Kalemegdan Disk - ROCK FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Supraphon Release Information

Kafka Band is a literary and musical project that was founded in summer 2013. It is inspired by the comic adaptation of Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel “Zámek” (Das Schloss / The Castle), which was written by the Czech artist Jaromír 99 and the US American screenwriter David Z. Mairowitz. The band itself reunites the artist and singer Jaromír 99 (Priessnitz and Umakart) and the writer Jaroslav Rudiš (both famous for their collaboration on the cult comic book trilogy “Alois Nebel”).

They invited leading Czech musicians from Umakart, Priessnitz, Tata Bojs and Lesní Zvěř to join them. Dušan Neuwerth, who also produced “Das Schloss”, plays guitar, Aleš Březina plays bass and mandolin, Jiří Hradil plays piano and keyboards, and Zdeněk Jurčík and Tomáš Neuwerth play drums and percussion. “We have two drummers, because in music and literature the right rhythm is simply important,” says Rudiš.

The recording took place in January 2014 at Sono Records and also in the Portáš studio hidden under the roof of the eponymous mountain hotel in the Beskydy Mountains. “A lot of it was recorded live like in the old days. The whole band played at the same time, the album has a great atmosphere and I think it looks very natural,” reveals Jaromír 99.

“The album contains ten songs, ten stories from “Zámek” (The Castle). Kafka is often taken as a very dark author, but we are trying to break that cliché a little bit. There is also a lot of hidden black and absurd humour in “Zámek” (The Castle). This has been carried over into some of the songs,” Rudiš adds.

The songs come straight from the pages of the novel and the comic book adaptation. Kafka’s German is intertwined with Czech in the songs, recitation with singing. The music is earthy, chilling and raw, but at the same time also fragile and tender, just like the heroes of the novel.

Full album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wga84XDN_g&list=OLAK5uy_kK-QnR1YuMV_OIscW-Lvirgdbauj2sFV0&index=2

Tracklist

Side A

1. Ankunft / Příchod 4:11
2. Schnee / Sníh 7:48
3. Niemals / Nikdy 2:36
4. Frieda / Frída 4:49
5. Dämmerung / Soumrak 2:37

Side B

1. Wie Hunde / Jako psi 3:40
2. Grab / Hrob 4:08
3. Böses Wetter / Nečas 4:01
4. Traum / Sen 3:55
5. Winter / Zima 7:55