Tomislav Simović - Visitors From The Galaxy (2017)

Socialist science-fiction classic Visitors from the Galaxy (aka Gosti iz galaksije, Monstrum Z Galaxie Arkana, Gäste Aus Der Galaxis, I Visitatori Della Galassia Arcana, Goście Z Galaktyki Arkana, Los Visitantes De La Galaxia) was directed by the only Oscar winning director from ex-Yugoslavia Dusan Vukotic in 1981. The ground-breaking early electronica score by Croatian composer Tomislav Simovic was considered lost and was never before published. Fox & His Friends Records label team found the original master reels and restored it at the famous Cedar Audio studio in Cambridge. This is the first ever completely electronic soundtrack for the first science-fiction film in Yugoslavia.
Visitors from the Galaxy was a 1981 East European science-fiction extravaganza, first and only of it's kind in Yugoslavia. It was a success at specialist fantasy film festivals (Madrid, Trieste, Brussels) but confused a lot of home audiences with the specific mixture of bizarre characters, including man with breasts, nudists welcoming extraterrestrials, beautiful alien heroine with her children behaving improperly and a huge, violent monster on killing spree. The creature design, made of plants and artificial human parts was the work of famous Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer. The film was a coproduction with Czechoslovakia and was partially shot in Barrandov Studios, with exteriors done in Game of Thrones favoured location Dubrovnik and it's hidden caves and surroundings. It was distributed in Czechoslovakia, West Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy and Cuba.
The late director Dusan Vukotic (1927-1998) remained until now the only Oscar winner from ex-Yugoslavia for his celebrated and influential 1962 animated short Ersatz. It pushed the phenomena of Zagreb School of Animation internationally, gathering praise for unique anti-Disney style full of abstraction, reduced movement and themes dealing with grown-up, darker subjects.
The main composer for these films was Tomislav Simovic (1931-2014), Zagreb born musician with 300+ film scores in his biography. He was also a well-known jazz composer in his Tomislav Simovic Orchestra. Director Vukotic picked him for the Visitors from the Galaxy and he delivered amazing, completely electronic work which was revolutionary in 1980s Yugoslavia. As the synthesizers were expensive and considered a second rate replacement for acoustic instruments, not many musicians dared to experiment with it.
Visitors from the Galaxy now stands as the first ever feature film electronic score in Yugoslavia and Tomislav Simovic is remembered as one of the most prominent and highly awarded among Croatian composers, but so far none of his film pieces was released. He is also the author of the theme for animated series Professor Balthazar, probably the most famous piece of cartoon music in ex Yugoslavia. He was one of the collaborators of the New York music magazine EAR for which he wrote essays for the column Composer and Moving Image.
The Visitors from the Galaxy soundtrack LP selects the most memorable cues from the feature film. It was researched and programmed by Fox & His Friends Records label owners, Leri Ahel and Zeljko Luketic. Ahel is a radio professional, producer and a DJ from Rijeka, where he produces his widely syndicated Mutant Disco Radio Show. Journalist and film and music critic Luketic comes from Zagreb. He was the artistic director of Croatian Film Days festival and screenwriter for the Croatian National Television. As a film and music editor he compiled and co-authored Electronic Jugoton - Synthetic Music From Yugoslavia 1964-1989 and Ex Yu Electronica III anthology compilations and curated several museum exhibitions (Borghesia: We Don't Believe You and The Other Side of Saturday Night Fever: Socialist Disco Culture; Utilitarian Design of Singing Socialism; 51000 Balthazartown: Professor Balthazar in European Capital Of Culture Rijeka 2020).

Tracklist:
1.01 - Tomislav Simović - Touch Me (Love Theme) (1:42)
1.02 - Tomislav Simović - Robert, Coffee Is On The Table (3:05)
1.03 - Tomislav Simović - Visitors From The Galaxy (Main Theme I And II) (4:18)
1.04 - Tomislav Simović - It's Time To Meet (1:56)
1.05 - Tomislav Simović - Anatomy Class (Mumu) (6:23)
1.06 - Tomislav Simović - Earth's Gravity Wears You Out (1:09)
1.07 - Tomislav Simović - Are We Ready For This Encounter (3:08)
1.08 - Tomislav Simović - Andra, Targo And Ulu (4:16)
1.09 - Tomislav Simović - Biba Changed Shape (4:54)
1.10 - Tomislav Simović - In Impossible Situations We Turn Back Time (3:46)
1.11 - Tomislav Simović - Mumu Says Hi (End Credits) (0:46)