REVIEWS on THE GREAT OUTDOORS ********* The Great Outdoors is a little musical miracle in Central Europe and pays the debt we have against the off-streams of contemporary electronic music. (Karel Vesely, His Voice, Prague) If some foreign producer asked me to recommend someone extra-ordinary from our scene, Abuse would definitely come to mind. Undoubtably the domestic album of the year. (Peter Cagan, Musicstyle, Bratislava) The Great Outdoors catches Abuse in finest form. The album is diverse, moody and brings a fresh look to music that is usually served up by experts from Ninja Tune and WARP. (Karel Vesely, His Voice, Prague) A calm resignation is disrupted by sharp metallic sounds of the kind that might be made by sleepwalking household appliances. Trumpet and sampled voices call upon the drawings of Frank Miller: bright lights against a dark abyss. Estranged and dangerous... (Ondrej Formanek, Reflex, Prague) ...there is no surprise that comparisons to personalities of electronic music such as DDJ Spooky or Amon Tobin come to mind. Despite the eclecticism dominating the recording, simple melodic songwriting is still present, devoid of unsophisticated academic experimenting. (Pavel Zelinka, Freemusic, Prague) The Great Outdoors is mature music, a compact masterpiece that keeps up with the worldwide production of intelligent electronica... Even DJ Shadow might enjoy Abuse... (Radek Bures, Newmusic, Prague) Broken beats not in a rush, melancholic melodies, quietly dictated vocals, infinite spaces and perpetual change in perfect order... (Jan Smetanka, Respekt, Prague) The Great Outdoors is the most significant addition to the field of electronic music in Slovakia in the past few years… (Marek Kyjanicka, Notabene, Bratislava About ABUSE **** The main figure and composer of ABUSE is Vlado Durajka. He got his start in the early 90s, participating in a number of electronic projects e.g. ethno ambient Sundown, crossover/electro/body corp. The Tribe Comps. However, after spending several inspiring months in London, he returned to Slovakia to start his own project ABUSE. The early demos, PROZAC EP and Silt released in 1999, still retained some of the EBM sound. In 2000, Durajka came into his own, writting new tracks and starting live one-man performances. This period culminated in the 2001 release of the 4TH FLOOR THINKING EP. By the fall of 2002 he had put together his first official EP SLEEPFIELDS which was released on Deadred Records to high acclaim in the Slovak and Czech media. Feeling a need to move on towards better live performance Vlado recruited slovak musicians that had been on the scene for some time, most notably turntablist DJ Hlavolam who added his established turntablism style to ABUSE. To compliment live performances Durajka cooperated with internationally respected VJ Zden and later VJ Clad from Prague/Czech republic. From 2002 to 2005 ABUSE band toured internationally including several shows in the US and the UK. They also appeared at the SXSW (Austin, TX) festival in 2004. Finally in November of 2004, ABUSE was able to release a full length album that showcased their development. THE GREAT OUTDOORS (Deadred Records) was recieved extremely well and brought international attention to the band.