Tena Novak
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Suggest New Bands and Artists
Forum Description: Suggest, create polls, and classify new bands you would like included on Prog Archives
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35456
Printed Date: December 02 2024 at 13:47
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Topic: Tena Novak
Posted By: clarke2001
Subject: Tena Novak
Date Posted: March 13 2007 at 16:16
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Band: Tena Novak Nationality: Croatia Genre: post-rock Links: Web site: http://www.tenanovak.com - www.tenanovak.com MP3's: http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Indijanska.mp3 - http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Indijanska.mp3 http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Nacionalni%20parkovi.mp3 - http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Nacionalni%20parkovi.mp3 http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Speleologija.mp3 - http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Potjera.mp3 - http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Potjera.mp3 http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Speleologija.mp3 - http://www.tenanovak.com/MP3/Speleologija.mp3 Bio: Tena Novak formed in Zagreb in 2003. After a several line-up changes (new bass player and a drummer), the band founded their own, unique sound. Hrvoje Radnic (ex Kwadrat nodnoll.) is a big fan of americana, REM, Velvet Underground and post rock and rock with more experimental approach as well. He is utilising an e-bow on his guitar, often combined with alternative tunes (sometimes combinations of guitar and bass wires). Gorgeous Tena Novak (band is named after her) is classically trained, but the influences of Croatian folk music are evident too. Hrvoje Niksic (ex Sumski) is your typical vintage keyboard freak, heavily leaning on Krautrock sound(s). Both Pauk members (Kresimir and Igor) are influenced by 70's rock and artists like Led Zeppelin and the like. Mario Kovac (ex Schmrtz Teatar) is responsible for the sound effects, theremins' bleeps and burps. They played many live gigs in Croatia and abroad, and opened for several known artists (most notably Damo Suzuki). However, they didn't published any albums so far. It's a long overdue for this band to lose their demo status. Line Up: Tena Novak - electric violin Krešimir Pauk - bass Mario Kovač - sound effects Hrvoje Radnić - guitar Hrvoje Nikšić - keyboards Igor Pauk - drums Marko Caklovic - visuals My review: I don't have any demo audio material of this band (save the songs presented on their web site), so I will rate their live performance that I witnessed in 2003 and their sound in general. Through the noise of audience I caught several sweet sounds and realised that concert just started. The audience cross-faded with band's sequences. The majority of the tracks are following the same template - but they are not less interesting because of that. Songs are opening with simple but lovely melody of Niksic's Fender Rhodes piano, and slowly, as dynamics is ascending, guitar and violin (occasionally playing in unison) are starting to whisper from the background until reaching the nadir. It's a lovely old trick that Radnic plays simple guitar pattern in irregular time signature (he learned that in Kwadrat nodnoll I guess), while drum and bass are slowly driving in 4/4 under it, and Tena's violin is slowly playing legato tones somewhere on the other side of the dreams. Kovac's theremin is giving a counterpoint of the atmosphere rather than emphasising the main theme (Gong pops to mind). Overall sound is very dreamy, somewhat hermetic in a good way, pleasant, and that invisible link with the audience happened very quickly; there was some sort of an intimate atmosphere although there were no explicit/verbal interaction with the crowd. But nothing is perfect, and I must point out a few (in my opinion) negative aspects of their performance and overall sound. Niksic's electric piano reminded me more than once of Led Zeppelin's No Quarter. Okay, that is not necessary a bad thing. But he plays a role of keyboardist and a role of sound technician simultaneously; above his keys there's an analog 16 track mixer and he is responsible for the 50% percent of dynamics of band fellow members. The drums and bass seemed a bit too simplistic at moments; while bass couldve been described as "meditative", the drums were too raw, and, I must say, amateurish. Musicianship improved with time (concert was in 2003 mind you), and band added a drum-machine to fill some gaps here and there (certainly it's one of the analog old Boss machines from huge Hrvoje's vintage collection). At the end of the concert my friends and me felt calmness and satisfaction - but there was a wish to improve a few thingies and make the whole appearance more flashy because they were buried underneath occasional amateurisms and misconceptions. In a few words: lovely, very good and...innocent. ------------- |
Replies:
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 13 2007 at 18:22
Thanks for the input clarke! ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Atkingani
Date Posted: March 13 2007 at 18:29
I'd love to see the day the very first band will leave this forum and go to the evaluation of a genre team, meaning they got their official debut. 
Tena Novak is a great candidate to do this first!  ------------- Guigo ~~~~~~ |
Posted By: StarsongAgeless
Date Posted: April 30 2007 at 00:34
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My goodness. This music is lovely! Gorgeous, moving, well-executed... I'm so glad I checked page 2! 'Indijanska' is so beautiful. I love the electric violin, it makes me feel like it's trying to tell me something but can't quite get the words out. At one point slightly past halfway it sounded like it was crying. The song as a whole is emotionally stirring and expressive. I find that it reminds me of Kate Bush's 'King of the Mountain' in parts, which I think is a good thing (that song brings tears to my eyes). The pick-up about 3/4 of the way through the song brings the whole up to a new level of emotion that strikes me as desperation or perhaps determination... possibly a mixture of the two. 'Nacionali' has a subtle, almost apathetic feel to it until the electric violin comes in again. Then, to me, it sounds like a gentle dance tune with a pleasant and enjoyable ambiance. It makes me want to get up and move around, and if I were driving while listen to this I think I'd find myself accelerating a bit too much - it has that edge that makes me want to move faster, even though the tempo isn't very fast. The lovely, tremulous violin part after the drums stop does exactly the opposite, and quite effectively, giving the listener a chance to contemplate what they just heard, perhaps. It does in my case. :) The ending seems like a successful fusion of the two previous moods, and I think it rounds out the song nicely. 'Potjera' actually reminds me of music from a video game called 'Legend of Dragoon'. I play a lot of games and watch a fair amount of movies, so I tend to find comparisons like that... some end up being obscure. I suppose the effect this one had on me was to make me think of ancient civilizations, which is interesting because it was the most electronicized one so far. I enjoyed this one, but it didn't have quite the emotional effect on me that the others did. Generally, the closer this song got to the end the more I liked what I was hearing. 'Speleologija' has a nice, relaxed, rambling, childlike feel. How's that for a bunch of adjectives? :) At first, it reminds me of how I used to feel when I was a kid waking up on a Saturday morning, when I knew I didn't have to do anything in particular that day. When the deeper notes come in, it snaps me out of that, and I'm thinking more about work and industry, but there is a very nostalgic feel to the entire song. The slow-down with the deep thrumming noises about 2/3 of the way through the song reminded me a lot of Bjork's more electronic music. The spacey, almost jazzy ending was quite a twist, but I liked it a lot. I think the song might have ended a little suddenly and flatly without it. The whistling was a nice touch! There seem to be a few extra seconds at the end of this track. ------------- Check out the http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=71 - Unsigned Bands section! "Like the time I ran away, and turned around and you were standing close to me." Yes' Awaken |
Posted By: The Lackey
Date Posted: May 13 2007 at 07:53
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Just listened to "Indijanska" - very good. Everyone should listen. ------------- https://oatmealstout.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow - https://oatmealstout.bandcamp.com |
Posted By: Prog-jester
Date Posted: May 13 2007 at 08:58
Worth checking I guess...as long as I'm a post-rocker too 
Atkingani, keep your fingers crossed - I'm sending demos on labels! |
Posted By: Atkingani
Date Posted: May 13 2007 at 11:01
Done!
I'm eager to know who will be the 1st band to move from the Unsigned forum to the New Bands to be evaluated?  ------------- Guigo ~~~~~~ |
Prog-jester wrote:Posted By: clarke2001
Date Posted: October 15 2007 at 18:58
Perhaps Tena Novak Band will be. They published an album in a meantime, so I'm kindly asking admins to close this thread, and I will PM someone from post-rock team a request for inclusion! The Unsigned Bands Subforum is showing it's full purpose now!  ------------- |
Posted By: Angelo
Date Posted: October 24 2007 at 16:03
First of all - this band has a brilliantly designed web site. I love the concept, and it fits minimalism of the music. Post-rock will never become my favourite genre, but this band deserves some applause.  Nice to hear that they have an album out - although I can't seem to find any info about it on the net. There's no need to close this thread as long as the band released the album themselves... ------------- http://www.iskcrocks.com" rel="nofollow - ISKC Rock Radio I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected] |
Posted By: clarke2001
Date Posted: May 23 2008 at 08:24
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Bump. Added!
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