Kalemegdan Disk - ROCK FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Supraphon Release Information

The Kafka Band is a literary-musical project that came into being last summer. It is inspired by the comic-book adaptation of Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel Das Schloss (The Castle), the work of the Czech visual artist Jaromír 99 and the American scriptwriter David Z. Mairowitz. The Kafka Band is made up of the painter and vocalist Jaromír 99 (Priessnitz and Umakart) and the writer Jaroslav Rudiš (both of whom gained recognition with their cult comic-book trilogy Alois Nebel).

They have joined forces with superlative Czech musicians from the bands Umakart, Priessnitz, Tata Bojs and Lesní Zvěř. The guitarist Dušan Neuwerth has also produced the album Das Schloss, the bass guitar and mandolin is played by a.m.almela, the piano and keyboards by Jiří Hradil, and percussion by Zdeněk Jurčík and Tomáš Neuwerth. “We have two percussionists, since proper rhythm is simply of major significance in both music and literature,” says Rudiš.

The album was recorded in January 2014 at the Sono Records and Portáš studio in a hotel in the Beskydy mountains. “We recorded a lot live, like in the old times. The entire band played concurrently, thus the disc has a great atmosphere and, I think, comes across as very natural,” adds Jaromír 99.

“The album contains ten pieces, ten stories from The Castle. Kafka is often deemed a dark author, yet we strive to challenge this cliché. The novel possesses plenty of black and absurd humour, which we reflected in some of our compositions,” Rudiš points out.

The songs are directly based on the pages of the novel and its comic-book adaptation. Kafka’s German mingles with Czech, narration with singing. The music is earthy, chilly and crude, yet at the same time tender and delicate, similarly to the novel’s heroes.

Full album: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kK-QnR1YuMV_OIscW-Lvirgdbauj2sFV0

Tracklist

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
6. Wie Hunde / Jako psi 3:40
7. Grab / Hrob 4:08
8. Böses Wetter / Nečas 4:01
9. Traum / Sen 3:55
10. Winter / Zima 7:55