Despite its tragic breakup, Yugoslavia as a political, social and cultural phenomenon still inspires generations, especially those who were born or lived at the time of this utopian land of South Slavs. Those who didn't enjoy the privilege are still amazed by its 1970s and '80s music scene and the number of very modern, high quality acts that were so often ahead of their time. Two such acts were Data and The Master Scratch Band, both founded by Zoran Jevtic and Zoran Vracevic, who introduced synth-pop, breakbeat, and hip-hop music in Yugoslavia in 1984 with their releases: SP Neka Ti Se Dese Prave Stvari/Ne Zovi To Ljubavlju and miniLP Deogut (Jugoton). Our latest release, "It Was Ridiculous, It Was Amazing!" gathers their earliest unreleased material from 1981-1983, showcasing a broader range of genres – alongside synth-pop and breakbeat/hip-hop, they also experimented with industrial, EBM, minimal synth, and electro-funk!

The whole record is divided into two parts: on A side there are 7 previously unpublished songs by group DATA, and on B side there are 4 previously unreleased recordings by The Master Scratch Band.

The Data side opens with two unexpected "shocker" tracks: Ja Nisam Kao Ti" (eng. I am Not Like You) and "Izumi" (eng. "Inventions") from 1981, where they sound like early Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft with unusual vocal pan sound effects on Serbian lyrics and uncompromising synth-based sound. Equally unpredictable are the next two songs: atmospheric "España" and dusty "Damage In My Head," where Zoran Jevtić boldly steps into the lead vocal role. But the surprises don't end there. The next two songs, France and Strahovi (eng. "Fears"), bring a mysterious and nostalgic atmosphere, elevated by the irreplaceable sound of the modular Roland System-100M. At the end comes the greatest surprise of all: Data covers YMO-Ballet in a song called Ne Zelim Da Tako Zive (eng, I Don't Want Them Living Like That) and puts some extra energy in rhythm without losing the original song's sensibility. Like in the original, the lyrics are tender and yet mysterious and provocative. 

The Master Scratch Band side contains the very first versions of the songs Break War, Jailbreak, and Computer Break, originally recorded in studio Druga Maca in Belgrade in 1983. These versions were not released on their mini-LP album Dégout (Jugoton, 1984), and they are actually the first ever hip-hop/Breakbeat recordings in Yugoslavia. With great enthusiasm, every sound was uniquely crafted from scratch using the finest analog gear available in the early '80s. The two young artists, aiming for international success, chose to write their lyrics in English. The album's final track, "Mad Scratch," showcases their talent for creating impressive sound effects, which would be a delight for contemporary DJs and producers who specialize in sampling and scratching old-school hip-hop.

This release is truly a "100% digger's gem" – 11 previously unreleased tracks from legendary pioneers of electronic, hip-hop, and breakbeat. A collection to discover, enjoy, play, and treasure forever!

Review: Luka Novakovic, Vanja Todorovic
Text correction: Zoran Jevtic

Data/The Master Scratch Band – It Was Ridiculous, It Was Amazing! LP (Dec.15)

Sound snippet from forthcoming album Beokraft-The Time Machine

Make your order here:

http://discom.bigcartel.com/product/beokraft-the-time-machine-lp-pre-order-coming-out-on-july-2022

Beokraft-The Time Machine

Artist: Beokraft
Track: Artificial Mind
Label: https://soundcloud.com/discom-1
Format: Vinyl LP
Release date: TBA
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Qa0pqWiiE7g

With a mission to promote overlooked music from the former Yugoslavia, Belgrade's independent label Discom presents you a track Artificial Mind by group Beokraft from their forthcoming LP album The Time Machine.
Beokraft is a supergroup made of Yugoslavian electronic music pioneers Dejan Stanisavljevic  (Beograd), Zoran Jevtic (Data, Sizike,Master Scratch Band) and Nikolaj Bezek (Consequential). The Time Machine is their album inspired by Kraftwerk-the fathers of electronic music.
Track Artificial Mind  beautifully portrays Beokraft's rich and colorful production, but in ,, right from the scratch- ala Kraftwerk"  approach.  It's hypnotic and dance oriented beat with lot of vintage effects make this track modern and perfect for dance floors. A testimony that everything begins with Kraftwerk and everything finishes with Kraftwerk, even today!

PREMIERE | Beokraft - Artificial Mind [Discom]

Song snippet from DATA​/​The Master Scratch Band- It Was Ridiculous, It Was Amazing​!​(​Snippets, Pre​-​Order Dec​.​15​

Buy vinyl : https://discom.bigcartel.com/product/data-the-master-scratch-band-it-was-ridiculous-it-was-amazing-lp-discom-dcm-014-pre-order-dec-15

List of Used Equipment: Sc Pro One, Six-Track, Drumtraks; RSF Kobol, Linn Drum, Simmons SDSV, Korg Polysix, Mono/Poly; Roland MC-4B, SH-101, SH-09, Juno-106, JX-3P, SVC-350, TR-808, TR-303,

© 2024 Discom, Zoran Vračević, Zoran Jevtić, all rights reserved.

DATA-Јa Nisam Kao Ti (Snippet)

Song snippet from DATA​/​The Master Scratch Band- It Was Ridiculous, It Was Amazing​!​(​Snippets, Pre​-​Order Dec​.​15​

Buy vinyl : discom.bigcartel.com/product/data-t…e-order-dec-15

List of Used Equipment: Sc Pro One, Six-Track, Drumtraks; RSF Kobol, Linn Drum, Simmons SDSV, Korg Polysix, Mono/Poly; Roland MC-4B, SH-101, SH-09, Juno-106, JX-3P, SVC-350, TR-808, TR-303,

© 2024 Discom, Zoran Vračević, Zoran Jevtić, all rights reserved

DATA-Izumi (Snippet)

DATA-España (Snippet)

ong snippet from DATA​/​The Master Scratch Band- It Was Ridiculous, It Was Amazing​!​(​Snippets, Pre​-​Order Dec​.​15​

Buy vinyl : discom.bigcartel.com/product/data-t…e-order-dec-15

List of Used Equipment: Sc Pro One, Six-Track, Drumtraks; RSF Kobol, Linn Drum, Simmons SDSV, Korg Polysix, Mono/Poly; Roland MC-4B, SH-101, SH-09, Juno-106, JX-3P, SVC-350, TR-808, TR-303,

© 2024 Discom, Zoran Vračević, Zoran Jevtić, all rights reserved

DATA-Damage In My Head (Snippet)

Data-France (Snippet)

With a mission to promote overlooked music from the former Yugoslavia, Belgrade's independent label Discom presents you a track "Behind The Soul" by group Consequential from their forthcoming LP compilation MicroComposed 1980-86. 
Consequential was a synth-pop group who was active in the period between 1980 and 1986 in Belgrade.  It was founded by Zoran Jevtic ( DATA, Sizike, Master Scratch Band, Digitron) and Nikolaj Bezek (the founder one of Yugoslavia's first purely electronic music-oriented studios, in Serdar Jola Street, Belgrade). Thanks to studio's essential and, for local conditions very rare, gear like Roland MC-4B analog sequencers, Roland System 100M modular synth, SVC-350 and VP-330 vocoders, Jevtic and Bezek were able to create music that they truly liked: a combination of catchy vocoder-based, experimental 80s electronic, with a strong influence of Italo disco and synthpop!  Their track " Behind The Soul" is a beautiful example of their concept: the catchy sounds of Roland SVC-350 combined with dusty analog experimental sounds of Roland System 100M, SH-101, TR-808,  RSF Kobol, Korg Polysix  and SC Pro-One.

pre- orders taken at: http://discom.bigcartel.com/product/consequential-microcomposed-1980-86-lp-dcm-007-coming-out-in-october-2018

https://soundcloud.com/discom-1

PREMIERE | Consequential - Behind The Soul [Discom] 2018

As one of the inevitable addresses in searching for lesser known music from the former Yugoslavia, Belgrade's @discom-1 label presents a Wednesday mix made exclusively of diggers' pearls from this historical region. From free jazz, funk, disco and boogie to ambient, synth pop and new wave, this mix recaptures an authentic Yugoslavian sensitivity: dreamy, mysterious, beautiful and yet ridiculous, grotesque and tragic. Mainly composed of songs which became Yugo oddball classics, it acts as a good starting point for further investigation and individual research. Discom's latest release, Consequential - 'MicroComposed 1980-86' is out today!

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Discom: The Wednesday Alternative Mix

With a mission to promote lesser-known music from the former Yugoslavia, Belgrade's independent label Discom presents you a track "Pustinjska Tajna (eng: A Secret Of The Desert)" by a legendary group Du Du A from their forthcoming LP compilation Du Du Archive 1984-1989.

Du Du A was formed in the early '80s in NYC. Their music can be described as a mixture of styles such as funk, reggae, rap, and dance.  Active in Yugoslavia, they released Maxi Single: "Ja Tarzan, Ti Dzejn/ Afrikanac Iz Beograda" (PGP RTB, 1982),  LP album "Primitivni Ples" (PGP RTB, 1983), SP "Romance/Irie (Jugoton, 1984).  After recording these releases,  the first song which band leaders Dejan Kostić (as a guitar player) and Zoran Zagorčić (as a composer, arranger, lyricist) put together was "Pustinjska Tajna (eng: A Secret Of The Desert)".  Inspired by their journey to Egypt, the song is a brilliant example of the band's interest in the exploration of unknown rhythms and sound textures, combined with minimalistic, powerful evocative lyrics and psychedelic atmosphere.  This is a premiere, the song was never published nor broadcasted before. Record is out 31th of may. 
Pre- orders taken at: http://discom.bigcartel.com/product/du-du-a-du-du-archive-1984-1989-lp-dcm-008-coming-out-on-may-31-registered-shipping-6-5-eur

https://soundcloud.com/discom-1

PREMIERE | Du Du A - Pustinjska Tajna [Discom] 2019

The vibrant neon lights of the discotheque lit up the sky's black canvas, welcoming party goers from all over through its gold plated doors. This place was the talk of the town, every weekend people flocked to dance their blues away and say farewell to the week. Only smiling faces littered the dance floor here, there wasn't any space for frowns or sombre moods. From dusk till dawn this place was their sanctuary, a party that felt like it would never end. A voodoo party.

Independent record label Discom's mission is to unearth and share forgotten gems from the former Yugoslavia with the world. Next up on their release schedule is an LP from Belgrade alt rock band Du Du A, charting some of their best tracks from 1984-1989. Formed in the early 80s in New York, the duo of Dejan Kostić and Zoran Zagorcic fuse elements of post-punk, new wave, reggae and funk, influences that all sing on Voodoo Party.

PREMIERE: Du Du A - Voodoo Party [Discom]

Kirsty je londonski selektor, kolekcionar ploča, veliki poznavalac stare i nove muzike, jednostavno muzička enciklopedija. U njenim eklektičnim odabirima možete pronaći bilo šta od disco italo/indi bitova do novih valova i synth popa. Miks je snimljen pre nekoliko godina, track listu iz tog razloga nećemo objavljivati, zato kopajte.

Kirsty is a selector from London, a record collector, a great connoisseur of old and new music, simply a music encyclopedia. In her eclectic selections you can find anything from disco italo/indie beats to new wave and synth pop. Mix has been recorded a few years ago and for that reason we won't publish the track list, so go dig.

Kirsty P - Dubine Podcast #010

The week had dragged on like never before, leaving little time to think or process anything. She watched the hands on the clock intensely and wished the time would melt away. Friday had finally arrived and tonight she was going to let off steam. She'd been thinking about it since that first spreadsheet she'd filled in on Monday morning. They were going to the best spot in town, where you could completely lose yourself and forget the outside world. If you really wanted to escape, that was the only place. There, worries didn't exist. At least until Monday morning rolled round again... 

Three years after Discom - a label with a mission to unearth lost sounds from former Yugoslavia - released a colection of tracks from oddball queens Sizike, they happened upon another archive of music the band made for the UK market between 1985 and 1986. All previously unreleased, Night Club features nine tracks of Hi-NRG, synth-pop and italo disco that marked a forgotten era of music from the country.

PREMIERE: Sizike - Night Club [Discom]

Black Feeling. One of the heads of beautiful PERONAS, a train-yard bound Bar with a lot of club vibes steps up with his edit of a Yugoslavian band's track from 1985. A fresh interpretation with arrangement with a solid italo bassline, bright synthesizers and the drops to rock the dancefloor.

FREE DOWNLOAD

FREE DL: Max & Intro - Ostavi Sve (Black Feeling Edit)

Discom is an independent record label with a mission to promote lesser-known music from the former Yugoslavia.

DATA-Јa Nisam Kao Ti (Snippet)

Discom

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