Popcycle
Encyclopedia
Popcycle was a Serbia
n britpop
band from Bečej
, formed as a faction of the popular Serbian britpop band Eva Braun
.
meets Stipe
and Buckley
". The band was formed by Eva Braun
members Milan Glavaški (guitar, vocals) and Ljubomir Rajić (drums), who, having performed as a cover band under the stodgy name Gervasius Twinkleminkleson (the name of an Alan Ford comic book character), were joined by Goran Obradović (bass). While awaiting for the Eva Braun magnum opus
, the album Pop music, featuring the song "Kopija" ("The Copy"), a hit song originally written for Popcycle, and dissatisfied with the atmosphere within group, the three focused their creativity on Popcycle, frequently performing live and gaining a loyal fan base.
After the July 1996 performance at the Belgrade SKC rooftop, the original Eva Braun lineup disbanded. At the time, Popcycle recorded a promotional video for the song "Orbitalna putovanja" ("Orbital travellings"), a science fiction
mini film directed by Uroš Stojanović, presenting the band to a wider audience. The band also signed a contract with Automatik Records through which the band their debut EP
Orbitalna putovanja, released during the Summer of 1996, composed of five songs. The entire release featured Ljubomir Rajić recording the keyboard sections on all tracks beside the drums. Being a conceptual release
, united with the band inspiration with space
as the main lyrical theme, the band wanted to present an authentic release influenced by the Beatles EP Magical Mystery Tour and the Idoli eponymous EP
.
influences. The new lineup had their first live appearance at the Serbian Independence Day
movie premier, performing a cover version of the R.E.M.
song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
". The following year, the band entered the Belgrade
Do-re-mi studio from February 9 until March 21 and made recordings produced by Predrag Pejić and featuring guest appearances by Deže Molnar (saxophone), Željko Đurđevac (harmonica), Bela Farkaš (saxophone), Vladimir Nežić (trombon) and Dragan Kozarčić (trumpet).
The material appeared on the debut album, Popcyclopedia, released by Automatik Records on May 1997. Composed of fourteen songs, including the tracks "Vilenjaci" ("The Elves"), for which a promotional video was recorded directed by Aca Ilić, "Vrli novi dan" ("Brave New Day") and "Ona zna" ("She Knows"), the band presented their vision of pop music combined with esoteric lyrics, influenced by at the time popular britpop
music, which was praised by both the audience and the critics. During the same year, the song "Devojka iz svemira" ("A Girl From Outer Space"), originally released on Orbitalna putovanja, appeared on the various artists compilation Ovo je zemlja za nas?!? (This Is The Land For Us?!?), released by Radio BOOM 93 and B92.
Two years later, in 1999, two songs from the second studio album, "Vilenjaci" ("The Elves") and "Leptiri" ("The Butterflies"), appeared on the Automatik Records various artists compilation Recordings. During the same year, the band recorded a cover version of the Split
band Fit song "Zaboravit ću sve" ("I Will Forget Everything"), originally released on the 1988 album Daj mi ruku (Give Me Your Hand), for the B92 various artists cover album Korak napred 2 koraka nazad
(A Step Forward 2 Step Backwards). The recording, co-produced by the band with Jan Šaš and Dušan Ševarlić, featured guest appearances by producer Ševarlić and Veliki Prezir
frontman Vladimir Kolarić on backing vocals. This was the last recording the band had made, as Popcycle disbanded due to Glavaški and Obradović's return to Eva Braun
.
club Penny Lane, performing their well-known songs, including "Dorian Gray", "Digitalni san" ("Digital Dream"), "Još malo" ("A Bit More"), "Od mene" ("From Me"), and "Orbitalna putovanja" ("Orbital Travellings"). During the same year, as a part of the Automatik Records label Arhiva reissues, the album Popcyclopedia had been rereleased on CD.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
band from Bečej
Becej
Bečej is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District in Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 25,703, while Bečej municipality has 40,877 inhabitants. It is multiethnic town, with Hungarians and Serbs as largest ethnic groups...
, formed as a faction of the popular Serbian britpop band Eva Braun
Eva Braun (band)
Eva Braun is a britpop/pop rock band from Bečej, Serbia, notable as one of the most important bands of the Vojvodina pop-rock scene of the 1990s...
.
Formation, rise to prominence (1994-1996)
The first signs of the band existence were noted in the magazine Ritam (Rhythm) on early Summer of 1994, where the rock journalist Bojana Žikic described the band as "Gordon GanoGordon Gano
Gordon James Gano is an American musician. He is best known for being the singer, guitarist and songwriter of American alternative rock band Violent Femmes.-Early life:...
meets Stipe
Michael Stipe
John Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...
and Buckley
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
". The band was formed by Eva Braun
Eva Braun (band)
Eva Braun is a britpop/pop rock band from Bečej, Serbia, notable as one of the most important bands of the Vojvodina pop-rock scene of the 1990s...
members Milan Glavaški (guitar, vocals) and Ljubomir Rajić (drums), who, having performed as a cover band under the stodgy name Gervasius Twinkleminkleson (the name of an Alan Ford comic book character), were joined by Goran Obradović (bass). While awaiting for the Eva Braun magnum opus
Magnum opus
Magnum opus , from the Latin meaning "great work", refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of a writer, artist, or composer.-Related terms:Sometimes the term magnum opus is used to refer to simply "a great work" rather than "the...
, the album Pop music, featuring the song "Kopija" ("The Copy"), a hit song originally written for Popcycle, and dissatisfied with the atmosphere within group, the three focused their creativity on Popcycle, frequently performing live and gaining a loyal fan base.
After the July 1996 performance at the Belgrade SKC rooftop, the original Eva Braun lineup disbanded. At the time, Popcycle recorded a promotional video for the song "Orbitalna putovanja" ("Orbital travellings"), a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
mini film directed by Uroš Stojanović, presenting the band to a wider audience. The band also signed a contract with Automatik Records through which the band their debut EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Orbitalna putovanja, released during the Summer of 1996, composed of five songs. The entire release featured Ljubomir Rajić recording the keyboard sections on all tracks beside the drums. Being a conceptual release
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, united with the band inspiration with space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
as the main lyrical theme, the band wanted to present an authentic release influenced by the Beatles EP Magical Mystery Tour and the Idoli eponymous EP
VIS Idoli (EP)
VIS Idoli was the first and only EP by the Serbian new wave band Idoli. The cover of the EP is the Red Nude, an act by Amedeo Modigliani.- History :...
.
Lineup change, disbandment (1996-1999)
After the EP release, in October of the same year, the band was joined by a keyboard player and backing vocalist Nataša Katić, a former Mary Poppins member, becoming a quartet following the SuedeSuede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
influences. The new lineup had their first live appearance at the Serbian Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
movie premier, performing a cover version of the R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
"It's the End of the World as We Know It " is a song by the rock band R.E.M., which appeared on their 1987 album Document, the 1988 compilation Eponymous, and the 2006 compilation And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S Years 1982–1987...
". The following year, the band entered the Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
Do-re-mi studio from February 9 until March 21 and made recordings produced by Predrag Pejić and featuring guest appearances by Deže Molnar (saxophone), Željko Đurđevac (harmonica), Bela Farkaš (saxophone), Vladimir Nežić (trombon) and Dragan Kozarčić (trumpet).
The material appeared on the debut album, Popcyclopedia, released by Automatik Records on May 1997. Composed of fourteen songs, including the tracks "Vilenjaci" ("The Elves"), for which a promotional video was recorded directed by Aca Ilić, "Vrli novi dan" ("Brave New Day") and "Ona zna" ("She Knows"), the band presented their vision of pop music combined with esoteric lyrics, influenced by at the time popular britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
music, which was praised by both the audience and the critics. During the same year, the song "Devojka iz svemira" ("A Girl From Outer Space"), originally released on Orbitalna putovanja, appeared on the various artists compilation Ovo je zemlja za nas?!? (This Is The Land For Us?!?), released by Radio BOOM 93 and B92.
Two years later, in 1999, two songs from the second studio album, "Vilenjaci" ("The Elves") and "Leptiri" ("The Butterflies"), appeared on the Automatik Records various artists compilation Recordings. During the same year, the band recorded a cover version of the Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
band Fit song "Zaboravit ću sve" ("I Will Forget Everything"), originally released on the 1988 album Daj mi ruku (Give Me Your Hand), for the B92 various artists cover album Korak napred 2 koraka nazad
Korak napred 2 koraka nazad
- Additional personnel :* Škart — album cover [design]* Velja Mijanović — engineer [post-producer], mastered by- References :* * EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-43...
(A Step Forward 2 Step Backwards). The recording, co-produced by the band with Jan Šaš and Dušan Ševarlić, featured guest appearances by producer Ševarlić and Veliki Prezir
Veliki Prezir
Veliki Prezir is a Serbian britpop/alternative rock band from Vrbas.- 1990s :...
frontman Vladimir Kolarić on backing vocals. This was the last recording the band had made, as Popcycle disbanded due to Glavaški and Obradović's return to Eva Braun
Eva Braun (band)
Eva Braun is a britpop/pop rock band from Bečej, Serbia, notable as one of the most important bands of the Vojvodina pop-rock scene of the 1990s...
.
One-off reunion (2007)
On May 4, 2007, the band reunited for a one-off show at the Milan Glavaški solo concert, held at the BečejBecej
Bečej is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District in Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 25,703, while Bečej municipality has 40,877 inhabitants. It is multiethnic town, with Hungarians and Serbs as largest ethnic groups...
club Penny Lane, performing their well-known songs, including "Dorian Gray", "Digitalni san" ("Digital Dream"), "Još malo" ("A Bit More"), "Od mene" ("From Me"), and "Orbitalna putovanja" ("Orbital Travellings"). During the same year, as a part of the Automatik Records label Arhiva reissues, the album Popcyclopedia had been rereleased on CD.
Other appearances
- "Devojka iz svemira" (Ovo je zemlja za nas?!?; 1997)
- "Vilenjaci" / "Leptiri" (Recordings; 1999)
- "Zaboravit ću sve" (Korak napred 2 koraka nazadKorak napred 2 koraka nazad- Additional personnel :* Škart — album cover [design]* Velja Mijanović — engineer [post-producer], mastered by- References :* * EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-43...
; 1999)
External links
- Official website
- Popcycle at YoutubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Popcycle at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Popcycle at Rateyourmusic
- Popcycle at Last.fmLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
- Popcycle at B92.fm