The Unsound Festival of all forms of electronic music has been happening yearly in Poland since its inception there in 2003. This coming week brings Unsound, which FADER is co-sponsoring, to New York for the first time. To bring a bit of a hometown feel, Poland native Zenial—who is playing the festival—runs down the current Polish avant-garde scene after the jump and check out his "Janek Data Overload" below.
Download: Zenial, "Janek Data Overload"
The Polish avant-garde scene has required a lot of changes to make progress but fortunately it has and as a result it's steadily become bigger and bigger. Luckily it's not as hermetically sealed as was in the past and for me now the scene includes a lot of interesting artists. Hopefully the current group of active followers will remain interested in it, if so, it will survive and could well expand even larger in the future.
Here's my five top examples of Polish avant-garde artists to look out for.
1. OBUH records.
I respect most of the artists from this independent label. OBUH records have released vinyl only work from the old Polish avant-garde—Krzysztof Penderecki as well as many of the new school. It's worth checking their acts- Księżyc, Spear and RongWrong. The main person from Obuh is Wojcek and he has great band called Za Siódmą Górą. You can hear some of their pieces streaming here. I would also recommend the 2008 Za Siódmą Górą album Piosenki kupokrzepieniu serc.
2. ROBERT PIOTROWICZ
At the moment Piotrowicz is a very active composer in Poland and I think also the best. He's also playing more and more at international venues or festivals so perhaps you'll come across him soon. You can hear his work on his MySpace.
3. TOMASZ TWARDAWA (Genetic Transmission)
He's a legend here with over over 20 years of work with noise. Listen to audio samples.
4. MOAN
Moan s the work of Rafal Sadej who makes dark ambient field recordings. An artist who does not compromise. Fourth dimension sound from Silesia. Listen at his MySpace
5. ANNA ZARADNY
She's the only woman in Poland who works all the time with pure sound art. Amazing. Listen here and here.
To close I'd like to add a personal note about my own music and upcoming
performance at Unsound Festival New York. My music is a result of stimuli or a certain concept. It reflects my beliefs, vibrations, feelings and my own creativity. The sounds are a kind of magic. The more complex and inaccessible, the more of a challenge they seem to the recipient/creator.
There is a certain specification which I feel attracted to, but it isn't a limitation by any means. In particular I seem to like conditions were all barriers disappear... There may be some message in music and there may not. It is entirely up to the listener/recipient how to interpret these works. But these are only words, and what it is exactly ?
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Zenial appears as part of the Electronic Bridge event during Unsound Festival New York on Tuesday February 9th alongside Zavoloka (Ukraine) and Bora Yoon (New York). The event takes place at Issue Project Room, 232 3rd St, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Tickets: $15 / Starts at 8.30 pm
Unsound Festival New York, Presented by Fundacja Tone, the Polish Cultural
Institute in New York and the Goethe-Institut New York and the co-operation
of others.