Unsung Podcast

by Unsung Podcast

The Unsung History of Turbofolk (Side D) - 305

On this episode we look at modern turbofolk. It's still hugely popular in some areas of the Balkans, in particular Croatia. So we dive into some recent examples from the genre and then take a wee peek into what the future of the genre might be.

BONUS CONTENT PREVIEW: Unsong Episode 5 - Waiting for a Star to Fall by Boy Meets Girl

We’ve been working on trying to pull together a very special episode which contains both an interview with a band, a special guest, and seeing us tackle a genre that we’ve yet to cover. We came so close to nailing one of these things but last week we were thwarted by illness. Which left us without an episode for this week. So we’re rolling out some bonus content for you and it’s episode FIVE of UNSONG where we talk about a single song that we think is an unsung classic. Chris has picked 80s pop banger Waiting for a Star to Fall by Boy Meets Girl. If you like this, you can find more by subscribing to the show on Patreon.

The Unsung History of Turbofolk (Side C) - 304

Last week was heavy. We ended on a pretty sour note. This week is slightly better if only because you get to hear some actual music and we talk a lot less about war criminals. Operative word here being less; we're talking about Ceca this week which means we must talk about Arkan. After that we then get start to look at some of the other popular turbofolk artists that emerged in the late 90s and 00s, then

The Unsung History of Turbofolk (Side B) - 303

WARNING: This episode contains some pretty hideous shit. We play samples and quote some truly despicable lyrics. Now that we've laid the foundations for what turbofolk is and the environment from which it came, we talk about some actual music in side B. We looked at Rate Your Music's list of the most critically acclaimed turbofolk albums and decided to do a brief rundown of their music and their message. There are some real, grade A bastards in this mix. Literally some of the worst people to have ever walked the earth writing about terrible things. We bring these songs to your attention for a multitude of reasons, the biggest of which is that many of these songs have MILLIONS of plays on Spotify and some of the artists in question were popular in the 90s. Some are still popular now, too. History, it seems, has not been as forgetful about some of these acts as it could be. Anyway, on this episode we continue our fascinating journey into turbofolk.

The Unsung History of Turbofolk (Side A) - 302

Turbofolk is basically Serbian, and sometimes occasionally Balkan, pop music. It's something of a thriving scene these days - think eurodance with traditional Balkan rhythms - but it's origins are very, very murky. It came to prominence in Serbia during the Yugoslav wars in the 90s, and was heavily exploited by Slobodan Milosevic government. In fact, it essentially became propaganda, pushing a nationalist, often ethno-fascist message. Focused on chauvinism, gangsters, guns, obscene wealth and often racism, it's a fascinating subject that soundtracked some of the darkest times, and acts, in human history. In Side A we talk about the Yugoslav Wars and touch, very briefly, on some of the artists.

Any Other City by Life Without Buildings (Side B) - 301

Modern post-punk music (the post-punk revival revival?) has a fair few acts that all indulge in sprechgesang and sprechstimme vocals. From Dry Cleaning and Squid to Idles and Fontaines D.C., there's a whole lot of artists out there using the same vocal technique that Sue Tompkins deploys effectively on Any Other City. In part two we chat about modern examples of this sound, including a bunch of post-hardcore and punk bands that do it too. Then we dive headlong into Any Other City itself.

In Session 8 - Shu Ying

This week we are joined by special guest Shu Ying, an experimental/post-punk/electronic artist from China. In this episode we chat a little about her music and more broadly about the history of music in China and Hong Kong, the evolution of alternative music in the country, its unique sound, the differences to Western music and more. She also picked a few albums for us to get our teeth into by artists that are unsung in their influence on Chinese rock, punk and post-punk music. These include: Dou Wei - Black Dream Underbaby - Awakening Tat Ming Pair - Shi Tou Ji Anthony Wong Chau-Sang - Underdog Rock We strongly urge listening to these artists after this episode if you want to dive a little deeper into the specific traits and approach that these artists take, but as ever, there’s a whole bunch of samples and more besides in the episode. With her help, we also pulled together a Spotify playlist of some of the artists discussed. We were very keen to get an insight another insight into what music is like in non-Western countries, so we hope you enjoy coming on this ride with us. Check out Shu Ying’s music here, and find out Chinese and Hong Kong playlist below.

Any Other City by Life Without Buildings (Side A) - 300

In part one we chat a little about Life Without Buildings and their origins. In doing so, we're forced to reckon with the particular vocal style of Sue Tompkins. In some quarters it's been quite divisive (there's a particularly bad NME interview that is a good example of this) but really her style is part of a much longer and larger legacy, one that is still very much alive and kicking to this day. Yes, we're talking about spoke-sung artists, or more specifically the vocal techniques of sprechgesang and sprechstimme. In the latter half of this episode we go on a little journey through history to really show how these vocal styles have been a part of popular music for a very long time.

Excavation by The Haxan Cloak (Side B) - 299

We wrap up this week's dual episodes on The Haxan Cloak with Mark going deep into the Returnal soundtrack, doing a quick drive-by on the Beef soundtrack, touching on a couple of other movie scores, before taking Excavation on in its entirety. Due to the hype around Excavation when it came out, we go on quite the tangent about PR in music. We discuss how there seemed to be very little in the way of critical feedback on this album, and in doing so we explore whether or not this album actually has a narrative at all, or if the narrative simply exists because it was created by the press to give the media something to hang its hat on when talking about the album. We're not saying we start to question the meaning of music, but we do get damn close to it.

Excavation by The Haxan Cloak (Side A) - 298

Diving deep into the discography of R.E.M. rapidly turned into a sorta of existential torture, particularly as we got towards the end of their career. So what did we decide to follow it up with? A journey into what existential despair may ACTUALLY sound like with The Haxan Cloak. Under the guise of The Haxah Cloak, Bobby Krilc has only released two albums, three EPs and, more recently, a single. In this episode we take a brief look at the first, self titled, Haxan Cloak record and those EPs, before turning our attention to Bobby's soundtrack work. A fair more eclectic and overall less abyssal oeuvre. In part one we cover a selection of his output up until the soundtrack of the (frankly stunning) game Returnal.

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