It’s the Sombr-Euros!
Here’s a selection of music from our friends across the European continent.
At the time of writing the Euros are taking place. The quadrennial get-together for Europe’s national football teams.
This is an occasion I’ve historically enjoyed – and still do. It was a chance to see players like Johann Cruyff, Gunter Netzer and Pavel Nedved for the first time. To compare different styles of play from the disciplined Danes to the polished Portuguese via the youth of Yugoslavia.
Now it’s all a bit different. The front four for Portugal have all played in the Premier League - most still do. Yugoslavia collapsed into competing nations. And this year the disciplined Danes lowered their emotional guard to pour out their heartfelt gratitude that Christian Eriksen, whose heart stopped beating on the pitch in the first game, is now recovering.
So it is with the music. Occasionally the NME ran a Neue Deutsche Harte special. John Peel would have a working holiday in Prague and come back with a fistful of new tapes and records. But European music didn’t sound like the bands we knew from Hemel Hempstead or East Kilbride.
Now it’s evened out. Listening to this collection of tracks it’s not hard to hear the post-punk inflections of Finland’s Here Todays or work out that Belgium’s Slow Crush own a copy of Loveless. Or possibly that’s me and my bias. Perhaps when I edited this list that’s what I gravitated towards – the more familiar, all of which is instantly available now via Spotify and elsewhere.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good collection of tracks. And it all sounds subtly different from the Anglophone world. It’s just that these days you wouldn’t be surprised if Triangulo de Amor Bizarro (taking their name from a 1980s New Order single) appeared in a bar near you after lockdown.
Tempora mutantur et nos in illis mutamur.
Tracklist:
Umbrellas, the Here Todays (Finalnd)
Cosmic bruise, Clara Luiza (Austria)
My faults, The Notwist (Germany)
Pensees massacre, Ulan Bator (France)
Amigos del Genero Humano, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro (Spain)
June evenings, Air France (Sweden)
Es tudo o que eu queria, Pega Monstro (Portugal)
Glow, Slow Crush (Belgium)
Union, The End of Electronics (Russia)
Over the fence, Smoking Alaska (Netherlands)
Chin, Sleep Party People (Denmark)
Fel i fod, Adwaith (Wales)
Sunny afternoon, The Kinks (England)
The first big weekend, Arab Strap (Scotland)