Laza Ristovski
The Green Coast
Puzzles
Figuera
One of the best things about doing deep crate digging and going out on a limb on a few records is that you’re occasionally reminded that the world is really fucking big, and that just because you’ve never heard of someone doesn’t mean they’re not a superstar.
Before I started to research this post, I knew nothing about Laza Ritsovski. I bought this record because I gave it a listen at the store and I liked it. That’s as deep as I went. And when I decided that I would feature him here, I figured it would be a bit like King-Kong, or countless other European synthesizer acts that I haven’t yet written about, meaning that I would find next to nothing about him and be forced to kind of bullshit for a bit.
That ended up not being the case. Turns out that Laza was in not just one, but two of the most important bands of the Yugoslav rock scene; Smak and Bijelo Dugme. He wasn’t a founding member of either, but he was in both bands during the apparent heights of their fame (at least, I think so, I’m just going off of Wikipedia, Discogs, and a few prog sites). He probably wasn’t a household name in Yugoslavia, but he was far from a no-name. You could spend hours upon hours in a wikihole just reading up on the bands he was in, let alone his solo career.
Like a lot of keyboardists in prog bands, when Laza went solo he skewed more towards purely electronic music that rock. I’ve skimmed a bit of it, some of it could be classified as new age, other ambient, but some is just hard to define. It’s just…80s electronic music. Too percussive and upbeat to be new age but not fast enough to be disco or dance music. Some of his work reminds me of Mark Schreeve or John Carpenter, but more fun. I highly doubt there are films featuring murder scenes set to the work of Laza Ristovski.
This is exceptionally true for the tracks I’m sharing here, which come from his 1984 album, Roses For A General. It all sounds like video game music for a game that never got made. And I mean that solely as a compliment. It’s just so bright and bouncy. When I play this, I feel like I should be exploring a world in Phantasy Star, or shooting up monsters in Fantasy Zone. Some of it, thanks to synth slap bass and fake steel drums, even has a Super Mario World.
Of the three tracks I’m sharing tonight, the opener “The Green Coast” is the one that gives me the strongest “1989 SEGA” vibes. As the synths burst in seconds in, I feel like my spaceship should be coming down from the clouds, or I should be making a tight turn in my sports car, blonde by my side. The same goes for “Puzzles.” This is so joyful and happy sounding that it reminds of end game credit music. This is some “congratulations for saving the galaxy” music.
The final track “Figueras,” is a bit more low-key. It has a slight mysterious vibe to it, but with overtones that everything is going to be okay. This is the one that gives me the Mario vibes. It’s a bit too heavy on crescendos and solos, but the basic feeling of the track reminds me of a desert level in a Mario game. Although to be entirely honest I can’t place why.
From digging a bit into Ristovski’s discography online, I feel that the album of his that I would like the most is 2/3, which came out just before this one in 1983. That has a slightly darker groove, the kind of thing that a 2019 synthwave act would sample the hell out of without giving any credit. I gotta track that one down.
Might take a break from the oddball European electronic music to bring out oddball Canadian disco. You can decide for yourself if that’s a step up or a step down. I consider it a lateral move.