Nothing sweeter, at least on a musical level, than discovering a band you didn’t know existed. While perusing the stacks of vinyl at End Of An Ear in Austin, I came upon an LP by Serbian prog rockers and psychedelic shamen Igra Staklenih Perli (named after Herman Hesse’s “The Glass Bead Game”). On the recommendation of one of the vinyl junkies who works in the store, I bought the album and played it as soon as I got home. My mind was immediately and thoroughly blown. What an amazing fucking band! Intense, expansive, epic and surging with brain-tingling electricity. This shit could raise the kundalini in a dead man’s spine.

Igra Staklenih Perli formed in 1976 and recorded their first full-length record in 1978. The group members were Zoran Lakić (keyboards) Vojkan Rakić (guitar) and Predrag Vuković (percussion) and Draško “Dracula” Nikodijević (bass guitar, lead vocals). Melding lysergic soundscapes with deep propulsive rhythms and punky vocals, the band creates a witches brew that is part Pink Floyd, some Can, Hawkwind and their own style of hardcore metallic drone.

The band called their sound “stream of consciousness music” and it was a bold and prescient direction to take in the midst of the punk explosion. Neither ahead of or behind the times, Igra Staklenih Perli are timeless. To my ears, this is fresh…and eternal.

Igra Staklenih Perli are still performing and recording (in various constellations). Check out their website.

The two songs in this clip are from their eponymous debut album. Titles: “Putovanje u plavo (Voyage Into Blue)” and “Gusterov trg (Return To Lyzzard Square).” You can buy the album on vinyl and CD - beautifully remastered by Gary Ramon of Third Eye Studios. Get it here. Amazon has it as well.

Play loud!