Go Ost!

An ex-GDR provincial punk on a journey through the former provinces of the Soviet Empire and ex-Yugoslavia: attending the Polski Punky Reggae Party, exploring the Czech Prog-Punk Sonderweg, visiting Jewish conceptual art punks in Hungary, witnessing the encounter between Eastbam and Westbam, meeting neo-Orthodox post-punks with bishop's titles in Macedonia and visiting the industrial birthplace of the Neue Slowenische Kunst movement, at raves in Leningrad and in a Goa communal apartment in Saint Petersburg, among Catholic old-school punks in Poland and Siberian freaks …

Alexander Pehlemann's journey of discovery through the subcultural zones of Eastern Europe is a radically subjective exploration of scenes that have disappeared or transformed, and in some cases have even become museum pieces or part of the cultural establishment. "Go Ost!" is neither a non-fiction book nor an encyclopedia of the underground or resistance movements before the turning point of 1989. Rather, it is a travel guide (and misguide) through territories that remain hidden from the pop hipster with a Western social background. It is committed to an alternative approach to historiography, searching for traces of potential common ground within the subcultural sphere of the post-communist bloc, much like Pehlemann's earlier publication "Spannung. Leistung. Widerstand. Magnetbanduntergrund DDR 1979–1990" and the magazine "Zonic", which he edits.

Included with the book is a CD produced in collaboration with the ZickZack label and Eastblok Music, making previously lost or undiscovered audio documents publicly available, some for the very first time: featuring A.E.Bizottság, Borghesia, Brygada Kryzys, J.M.K.E., Röövel Ööbik, Už jsme doma, F.P.B., Kampec Dolores, Korai Öröm, Vágtázó Halottkémek, Nu & Apa Negra, Disciplina Kicme! and others.

With a foreword by Chris Bohn aka Biba Kopf (editor-in-chief of "The Wire")

Table of Contents

Prologue: Go Ost / East or: On the (Potential) Warsaw Post-Punk Pact

POLAND Western Pomerania / Before Poland / Prehistory: The First Border Crossing

Christoph Tannert: Private Top 5 of Eastern Prog Rock

Jaroslaw Rudiš: Ten Songs from Czechoslovakia

SOVIET UNION/RUSSIA Moments in Concentration

Yuriy Gurzhy: Eight from Ukraine

HUNGARY Fresh from Hungary

Luk Haas: Ten Sounds, Places or Moments from the East

BALTIC STATES Go North-East!

Felix Kubin: Ten from Eastern Europe

(EX-)YUGOSLAVIA Go Jugo Pt. 1. First Moments of Ex-Yugoslavia. From (or Even with) the Abrafaxe to Laibach

Johannes Ullmaier: Thoughts Are Bloc-Free. A Stack of Records from Pre-Ex-Yugoslavia

(EX-)YUGOSLAVIA Go Jugo Pt. 2. Or: What Else Remains to Be Touched Upon

Alexei Monroe: Ten from the Zone

BULGARIA/ROMANIA Go South-East

Robert Meißner: Bloc-Free and Otherwise Free – 10 Albums from 40 Years

Chris Bohn: Trans Eastern Europe Express

Liner Notes: Compilation "Go Ost! Klang – Zeit – Raum: Reisen in die Subkulturzonen Osteuropas. 1982–2013"