Various – Aftermath And Transitions (Traces Of The Ukrainian Underground In Cologne [1994-1996])

Label: Stroom – STRLP-063
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Compilation
Country: Belgium
Released: 26 May 2026
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Ambient, Experimental, New Wave

Stroom unearth and exhibit a crucial document of Ukrainian underground - more soon.. (Mint / New)

This compilation charts the unlikely link between Cologne’s DIY scene and the Ukrainian underground at the turn of the 1990s.

Visual artist and producer Guido Erfen and sound engineer Michael Springer were central figures in SHM1, a Cologne collective who ran concerts and a studio space inside the vast, disused Rhenania grain silo. From this base, they built an independent network for recording and distributing music beyond the mainstream.

In 1990, Erfen received a cassette from Ukraine featuring bands from Kharkiv and Kyiv, alongside an essay by Sergey Myasoyedow, co-founder of Kharkiv’s Novaya Scena rock club. The music—shaped by punk, avant-garde experiment, folk motifs and abrasive grooves—opened a window onto a scene largely unheard in the West. Further tapes followed, and Erfen travelled to Ukraine, eventually persuading Alfred Hilsberg to release the Novaya Scena compilation on What’s So Funny About, documenting 14 bands recorded between 1986 and 1992.

In the wake of that release, musicians including Svitlana Nianio and Yewgeny “Yenia” Taran travelled to Cologne. From 1994 onwards, informal sessions at Springer’s Phantom Studio and the SHM space at Rhenania forged a new chapter in this exchange. Those recordings form the basis of this collection, capturing four distinct incarnations of the Ukraine–Cologne connection.

Tracklist
A1 Svitlana Nianio / Phanton – Fake 3:39
A2 Svitlana Nianio / Phanton – ManySpace 2:15
A3 Svitlana Nianio / Phanton – Quiet Place 3:06
A4 Svitlana Nianio / Phanton – Політ Світляки 2:16
A5 Няньо, ГиНерв & Таран– Nianio, GeeNerve & Taran - Шепочуть Cтіни - Whispering Walls 4:32
A6 Няньо ГиНерв & Таран– Nianio, GeeNerve & Taran - Pічка Bтома - Tired River 7:10
B1 Solar – Your Secret 5:21
B2 Solar – Three Steps 6:46
B3 Solar – August Samba 3:58
B4 Taran – Death And The Bachelor (Original Version) 5:44