GATTCH

GATTCH was an early jazz rock band from the former Czechslokia, formed in 1969 in Bratislava, now the capital of the Slovak Republic and existed until 1974. The unusual band name was due to the last name initials of the band's founding members. Considered one of the earliest progressive bands in the Slovak side of the former Czechoslavia, GATTCH was highly influential for bands like Collegium Musicum, Fermáta and the Modry Effekt (Blue Effect). While the band existed for five full years, GATTCH only released this one self-titled album in 1971 depending on sources) on the fledgling Opus label in Bratislava which would host many of the progressive Slovakian acts in the years to come.

Starting out as a beat band, GATTCH quickly gravitated to the burgeoning art rock scene blossoming all over Europe and was particularly interested in connecting the world of rock music with jazz and classical. Formed by students of the Bratislava Conservatory, the band originally started off as a quartet but guitarist Karol Slanina left shortly after the band's inception and the remaining members would carry on as a quartet.

Sadly there isn't a lot of info on this band and its one and only album has never seen a single reissue since its original vinyl edition in 1971 therefore remains somewhat of a true obscurity. However the album has been released as a part of the CD compilation "Komplet" which features this album, the band's EP and includes unreleased material as well as an entire second CD of live tracks. Ironically the original vinyl LP seems to be cheaper than the CD compilation that came out in 2002! A veritable group of dedicated musicians, GATTCH's album featured eight all instrumental tracks with the exception some wordless vocalizations and crafted a unique blend of classical piano music with jazz and psychedelic rock. The music was quite accomplished without becoming too overtly "nerdy." The melodies were primarily rooted in Western classical piano and blues while the jazzy touches provided nice accents, syncopation and off-kilter time signatures. The fuzz guitar provided the proper blues rock accompaniments and the wordless vocal harmonies added a touch of Swingle Singers style upbeat grooviness.

In addition the album adds a touch of lounge lizard piano style most notably on "Reminiscencia II." The closing seems to show how the band matured on a single album with the more complex compositional flow of "Kontrapunktická Etuda" which sounds a bit like some of the 70s stuff Soft Machine would conjure up only with a more barrelhouse blues sounding piano roll. The tracks start off simpler and shorter and slowly progress throughout the album's run until the cream of the crop progginess with the closer.

Bratislava has always had the unique Eastern European advantage of existing right on the very border of Austria and is a mere hour's drive / train ride from Vienna therefore these Easterners have always had one ear pointed westward to catch the vibes of what the rest of Europe was up to. As one of the earliest and most influential Slovakian bands, unfortunately GATTCH hasn't exactly resurrected itself out of the obscurity bins and is relatively unknown in prog circles except by the hardcore collectors.

After this album the band would go through one more lineup change adding saxophonist Gabriel Joná? before disbanding but none of the members seem to have gone on in the world of jazz or progressive rock therefore bands like Fermáta, Collegium Musicum and De?o Ursiny have stolen all the thunder of early Slovakian prog. While GATTCH was clearly in that transition zone between catchy pop rock and a more sophisticated infusion of jazz and classical, the band clearly delivered some interesting musical workouts and sounds relatively unique even by today's standards.

3.5 rounded down