Record Reviews

DOSKOCZ / KUREK ~ WRRR ANTENNA NON GRATA 40 ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2023 Released: 2024 This is an album by Polish Improvised Music duo of guitarist / composer Pawel DoskoczFind albums by this artist and drummer / composer Wojciech KurekFind albums by this artist. Both musicians use prepared instruments but no electronics. The album presents ten tracks and lasts for just over half an hour. The music is uncredited and assumed to be co-created by the duo members. The album was released by the tiny independent Polish record label Antenna Non GrataFind albums on this label, which is one of the champions of Avant-Garde music in the country since 2017. Most people facing the contents of this album would probably immediately dismiss it as not being music at all, even experienced and open-minded listeners, who can handle Free Jazz and Improvised Music with relative ease. This album does rise the fundamental question as to what can be defined as music (or Art in general) and are there any boundaries? Can any kind of body movement be considered as dance or any sound created using instruments, objects, or even only vocals be considered as music? In other words, is the freedom of Art absolute? I don’t pretend to have the answer to these questions, but I have some opinions, which are obviously subjective. What I do consider as an absolute freedom is the possibility to create this kind of aural experience and I appreciate the support some small independent labels provide to musicians to document whatever they create, and release it to the world, as some listeners might find it fascinating, instigating, interesting and exciting, regardless if others do not consider it worthy their attention. Overall, this is a very unusual, intriguing aural experience, as Avant-Garde as one might imagine, which is out there to be discovered by listeners and perhaps even enjoyed, or at least intriguing. To be approached with caution ;)

Updated: 10/10/2024Posted: 10/10/2024

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KATARZYNA LOPATA ~ OSIECKA SZESCIAN 025 (Barcode: 5902249020199) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz & Poetry Recorded: 2015 Released: 2015 This is the 2nd album by Polish vocalist / composer Katarzyna LopataFind albums by this artist, recorded with guitarist Krzysztof KawalkoFind albums by this artist, bassist Wojciech KlonFind albums by this artist, drummer Wojciech KurekFind albums by this artist and saxophonist Michael LyczekFind albums by this artist (on selected tracks). The album presents nine original songs by Lopata, all featuring lyrics by Polish poetess / lyricist Agnieszka OsieckaFind albums by this artist. The music is different to categorize and offers a cross-genre amalgam of ambitious Pop / Rock and Jazz, with some ambient and even Avant-Garde insinuations. The result is surprisingly effective and combined with Lopata’s idiosyncratic vocal delivery offers a truly surprising and fascinating piece of music. Lopata’s interpretations of the brilliant lyrics by Osiecka is completely unique and although many Polish songwriters / composers tackled her lyrics over the years, this album is definitely one of the most striking examples of combining her poetry with music. The theatrical vocals, highly stylized and even slightly mannered vocal technique is absolutely fascinating. I have been completely unaware of the existence of this album, released almost a decade ago, and now, thanks to the kindness of one of my friends, who gave me a copy of this album, I finally discovered it. In retrospect it is one of the most interesting and unusual Polish Jazz & Poetry projects in the last decade. It remains pretty anonymous on the local scene, which is a true shame, as albums like this are very rare phenomena. Overall, this is a wonderful lost treasure of Polish Jazz & Poetry, which deserves a much wider recognition that it managed to achieve so far. Hopefully some of my readers will reach out and grab a copy, as it is truly worthwhile to give it a listen. Hopefully we will hear from this Artist again soon!

Updated: 04/01/2024Posted: 04/01/2024

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PIOTR MELECH / WOJCIECH KUREK ~ SPLIT HERE ANTENNA NON GRATA 2019/07 ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2018 Released: 2-19 This is an album by Polish Improvising Music duo comprising of clarinetist Piotr MelechFind albums by this artist and drummer Wojciech KurekFind albums by this artist. The album presents six improvised pieces, which are, as usual in such cases, uncredited. Melech is a prominent figure on the Polish Avant-Garde scene in the last decade and a prolific recording artist, associated mostly with the MultikultiFind albums on this label label, but also releasing albums on other Polish niche labels, like the Antenna Non GrataFind albums on this label, which released this album. Kurek, also a prolific recording artist, with about twenty albums under his belt, works as improvising musician but also composes for multimedia installations and theatre. It seems that this recording is the first cooperation between these two Artists. As I have already stated often in my reviews of Melech´s other albums, I am a great fun of his clarinet shenanigans, and since the clarinet is one of my favorite instruments Melech always has an open ear as far as I am concerned. He is obviously a completely unique clarinetist, who is able to take the instrument into uncharted territory time after time. He is able to play relative melodic music as well as totally Free improvisations with the same power of expression and obvious virtuosity. I am not familiar with Kurek´s other recordings, but his performances here expose his openness to dialogue and cooperation, which the duo demonstrates whenever they play together. Obviously highly skilled technically, Kurek proves to be a very supportive partner to Melech´s spacey explorations, and they are able to produce many magic moments together on this album. Since Free / Improvised Music is a priori oriented towards very limited audiences, this album belongs to the same category. The magic that happened during the recording of this music has no guarantees to be embraced by many listeners, which sadly is almost an intrinsic characteristic of the Avant-Garde. Hopefully, since Melech has a solid following on the local scene, this music will resound in many homes, as it certainly deserves.

Updated: 24/10/2020Posted: 24/10/2020

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