Kwadrat nodnoll.

Band: Kwadrat  nodnoll.

Nationality: Croatia  

Genre: art-rock
Please note that "art rock" term here is not an excuse for "prog related" category, its simply because band is blending more prog subgenres (symphonic, folk, fusion).

Links:

There is no official web site, but you can find few pictures and songs on MySpace.
http://www.myspace.com/kwadratnodnoll

Bio: Kwadrat nodnoll. (with a dot in name) were formed in 1998 in Rijeka, Croatia. They played at numerous venues in Croatia and abroad, had been making music for TV and theatre, had been rewarded on various festivals in Croatia, they even had a minor hit on several charts on some radio stations in former Yugoslavia (in Ljubljana, Zagreb and in Sarajevo), but they never recorded or published anything.
Band's influences are diverse: the keyboardist, drummer and the flutist are heavily influenced by classical prog (Tull, Gong), guitarist is more oriented towards simplicity of new wave (Talking Heads), bassist is heavily influenced by jazz and fusion. Accordionist reinforced the guitarist in balancing the band's sound picture with his punk tendencies, and occasional spices of Balkan folk music.

Accordionist disbanded in 2004, after that band continued as a quintet and started leaning more on the keyboard sound.
The band is currently inactive but they promise reunion in 2008. (for 10th anniversary).

Line Up:

This was the most successful and the longest lasting line-up.

Livio Hubička - vocals, flute, mandolin, electric bass
Nevio Rugaš - drums & percussion, backing vocals
Marin Juričić - electric bass, guitar
Krešimir Mihelec - acoustic and electric guitars, vocals
Moris Mateljan - synthesizers, organ, balalaika
Lovro Šverko - accordion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals


My review:

Note: As you can see, the author of the topic was the member of the band. I have to admit I was hesitating to do it because it seems to me like a quite pathetic thing to do - to write a review about my own band. But after a few fellow forum members did the same thing, I decided to give it a go - and I am doing it for the sake of the completeness. As far as my review is concerned, I will try to be as neutral as possible.

The band members are prog fans right to the bone - but none of them is outstanding technician. However, I will hesitate to call this "prog lite" - but it seem that it was prog for the masses. There is a certain feeling in band's music, and it's not surprising that Kwadrat nodnoll. was quite popular to a wider audience, most notably people with punk rock tendencies. It's questionable how will the same music appeal to a progressive rock purist. Anyway, if you can stand band's technical imperfection, the first most annoying thing noticed will be the vocals.
Singer's voice is nothing to die for, although the timbre itself is not that bad; but the singer's tensions towards intentional singing off-key could be frustrating (although he's got a perfect pitch!). That was part of the image, along with the entertaining stage antics - but without visual part of the performance it sounds rather pointless.
Luckily, the majority of the songs are instrumentals (or songs with only few verses of gibberish or some invented language), and while the harmonies are mostly simple, the time measures are often compound.
Perhaps accordion (along with flute, of course) was the key of the band's appeal; it is nothing but usual in prog rock, let alone the hard rock/punk rock environment where band performed most of the time. It was certainly responsible for traces of Balkan and Gypsy folk music, traces of polka and traces of jazz accordion style ( Richard Galliano, Enzo Favata, Peppino Principe).

After the accordionist left the band, Kwadrat nodnoll. started to use more layers of vintage keyboard, moving towards psychedelic/space rock, classical symphonic prog, even electronic music. The band matured and became more complex, but it had lost that basic charm and appeal.

The band members are currently doing other musical projects, we'll see what will happen on 10th anniversary reunion.

Thanks. My intention is to add as much as possible unsigned prog bands from Croatia - (and a few signed in the corresponding thread) because there are no bands at all in country's entry. One might get an illusion there is no prog in a certain country if there is no bands listed here...I'll do my best to prove the opposite!

Nice nice,they have a lot of balkan folklore influence which i like...

Edited by DarioIndjic - April 19 2007 at 00:51

Excellent music!  Pleasant to listen to, creative, and reminds me a lot of Jethro Tull (parts of Aqualung in particular).   I see what you mean about being 'prog-lite' - there aren't any mind-boggling demonstrations of prowess with an instrument, but your overall sound is so complete and well-executed, I don't think it needs anything extra.  You guys kind of have your own niche of the prog-related family, and you fill it nicely.  I hope that made sense to anyone other than me!

My favorite of the four songs you have up is 'Keo'.  But every single one is uniquely good!  There were some nifty sounds in 'Evolution 78' that particularly interested me and added a lot of depth to the song.  'Tropska' was so lively and sweet, it definately lifted my spirits.  'Hidronostalgia' was also a ton of fun to listen to.  I love that you break up the perkiness a little with the occasional short, quieter sections.

(bump)

I'll have the new thread closed or merged.