Slovenia by 19loveless91

My favourite albums by Slovenian artists, pre- or post-independence (1991).

1 album per artist to cover more ground. 72 is a random number, I kept going as long as I could still say I "liked" the album.

I wrote comments for each album. The added extra links ("footnotes") are not necessarily related to the artist. Comments get shorter later on.

Some genres under (or not at all-) represented. I clearly also don't know enough about the many electronic or metal subgenres.

If you're looking for "traditional slovenian folk music", there isn't much of that here. In general, a lot of stuff here is probably hard to enjoy without understanding the lyrics, so this is hardly a "list of recommendations".

I fucked around and made a spotify list:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5he5MilGBYYYYoTjkNOkJg
... but a lot of bands from here are missing. I might make a youtube list down the road.

Record labels represented: Kapa, ZARŠ, Rx:tx, Kamizdat, Beton, Wudisban, ŠOP Records, Moonlee, God Bless This Mess... To more mainstream ones: Nika, Menart / KifKif, Helidon, and ofc. ZKP RTVLJ / RTVS

Happy to get more recommendations, it will remain a work in progress.

No offense if your band isn't here.

• Chart updated: 01/02/2021 16:15
• (Created: 04/02/2018 16:31).
• Chart size: 72 albums.

There are 3 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Slovenia has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 3 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

• Summary
• Composition
• Ratings
• Favourites
• Comments
• Your feedback

View the complete list of 53,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.

Sort by

• Overall Rank
• Num. Charts
• Avg. Rating
• Num. Ratings
• Release Date
• Title
• Artist
• Date Added

11. (=)

Egon 

 Mito

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

A rapper from the Maribor's Tekochee Kru collective (see next entry). Not the most amazing rapper technically, but through time emerged as the most interesting one in this group. The older he gets, the more he's concerned with current political affairs, and the more interesting producers he surrounds himself with. Egon is not really from that part of his career though, it's his solo debut, and the subject matter here isn't anything too deep, but it's more.. rapping about rapping, rapping about other shittier rappers, rapping about partying, women... Basically it's an extension of what Tekochee Kru were about. Regardless, it's just a super consistent album, full of creative lines (1), and nice beats, mostly provided by the Tekochee Kru's Šuljo. The album does take a while to get going, I'm not a huge fan of most of the first third of the album, which changes with the "skit" Pobral sn vse rime na ito ("I took all rhymes on ito"). This track + the stretch that follows is just great.
Track picks: Mam problem niam problema, Neki posebnež, Egon.

Other albums: In 2018 he released a very solid Bratstvo in estradstvo, where a lot of production came from YNGFirefly, who he also paired with in OYGN (album was called Skurjen spomin). Good beats, although I think they sometimes don't fit his flow very well. Plenty of excellent tracks though, see Janez Novak (lampooning our current PM [as of december 2020, i suspect it won't take much longer...] and his supporters), or Vetrnice, Črni Tona, Penzija.

(1) My favourite, but a bit untranslatable "Pri semaforu naredim salto ko v x-games reklami / drzno, da me še Travis gleda pastrani"
(2) https://youtu.be/8v90oHb5ltc [First added to this chart: 12/01/2020]

Year of Release:

2011

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

2

Rank in 2011:

3,016

Rank in 2010s:

33,005

Overall Rank:

119,464

Average Rating:

 74 (1 vote)

Comments:

0

12. (=)

Adijo Stari, Kaki Scenarij 

 Tekochee Kru

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

The 7 member hip hop crew (Staš, Gersh, Uno/Luga, Emkej, Mito, Šuljo, Sniki), coming from Maribor - not the first rappers from Maribor (1) mind you, but probably the most creative and the ones who made the biggest impact. Thematically this is just guys in their early 20s. Booze, girls, crew. To more specific things like one member's car or another member's cooking. I'll be honest, none of the guys here come across as particularly charming, or somebody I'd love to hang out with (at least in their 2006 selves). But that hardly matters, does it? At times this is just ridiculously creative, with hilarious punchlines, puns or other wordplay (2). Emkej and Gersh stand out the most. Šuljo on the other hand is the real star with some of the most creative beats at that point in slovenian hip hop scene.

Track picks: Veronika - trying to get into a girl's pants, with an inexplicable hook ("Veronika doesn't poo, when she pees, she pees out lemonade .. when she farts, it smells like avocado" ), and Emkej inadvertently admitting he has a small dick. Also Glavni si, Ein Auto Ein Mann.

Other: I think i saw somewhere that this was their second album (not sure what was the first), while its follow up - Sabljasti tiger (2014) is a decent album with some highlights (Madmeti, Nevretenčari), but I prefer the style of production that this album has. Solo wise, Mito and Emkej ended up being the most prolific. Mito I mentioned, Emkej I quite liked on Šmorn, but on Znajdi se (2012) he already matched his shitty uninspiring themes of weed and women with equally uninspiring production. Didn't bother with anything after that. From others I can only think of Šuljo's work - as a producer he's been quite busy, and he even released a solo album (Scrap Metal (2018)) - decent, but not on this chart.

(1) https://youtu.be/EeL40JrTOZA there were these kids rapping about how the rough life in Maribor (though not gonna lie Ezy-G has got a pretty great flow and voice)
(2) untranslatable sori
"ne prodajaj špike, pero, da si kresno kero / ti ne potisneš če bi mel vse babe v leru"
"delaš si svoj demo zaj se pravi rep začel bo / zmedo folk na sceni tak kot penzioniste evro"
"si potencial ko kus kus / puni reefa voziš folk okol ko bus / fejkom rečeš tak kot lasse – kjuss(tschüss)"
"evo bleferja, če se lepo potrudiš danes pofukaš pavzerja"
"ko boš hoto bit to kar si, se spomni da krokar si" [First added to this chart: 12/01/2020]

Year of Release:

2007

Appears in:

1 chart

Rank in 2007:

None

Rank in 2000s:

None

Average Rating:

 74 (1 vote)

Comments:

0

13. (=)

Mizerika 

 Demolition Group

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

My early memories of Demolition Group are mainly of lead singer Goran Šalamon, sitting topless and sweaty in video for their biggest hit (I assume), Dež (1). Despite that trauma, I always loved that song, although haven't heard much else from them. Turns out their late 90s style was nothing like what they sounded like in their early years. Maybe taking a cue from Laibach (see next entry), a lot of Slovene music in the mid to late 80s had to take elements from industrial music. This album also adds post punk and dance music to the mix, and the result is honestly pretty damn good. Another label that seems to describe this stuff is "electronic body music" which i frankly haven't heard before and i'm still not sure if it's a good one.

Track picks: Gaba d'na, Right is all right.

(1) Video for Dež https://youtu.be/uFk4HQRjWmU
For the album (1998's Neovangelij), this song is recorded as a duet with a Slovenian pop singer Helena Blagne, and it sucks balls. The album itself is decent. Haven't heard the rest of their pretty extensive discography. [First added to this chart: 12/01/2020]

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

2

Rank in 1986:

1,141

Rank in 1980s:

11,338

Overall Rank:

105,712

Average Rating:

 74 (3 votes)

Comments:

0

14. (=)

Nova Akropola 

 Laibach

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Most famous slovenian musical export, in recent years probably most known for performing in North Korea. To me they always seemed more interesting conceptually than musically. When you consider in what way their beginnings were tied to the titoist regime of ex-Yugoslavia, you can understand why a performance in North Korea fits their context rather perfectly.

They are basically finding most of their inspiration in political obsession with imagery and iconography. Art as propaganda, tied to military fetishism. One of their artistic ideas was to tie their music to the concept of a fictional state (NSK - neue slowenische kunst, german for "new slovenian art", which alongside their name, Laibach (old german / nazi name for Ljubljana), spurned some controversy), including issuing their own passports and everything. And their (NSK collective, not just Laibach) members' art work is supposed to be seen as work in interest of this nation (as said, art as propaganda). Obviously, what they do is take the ideas that exist in real life, and stretch them to the point of parody. Which is why regimes that draw heavily on imagery and political myths are the most welcome "targets", even though it's hard to say they were directly mocking anybody. I think you can see this concept most at display at something like Leben ist Leben from the Opus dei album (1). Or when they turned Queen's One Vision into a song called "Birth of a nation".

But is their music *good*? Honestly, I can take or leave plenty of their stuff, and I have not yet gotten into much of their post 1991 (slovene independence) work (although Tanz mit Laibach (2) is a banger). But their early stuff, I have to admit, is unlike any industrial music I've heard before. I think this was the time, when they weren't so active in terms of visual art or music videos, instead they released some properly haunting music, that is now known as martial industrial. Nova akropola, the release I chose for my chart, is basically a rerecording (or rerelease in some cases I suppose) of a lot of this material that got recorded in 83-85 and released as various singles or live albums.

Track picks: Vojna Poema, Država, Nova akropola

(1) https://youtu.be/LB9lObWclFQ
(2) https://youtu.be/Glu9wA4HjE0 [First added to this chart: 12/01/2020]

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

8 charts

Rank Score:

19

Rank in 1986:

475

Rank in 1980s:

4,738

Overall Rank:

37,884

Average Rating:

 73 (10 votes)

Comments:

0

15. (=)

First Step 

 TRUS!

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Like many other bands that got through the "club marathon" tour, they came, recorded an album, toured around Slovenia, then disbanded with their members off to other projects. It's a shame, I think they had a pretty unique sound.

Track picks: Askew, Whale Song [First added to this chart: 02/27/2020]

Year of Release:

2013

Appears in:

4 charts

Rank Score:

4

Rank in 2013:

2,213

Rank in 2010s:

22,771

Overall Rank:

84,368

Average Rating:

 74 (2 votes)

Comments:

0

16. (=)

Jate 

 Nina Bulatovix

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

With the guy who looks like Milan Mladenović, and a lineup of bass + drums + vocals, you're taking cues from some of the best ex-yugo bands of the 80s. Can't miss. Excellent post punk, fantastic live. They released another album prior to this one, which for some reason I'm only finding out now, but have been apparently hibernating lately. Their name is referring to Nina Bulatović, a bureaucrat they had some beef with some regarding financing in culture. I think.

Track picks: V okove, Brecht, Psihiatrija. [First added to this chart: 02/26/2020]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

1 chart

Rank in 2014:

None

Rank in 2010s:

None

Average Rating:

 73 (1 vote)

Comments:

0

17. (=)

Listen To Nebukadnezar 

 Moveknowledgement

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

This is N'toko's band. Initially an 8-member group, they eventually paired down to the essential 5, making them a more "standard" act somewhere at the crossroads of rock, rap, dub. At their worst, they sound like RHCP trying something new, but not entirely succeeding, at their best they created something rather unique for Slovenian music scene. N'toko's lyrics aren't as good as they are in Slovene, but they aren't bad either (there are a lot of Slovenian musicians trying to make their music in english, and the results can be pretty cringeworthy).

Track picks: Chemicalas, Listen to Nebukadnezar
Other albums: Pump Down (2011) is decent, and I quite liked See (2014; top 50), esp. Moodswings, which has got to be their best song. [First added to this chart: 02/27/2020]

Year of Release:

2007

Appears in:

1 chart

Rank in 2007:

None

Rank in 2000s:

None

Average Rating:

 74 (1 vote)

Comments:

0

18. (=)

Državni Ljubimci 

 Pankrti

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

#2 in the series of me not chosing the "correct" album from the band. The famous one is their debut, Dolgcajt. In which, after several years of performing, Pankrti (honestly the ideal name if you wanted to make a punk band, it means "bastards", but also - "pank" = punk) finally make it through the watchful eye of the yugo authorities and release an album. It's a solid one with some iconic songs (my favourite Zelenye berega peysažov (Ljubica), or Metka, Kruha in iger...). But I think it's got its reputation mostly just because it was the first. Državni ljubimci just improves their songwriting and sound altogether. Truth be told though, i always found them to be a little too... iunno, maybe manufactured? For a punk band. They got my future professor at uni (of Sociology of creativity) writing half of their lyrics. Still, it's the most complete album in the Ljubljana punk scene anyway.

Track picks: Za železno zaveso, Ostan rajš pr men, Ubi če nočeš umret. [First added to this chart: 11/30/2020]

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

1 chart

Rank in 1982:

None

Rank in 1980s:

None

Average Rating:

 74 (1 vote)

Comments:

0

19. (=)

Smetana Za Frende 

 Ali En

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

#3 in the series of wrong albums by the right artists. Ali En aka Ali Džafić, later also known as Dalaj Eegol and somewhat inexplicably as Recycle Man was one of the first rappers in Slovenia, and indisputably the first one to release a proper hip hop album - Leva Scena (1994). Ali, or rather the entire early hip hop scene in Slovenia was tightly connected to the Ljubljana's skating scene, and, musically, to the funk scene (Ali himself was part of Heavy Les Wanted, and both his albums under the AliEn moniker are heavily funk-tinted). This was as street as Slovenia could get at this point, so at least it got some credibility. More fuel to the fire was this absolutely ridiculous attempt at hip hop (1) by Jan Plestenjak, nowadays an established pop musician, at the time more or less a rich kid who was sent to USA to study jazz guitar, and got enamored by hip hop. Maybe he rapped to piss off his parents. Who knows. Ali En dedicated a song to him (maybe the first ever diss track in Slovenia), that actually ended up not being on the CD version of the album, apparently due to some lawsuit fears. The songs on Leva scena got iconic anyway. First (title) track is essentially another diss track, this time calling out pretty much 80% of slovenian music scene by name. The second track is vaguely about a pedo high school professor, and got infamous for its vulgarity. The whole thing was very controversial, even earned a ban at some stations apparently, but it's why its reputation was as high as it was later on. But.. Iconic or not, and I do value that album a lot, Ali En just.. isn't a very good rapper. On some songs he's doing well, and he carries the first track by sheer aggression, or some others with playfulness. But overall, his flow can get a bit awkward, there aren't particularly great oneliners or wordplay or anything. The music is pretty good though.

So this is where the second album works for me. It's less of a hip hop album than the first one. It's funky, like I mentioned, but it's also pretty unique. The whole album basically reeks of weed, and if there's a common thread throughout, its in complete disregard for any common song structures or sensible lyricism. He's doing some rapping here and there, but it's not something that dominates the album.

Track picks: Zadeta si lepa Ljubljana and Hašiš are iconic. But there's also General-Tuja-General-K., Krpan je Krpan.

(1) https://youtu.be/XmKyhmxtKw8 you don't need to understand the lyrics to enjoy this. The beginnings of slovene hip hop guys, be respectful. [First added to this chart: 12/05/2020]

Year of Release:

1999

Appears in:

1 chart

Rank in 1999:

None

Rank in 1990s:

None

Average Rating:

 74 (1 vote)

Comments:

0

20. (=)

Kabáre 

 Slon In Sadež

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Slon in Sadež are a comedic duo. It feels weird ranking it here. But just on nostalgia alone, and how much of their humor actually held up since its release, this could be way higher as well.

This album is structured as a radio play, half tracks follow our two protagonists on a roadtrip across slovenia, where they encounter various characters, the other half are proper songs with random themes. Their later albums veered a bit too much towards parody, but a lot of this stuff is just properly absurd humor. Examples - Za Metoda goriš - a song about Slovenia's most famous serial killer (Metod Trobec), known to burn women after killing them ("he really didn't know how to treat women; good beginning, a rather unusual result" ; with a line in chorus being "You're burning for Metod.. baby"). Then there is Reper - a pisstake on a then emerging Slovenian hip hop scene.

And then the final part of the album, influenced heavily by the 9/11 consequences and US intervention in Afghanistan. Rožica is genius and still relevant; a story about an endangered flower, that gets trampled by enemies, but gets payback with the help of NATO ("it's true that everything got fucked to bits / but at least we protected our national interest"). The story (spoken word) tracks in this part of the album, in which the american soldiers on an aircraft carrier are determined to reach Afghanistan despite realizing that they can't reach Afghanistan by sea, are also hilarious. They end it with Taliban reggae, which... is well, quite something.

Other releases: Komercialne pizde (2005) is too much of a straight parody album ("we're mocking Siddharta on this album.. And boy bands on this one...") to really work, but some of it is still pretty funny. Their Radio Slon in Sadež is a collection of mostly solid jokes or parody takes on radio programming (some of it has aged badly though). Lost track after that... [First added to this chart: 12/02/2020]

Year of Release:

2003

Appears in:

1 chart

Rank in 2003:

None

Rank in 2000s:

None

Average Rating:

 74 (1 vote)

Comments:

0

• « prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• ...
• 7
• 8
• next »
• Goto Page: 

Total albums: 72. Page 2 of 8

Don't agree with this chart? Create your own from the My Charts page!

Slovenia composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	0	0%
1970s	5	7%
1980s	15	21%
1990s	8	11%
2000s	19	26%
2010s	23	32%
2020s	2	3%

Artist	Albums	%
TRUS!	1	1%
Octex	1	1%
Čompe	1	1%
Mrigo	1	1%
Zmelkoow	1	1%
5. Element	1	1%
Your Gay Thoughts	1	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	71	99%
	1	1%

Slovenia chart changes

Slovenia similar charts

• Top 12 Music Albums of 2017 by 19loveless91 (2019)

Slovenia similarity to your chart(s)

Other custom charts by 19loveless91

Slovenia ratings

Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.

Sort ratings

• Rating
• Date updated
• Member

Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
95/100	12/28/2020 21:37	Rhyner	1,382	99/100
100/100	12/23/2020 11:47	LedZep	1,079	84/100
100/100	12/22/2020 22:58	KitchenSink	14	100/100

• Related links:
• Top charts

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Slovenia favourites

Showing all 1 members who have added this chart as a favourite

KitchenSink

Slovenia comments

Showing all 3 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  

100/100

From KitchenSink 12/22/2020 22:59

fantastic work, gonna be spending plenty of time combing through this. really appreciate the notes given how few of these artists I'm familiar with

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

From 19loveless91 12/22/2020 08:18

Sure, it's also pre-independence (1991), if the artist was from SR Slovenia

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

From cestuneblague 12/22/2020 04:04

Does this include Yugoslavia?

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Slovenia

Let us know what you think of this chart by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!