bizarre - dream reverance (beautica, 1994) video free download

bizarre came together in 1992. in the early stage they were largely influenced by the post - MBV dreampop scene. after causing a considerable stir in the underground, bizarre released their debut cassette-only album called -beautica- in spring 1994. it consisted of swirly, FX-ridden guitars, layers of hushy vocals and a sensitive atmosphere of beauty, melancholy and noise.

-beautica- received very positive feedback and in alternative circles it was hugely successful. although still in the frames of "normal music", -beautica- already gave hints of the weirdness that followed... by that time the musical and mental landscape of the band had already grown far too... bizarre... to continue with the same kind of self-expression.therefore a 2-year old period followed, during which bizarre recorded what would be the follow-up to the first tape. the only reason it took so long was that they were seldom completely satisfied with their tracks.

in spring 1996 bizarre released their second album - café de flor - they had not only succeeded in changing their music, but it seemed that they had completely reinvented themselves. the recognizable bizarre blueprints were still there - messy guitars, silent vocals and escapist approach. everything else around it had changed... weird beats, lots of machinery, absolutely illogical constructions and very odd selection of samples (sly & the family stone, mickey heart, marta sebestyen) created a concoction that, at first didn't seem so easy to digest at all. with changing the methods but maintaining the distinctive atmosphere, - café de flor - sounded like a perfect complex follow-up to - beautica - , a landmark in natural progress. the strangest thing is that - café de flor - still spells POP in its own psychotic, sick way, maybe even more than the pop-orientated debut.

the rest of 1996 could only be described as a serious case of post-release hangover. having been completed the chapter via officially outing the material felt like looking in the mirror and realizing: the face you see is far too familiar. further aspirations seemed unimaginable. together with it came serious considerations of changing the name, among the rest...

by the beginning of 1997 everybody had settled their minds on making music without trying to analyse it inch by inch. the real catalyst was actually a live performance with spring heel jack in january. fall 97 saw bizarre having survived the comedown, with 8 new tracks on reels to feel genuinely confident of. the range of influences had grown wider, no-name minimalism of the more marginal regions of contemporary dance music, l'esprit nouveau in guitar use, a much bolder approach to vocals would probably describe it best. the new tracks are varying from high to low, all mixing serious habit of experimentalism with the omnipresent sense of tune. with every piece of music bizarre are also trying to create a certain piece of mood, hoping that for every track there is a real-life situation to what it can be perfectly adapted, hoping that the track becomes impossible to distinguish from that situation every time you experience it.

throughout its shortish career, bizarre has had its own strong mentality as a band. they have always stood for escapism in music, support of the underground and contempt for the press. bizarre are a circle of five vague figures (PR consultant of tartu city government, photo model, neuronphase DJ, semiotics student and producer of radio ads) who are completely sure that they can express their way of living, conversations, views and memories into music. as many times as they have been interviewed they have come up with some words that descibe bizarre best: "beauty, despair, memories, dreams, substances, moodswings, escapism..." or, as one of estonia's most progressive music critics tiit kusnets summed it up in one word: "relationshit".

bizarre is not simply music, it's a mentality - fragile, educated and sensitive in its essence but most certainly undescribable in print. But it grows on you anyway. so get addicted...