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MUZIČKA Destilát Pavian Records PM0089-2

Stifling atmospherics, careful close harmonies and a seem- ingly extra-sensory under- standing between the six string-virtuosi/singers who make up Muziˇcka evoke these raw and often heart- breaking tales of rural Slo- vakia. Familiar, resonant and

energetic expositions twist and wrong-foot through these mostly pastoral incantations. Growing up and learning music outside Cen- tral Europe’s brilliant conservatoires has led to a novel freedom from famous classical notations of national folk music, resulting in avid music for a noisy new audience, artfully careless and artlessly revelatory.

The band was formed in 1990, as little more than a good-time joke for a friend’s wedding. But they soon discovered a shared enthusiasm for the very earliest recordings of Slovak traditional music. Unencumbered by easy listening tradition or classical sensibili- ties, they have since devoted themselves to replaying these recordings.

Noting an odd lack of public enthusiasm for their free downloads, Muziˇcka have craft- ed an album as artefact, something to keep, and to keep on repeat. It certainly insinuates.

Collaborations with Hungary’s fine Fono Band have traversed the much-con- tested and frequently redrawn border between the two countries. And much of the material here is strangely familiar, though engagingly earthy and spontaneous this time, rather than national.

Veš Ti Zajdu is typical of all this ambition, a big sound in a small place, with peculiar declamatory interruptions to the sinewy string exertions and traditional motifs (hear it on this issue’s fRoots 55 compilation.) Eva Brunovská’s exemplary vocals also dominate the organic percussive propulsion of Joj, Devlale So Me Kerdžom, channelling from high, sharp defiance to unsteady fatigue, part of a record of generally coarse yearning, emerging from long decades of largely dead- eyed but well-played kitsch.

www.muzicka.sk John Pheby VARIOUS ARTISTS

Dust On The Nettles: A Journey Through The British Underground Folk Scene 1969-1972 Cherry Red Records CRSEGBOX030

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Shirley Inspired Earth Recordings EARTHCD003

Two triple CD sets representing the best of psych-folk’s past and present.

Folk scene big names Pentangle, Steel- eye Span, Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band and Anne Briggs are all present and correct on Dust On The Nettles, as are the soon-to-be-pop-star likes of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Joan Armatrading. Donovan and John Martyn are notable by their absence, but there’s plenty of less familiar stuff here, equally worthy of attention.

There’s been a plethora of reissues in this field over the last decade or so, with specialist labels pitching to both the ‘first time on CD’, and ‘vinyl revival’ customers. The best of this music – by Shelagh McDonald, Trees, Dando Shaft, Trader Horne, Bob & Carole Pegg, Heron, Vashti Bunyan and COB – can be sam- pled alongside a host of fellow travellers, with the label rosters of Dawn and Dandelion well represented.