REVOLUTION IN THE ZOO

After demise of BEGNAGRAD in 1984, its rhythm section, bassist Nino de Gleria and drummer Ales Rendla, and occasional guitarist Igor Leonardi teamed up with classically trained musician Milko Lazar and formed QUATEBRIGA. This quartet shared composing and arrangement duties for their debut LP "Revolution in the Zoo", which was released by an independent label BRUT Film in 1985. Its distribution was largely restricted to their native Slovenia and to the purchase by mail order which did not help its commercial success. But frankly, the music itself was rather demanding and unconventional so it was not meant for wider audience.

If BEGNAGRAD were one of rare examples of a genuine RIO band outside the Western Europe, QUATEBRIGA continued in somewhat jazzier direction. Not abandoning entirely the experimentation with odd folksy rhythms and time signatures, they pursued more avant-jazz expression fused with post-punk and alternative rock attitudes. The opening title track, which even saw some limited popularity on college radio stations across Yugoslavia, is prime example of this approach and its funky beat, crazy horns and silly lyrics ("elephants and monkeys pissing everywhere...") made them precursors of what DISCIPLINA KIČME of Belgrade was about to do in the coming years.

Odd time signature, amazing bass lines, marimba-like percussion and strong horns made "Prvckotove najljubse melodije" (Eng. "Prvckot's Most Beautiful Melodies") one of the strongest moments of the album. Cacophony in the RIO manner coupled with some Crimsonesque guitar chords jumps on and off amazingly well. Short but furious "Na juris- Odpisani" (Eng. "Attack of the Written Off") presents a mad mix of brass instruments and guitar noise that is brief enough before you start raising your eyebrows. Perhaps the best track on the album (at least, for me the most enjoyable one) - "To Be Or Not To Be Stoned That Is Not The Question" - starts in slow tempo pushed by bass and guitar flageolets. Saxophone joins in a spacey atmosphere reminding me of certain psychedelic fusion acts from the past.

The remainder of the album does not work so well though. There is too much improvising to the point that certain passages are hard to listen to. Especially boring is the longest track, "African Girl Is Coming Home", whose heavy-load of "ethnic" percussion and the "sounds of savannah" does not seem to go anywhere. All in all however, this is quite good and interesting LP of "avant-rock meets avant-jazz" music and I will surely recommend it if you enjoy exploring these kinds of musical styles.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,75/5

P.A. RATING: 4/5

Part of a small ex-Yugoslavian RIO movement, Slovenian outfit Quaterbriga was formed in 1984 in Ljubljana by multi-instrumentalist Milko Lazar along with two ex-Begnagrad members: drummer Ales Rendla and bassist Nino De Gleria.They settled as a quintet also with David Jarh on trumpets and Igor Leonardi on guitars.The same year they toured around Austria and Slovenia,while 1985 sees the release of their debut ''Revolution in the Zoo'' on Brut Film.

Incorporating elements from FRANK ZAPPA and of course BEGNAGRAD as well as influences from Horn Rock, Jazz and Balkan Music, Quatebriga played a very complex style of disharmonic musicianship almost entirely built around wind instruments and a schizophenic rhythm section.However the dull ZAPPA-esque opener is a bit of a fail with these humurous cheesy voices over somekind of Funk music,really a huge dissapointment.The next few tracks are decent,showcasing Quatebriga's unstructured free forms of Horn Rock and RIO with extremely complex bass lines and endless sax/trumpets dissonances in an improvisational mood.However the three tracks of the LP's flipside are again on the wrong side.The hypnotic sax/bass-driven ''To Be Or Not To Be Stoned That Is Not The Question'' still seeks out for a reason of existence in this whole RIO mess,while the 9-min. follower ''African Girl Is Comming Home'' is even worse,entirely built on sound effects and percussion until the middle,saved a bit by the wind-instrumental attack towards the end.''Uvertur'' delivers back the hypnotic atmosphere of the flipside's opener,some good work on the sax department and the dynamic closing will save this one from being as bad as ''To Be Or Not To Be Stoned That Is Not The Question''.

Filled with the highest point of dissonance but also spending plenty of its running time on pointless music, Quatebriga's debut is a huge dissapointment regarding the band's overall talent.Recommended only to hardcore RIO fans.