranoid I heard Sissi’s voice in my head at all times – which happened alot after listening to the last Projekt203 stuff I reviewed here in Rubber Axe – I wouldn’t want out of the paranoia.
The sounds fit like a puzzle of a grand delusion put together by a complete madman. Sissi’s vocal here brings you up, then down again, and then just hits you in the stomach. Bridge building back up into the verse has some very ghostly, sirenous vocals that blend with the music and this painting of a song comes to life around this break back into the main riff and it doesn’t just turn itself back into the verse/chorus/verse bullshit you get out of most music. Genius stuff on display here.
Track 3: Fakľa.KopalaStudienku (The Torch.She Dug The Small Well)
According to the band “Fakľa.KopalaStudienku” is an experiment. This experiment combines the poem “Fakľa“ by Janko Kráľ and a Slovak folk song Kopala studienku.
I’m ready to hear the results of this seemingly excellent idea.
Okay. We start off with what I think is the poem but I have no command of the language. Ondrej’s spoken word is haunting as the music builds to a synth battery taking me back to the 1980s. Not disco, not pop. Hard club, almost gothic sound, with Sissi Enns angelic voice coming in. This mixture works. The experiments are a success! I really love what’s happening here. Dueting with herself bringing your spirit to nirvana and then NOPE, SMACK! RIGHT IN YOUR EYE! ONDREJ IS BACK AND HE SOUNDS PRETTY PISSED THE FUCK OFF!
I am now convinced that not only can Ondrej make better music than I, but that he could also kick my ass on the streets. I begin to worry but Sissi’s voice is back. Percussion is very interesting in this song and I want to say this folk melody reminds me of some of the songs I learned in my Roman Catholic church choir days. I run out of words to describe something as beautiful as this. Oh, Lord, now Ondrej joins in for a duet with Sissi. This was an alluring pleasure for my overwhelmed yet extremely turned on and tripped up ears.
I love rock and roll. I play rock and roll. I’d never have said this kind of thing in my teen years, while posing as a hardcore metal dude, but this music Projekt203 is doing… it’s fucking rock and fucking roll. It has every element that I want in music.
Ondrej. Sissi. You did it again. Thanks to both of you, as it was my pleasure to hear this art. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I can’t say enough.
Buy it now: https://projekt203.bandcamp.com/album/nevhodn-obsah
