Belgrado El Encuentro 12″
El Encuentro finds BELGRADO swerving further away from their colder, guitar-driven brutalist roots of XMAL DEUTSCHLAND/SIGLO XX-influenced post-punk and into something more bright and synth-and-pulse-heavy, much like when JOY DIVISION morphed into NEW ORDER. This natural progression is still done from a very underground lens, just rerouted through drum machines and flickering lights instead of blown speakers and basement sweat. Melodious and purposeful like a late-afternoon haze somewhere between a club and a factory floor, this EP continues the journey that started with the Intra Apogeum LP. The bass still carries that familiar post-punk tension, now snapped into a Movida-like rhythm, while the drums and synths cut in and out in a very new wave way. Patrcyja Proniewska’s vocals drift above it all, distant and otherworldly, adding to the overall sense of retro modernism. Sure, the “more synths equals less punk” crowd will roll their eyes, but that argument’s tired. BELGRADO is reshaping their sound, like it or not, and they don’t seem to care about anyone else’s opinion—that makes this EP more punk than most, because they don’t conform to expectations. Neither should you!