5th August 2025
Hello everyone :) I'm back from Spain now (I have been for a few days lol), so hopefully updates should be pretty regular again. Continuing on from the last posts theme of giving some love to indie pop from around the world, I thought today I would introduce a little album from the Czech Republic. Enjoy!
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Formed around 1987 in what was then the socialist state of Czechoslovakia, Mňága a Žďorp (Czech slang for "shit and junk", apparently) was founded in quite a dark period for Czech music. The jazz influenced Česká alternativní scéna (Czech alternative scene), a direct middle finger to the government sanctioned pop of the time, was all but killed in crackdowns by the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Despite this, Mňága a Žďorp managed to put out a 3 track debut EP, Rock Debut 8, in 1989 - the very same year which saw the fall of the restrictive regime. With government control now no longer an issue, Mňága a Žďorp was now free to do whatever the hell they wanted. And that they did. They adopted a strange sailor boy aesthetic... Almost all their performances saw the band dressed in sailor costumes (now days they seem to have dropped this. I don't blame them because I don't think many people want to see a load of dads dressed as sailors... No offence guys!).
Two years into the freshly liberated Czechoslovakia, Mňága a Žďorp released their debut album Made in Valmez on N.A.R. Records. It was named for the town in Eastern Czechia the band came from. At around 40 minutes long, it's a rock solid little album filled with many jangles and, suprisngly, saxophones. You can definetly see the jazzy Czech alternative influence there. Every song on it is very consistant in quality. However that does mean that Made in Valmez doesn't really reach that many high highs, just "somewhere around the middle" highs. I say "that many" because the phenomonal opener, "Hodinový Hotel", reaches heights so high that it blasts through the stratosphere and heads on it's way to Mars. I sound dramatic (maybe I am) but gosh this track is great. Brilliant, pessimistic lyricism, perhaps taking notes from Morrissey, and deadpan vocals paired with the very strong instrumentals carried by the wailing saxophone creates a meloncholic masterpiece. Hodinový Hotel is a song about the pretty depressing lives of those who occupy an hour hotel (a hotel in which a room is rented by the hour instead of by the day), including characters such as a crazy old lady and a mournful war veteran with arthritis. The group chorus creates the effect of the hotel guests singing together, because despite being so different they're all in the same boring hotel living the same boring lives. The lyrics are in Czech, but vocalist Petr Fiala did a great job on them so I would encourage you to translate them. This is my personal favourite lyric:
"A veteran from the legions is cursing about arthritis
He's thinking back to Emma, how beautiful she was
All the flower pots already know this story"
The rest of the album is also great, and also a bit less depressing (maybe. I haven't translated all of it...). I paticularly like "Mizerný den" with its fakeout post-punk intro and the repetive title track. Czech journalist Jindřich Šídlo called that song the Czech answer to "Where is My Mind?" by the Pixies. Maybe a bit of a stretch but I can see it. Released in a time of much political upheaval, the Made in Valmez LP is not about politics but instead ordinary life, and I have much respect for it because of that. Mňága a Žďorp is regarded domestically as one of Czechia's most impoertant bands, and of course their debut left a big impact as one of the first records in a newly free nation. Globally, however, I feel like the little group of sailor boys gets mostly ignored by todays popkids. So why not give them a listen when you can?
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