The 10th edition of the EX-YU ELECTRONICA series ends where it began – in Maribor, Slovenia. One of the northermost industrial cities in the former Yugoslavia. It is dedicated to the pioneer and supporter of electroacoustic, electronic and experimental music, Marko Ornik, who died in 2019.

MARKO ORNIK

For the concept of the 10th edition, we took the life and work of Marko Ornik as an example. Especially his time in Maribor. His music project Abbildungen Varieté was a pioneer of avant-garde, experimental electronic music in the 1980s, together with many other experimenters of the time in Maribor. Thus, half of the album is dedicated to this Maribor period. Together with Abbildungen Varieté, it is complemented by Mario Marzidovšek, Kloopotec and ŠDRTVO.

Also in 2019, Maribor’s individualist musician Stanislav Klavžer - Stana left us. He participated in various acoustic projects in the 70s, later also engaged in painting and writing. Since 2005, he has been making synthesized music. An excerpt from his composition N.V. concludes the A side of EX-YU ELECTRONICA vol. X.

After returning from art studies abroad in the late 2000s, Ornik became known for organizing projects at the intersection of computer art, music and video. Thus, for many years he successfully led the International Festival of Computer Arts, founded the Uho; Oko: institute, was a co-founder of the Udarnik art cinema, and organized increasingly recognizable art-concert events, which later became the Beli šum (white noise) concert series. He brought many artists from abroad to Maribor, as well as introduced Slovenian and Maribor artists of electronic music to the public. The second part of the album is dedicated to these artists and the increasingly recognizable Maribor "noise" scene. Performing artists include: Kikiriki, Mono Scarves, Chemomorph, Petrusaur and Ontervjabbit.


A SIDE

ABBILDUNGEN VARIETÉ was founded by Marko Ornik, together with Igor Zupe. The band was a pioneer of avant-garde, experimental electronic music in the 1980s, active from 1983 to 1984. The two founders collaborated with Goran Majcen, Branko Mirt and Darko Senekovič. The track Babilon was from their self-titled cassette.

ŠDRTVO aka. Študentsko delavski rock teater v opoziciji (Student workers rock theatre in opposition) is a multimedia project by Dušan Hedl and Radko Bračko, who have been producing art since the early 80s.

KLOOPOTEC is an experimental project, that has emerged from the potent music scene in Trate in the 80s. The primarily punk scene has acted as a surprising breeding ground for a lot of experimental music.

MARIO MARZIDOVŠEK was a unique musician, artist, producer. After the rise of alternative and industrial groups in Slovenia and influenced by post-punk and industrial music he released over 50 cassetes of electronic music and alternative rock between the years 1984 and 1988. He was active until his death in 2011.

STANA (Stanislav Klavžer) was an artist, that was frequent in Maribor's rich literary/ multimedia scene, a close collaborator of the late Tomaž Brenk. This track is from his VirTuoz album, a Moog solo project.

B SIDE

KIKIRIKI (Nina F) has been a musical performer for 20 years in different collectives. First as a vocalist and later as a instrumentalist, since 2009 as a solo noise performer. Focusing on experimenting with sound that's produced live, mostly with analogue synthesisers and some DIY electronics.
kikiriki.bandcamp.com

PETROSAUR aka. Perozaver (Peter Dobaj) has been making DIY music since 2012. Mostly using cheap electronic instruments and toys, he complements them with DIY projects (Atari punk console, negative avalanche drone, circuit bending, LSDJ).
soundcloud.com/peter-dobaj

ONTERVJABBIT is a noise/experimental/ambient project from Hrastnik. Neven M. Agalma (Dodecahedragraph, Cadlag) and Domen Učakar (Lifecutter) have both been active locally, nationally and internationally in the noise scene.
ontervjabbit.bandcamp.com

MONO SCARVES (Klemen Šali) has been active in Maribor for more than 10 years, working on the local student radio station MARŠ and in the noise scene. His sound is defined by a combination of DIY machines, legendary analogue synths and a rare sense of humor.
monoscarves.bandcamp.com

CHEMOMORPH (aka. Mada Poka) has been making music since the 80s. After a long career of making music he is currently creating ambiental, chillout, noise and experimental electronic music.
soundcloud.com/user-942854558


EX-YU ELECTRONICA Vol. X
Monofonika / publishing house Kulturni center Maribor, Javna muzika Maribor, MFLP 011 / FREE LP 029

Music selector: Dušan Hedl
Organisation: Peter Dobaj

Cover photo: Donald Niebyl / spomenikdatabase.org
Other photos & Design: Peter Dobaj

Monofonika / Kulturni center Maribor
Executive producer: Dušan Hedl
Release Manager: Peter Dobaj

Kulturni center Maribor
Ljubljanska ulica 4, SI-2000 Maribor
Slovenia, Europe
exyuelectronica@gmail.com