CAMERAPHONIC

You might scratch your head if any band would record an album full of covers of national anthems. Volk is that album by Slovenian industrial band, Laibach, and that is what Laibach presented to their American fans at Independent in San Francisco on Thursday, September 25th.

Laibach, the Slovenian (Yugoslavian when they were founded in 1979) industrial outfit who employed militarism as a social commentary and reveled in the firestorms they’ve created over the years by way of their attire, art or vague commentaries, are center of a lot of controversy regarding their either far left or right views. Never stepping out of character, they take their art to heart, never swaying, and always seem to leave things open to be misinterpreted.

Their live show is often referred to as being similar to a political rally… and its not hard to see why.

Equipped with 2 big screens that projects beautiful and haunting images, Laibach played all the thirteen songs from Volk with precision, coldness, grand, minimalism, and totalitarian art that only Laibach can deliver.

Besides songs from Volk, Laibach also played some of their well known songs at the encore such as “Achtung!”, “Tanz Mit Laibach”, “Du Bist Unser” and “Das Spiel Ist Aus” to the delight of their fans. All in all, it was fantastic night and it made me leave the venue feeling surprisingly patriotic (albeit for a Yugoslavia of a time past).

Laibach Website | Myspace
Buy Laibach’s albums at Insound!