DESANT NA RT DOBRE NADE (WITH JAVNA VAJA)

"Paratroop Raid on the Cape of Good Hope" is a low-fi, underground release par excellence - printed on cassette in 600 copies only. According to some sources, it is allegedly the poorest sold music release in ex-Yugoslavia of all times! Brecelj himself once admitted he found out that only 8 (eight) persons had actually bought this tape! This is already enough astonishment for Guinness World records...

The red cover of the cassette, evoking the radical leftist/punk attitude, presents Brecelj's backing band called JAVNA VAJA. The musicians' roles are described in the communist/military rank manner, so Brecelj is ranked as "corporal", saxophonist Primoz Schmidt as "private first class", while Primoz Jeza and Vasja Ocvirk as "members of the Central Committee". Knowing that one of Brecelj's cynicism's main target was JNA (Yugoslav Army) and the Communist establishment of SFR Yugoslavia it is less surprising to see this anarchistic mockery on the cover.

As far as it concerns the music, it is quite hermetic and obscure, mostly simple acoustic songs made mainly to support the avant-garde lyrics of Brecelj. If you don't understand what the heck is he singing about, there is little chance you would be attracted to music alone. It is a difficult listen, production is virtually non-existent and the final product is somewhere between home-taped lo-fi underground of the post-punk 1980s and the early recordings of THE RESIDENTS or FAUST minus their experimentation. Therefore, "Desant" is mostly interesting for collectors of odds and ends.

At the end of the final track Brecelj spells out the recording details and pronounces his colleague Boris Bele (a fellow member of BULDOZER and current chief editor of Helidon label) acquitted of any responsibility for this deed. Enough said?

PERSONAL RATING: 2,5/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5