- The Dream is the (unintentional) result of 100 years of counter-culture.
- The Dream is an actualisation of status.
- The Dream is the unceasing creation and sharing of content.
- The Dream is the history of music available at one click.
- The Dream is an ephemeral state on the verge of exploding.
Atom™ & Robin Fox
Atom™ (or Uwe Schmidt and Robin Fox) is a duo which began their collaboration at the Australian edition of Unsound. Both artists place a particular emphasis on the visual aspect of their work – Schmidt employs complex video projections, while Fox works with lasers. The two musicians began to consider the possibility of intertwining their visual techniques with music, creating a blend of electronic structures and deconstructed pop. In Kraków, they will present the outcome of these efforts, titled Double Vision. The project is realised in collaboration with the Adelaide Festival, and following its premiere showing in Kraków, it will travel to Australia. (October 17th, 8pm, Museum of Urban Engineering)
Buhl/Iwański/ Jachna/ Jędrzejczak/ Zieliński/ Ziołek
At this year's edition of Unsound, many musical experiences will be delivered by artists connected with the Bydgoszcz scene. On the 14th of October, the Manggha Museum will host a performance by Alameda 4, a psychedelic rock band who describe their work as "magical brutalism" – a mix of Jewish mysticism, black metal and Kosmische musik. The following night, Manggha also hosts an extraordinary event, combining performances by Kapital (Iwański and Ziołek), and the classic innovator of French rock, Richard Pinhas (Culture.pl will soon release an interview with Kapital). On October 16th, Wojtek Jachna (trumpet, flugelhorn, electronics) and Jacek Buhl (percussion instruments), who have recently released an album with the Requiem Records label, will perform at club Re.
Bjørn Torske and Transilvanian Galaxi
A rare find in Polish clubs – Norwegian techno. Bjørn Torske began his music career in the early 1990s, opening up the path for what would become a global nu-disco scene. Torske is a leading artist of the Sex Tags Mania label, and he has also recently recorded with Smalltown Supersound. The two of his latest eclectic albums which were released by the label contain echoes of inspiration from dub and krautrock. Transilvanian Galaxi is the pseudonym of Bård Aasen Lødemel, a Norwegian producer known for excellent projects under the Skatebård alias. He has also released albums with Sex Tags Mania, and he is very skilled in his humorous blends of disco, electro, classic techno and deep house sounds. (October 19th, starting at 10pm til morning, Lucid Dream Association).
Chicago!
Chicago juke, footwork and ghetto house will shake the Forum Hotel's dancefloor. Chicago's dance music will be brought by the some of the best: DJ Spinn & Taso and DJ Earl & DJ Taye from Teklife, and DJ Funk & Bok Bok (performing together for the first time). Spinn is one of the world ambassadors of footwork, and during his international tours he presents his friends' work as well as his own. He is the co-founder of Teklife, a collective devoted to the promotion of footwork. He performs together with Taso, a producer and DJ from California. Taye began his producing career at the age of 14, soon winning the attention of DJ Spinn. Earl appeared on stage as a dancer. They are the youngest representatives of Teklife, and they will perform together as part of the collective's review at the Forum Hotel.
DJ Funk is a pioneer of ghetto house, and one of the key artists of the cult Dance Mania label. Last year, he made a loud comeback to the dancefloor. DJ Funk is now celebrating 20 years of his career with the release of a compilation album of his biggest hits – his Unsound performances are a unique occasion among the series of worldwide concerts promoting this new album. He will perform together with Bok Bok, a co-founder of the Night Slugs publishing house. (October 17th, 9pm, Forum Hotel)
Detroit!
Man cannot live on Chicago alone – there will also be DJs from Detroit at the Forum Hotel. Dopplerefekt is a mysterious project headed by Heinrich Müller. Müller is one of the founders of the legendary Drexciyi – a group devoted to research-based reinterpretations of electronic music using direct digital synthesis. Robert Hood is one of the most important creators of techno who was part of the Underground Resistance collective. A raw sound, rhythm and repetition are the hallmarks of Hood's style. (October 17th , 9 pm Form Hotel)
Craig Leon and Sinfonietta Cracovia
Craig Leon produced albums by The Ramones, Blondie, Suicide, and Richard Hell, but he is coming to Kraków for an entirely different reason. In 1981, he recorded an album called Nommos, which was recently re-released and is thus being discovered anew. The material from this album will be performed by Sifonietta Cracovia, with specially created visual projections accompanying the concert. (October 19th, 7pm, ICE Kraków)
Księżyc
''This word is associated with something very feminine. We are a bit like the moon – mysterious, cool, but also powerful".
The music of Księżyc (meaning Moon in Polish) is based on Slavic traditions of women singing, while the men play tapes and instruments as they create a motoric and almost hypnotic background. Księżyc has been silent since 1996, and the band's only album was re-released last year by the British Penultimate Press label. This release instigated some speculation as to whether Księżyc will ever perform live again – and yes, they will. (October 17th, 6 pm, św. Katarzyny Church).
Kucharczyk, Lautbild, Heroiny, Souvenir de Tanger, We Will Fail and Zamilska
In other words, all of the creme de la creme of Polish dance music. Wojtek Kucharczyk needs little introduction in Poland – after all, since the 1990s, he has been one of the most active publishers and co-authors of musical experiments. For a few years now, he has been producing dance music. Lautbild is a new project from Paweł Wilhelm Kulczyński Bras. Heroiny, to an outsider, is the house pseudonym of Piotr Kurek, who shows us that the guitar can be employed in dance music. Souvenir de Tanger is a young Warsaw-based producer who matches Arabic music with techno. We Will Fail (the pseudonym of Aleksandra Grünholz) and Zamilska are two female producers who made their debuts almost simultaneously and quickly won the hearts of both audiences and music critics.
Remont Pomp & Mikołaj Trzaska Ircha Clarinet Quartet
''What became an impulse for creating the band was a desire to bring together circles of different sensitivities and types of expression which could mutually enrich and teach each other" is how they describe themselves.
They began by restoring ethnic pumps, especially those from Africa, and in these they found their main source of musical inspiration. Later, their rehearsals also saw the appearance of dill barrels, rubber tubes, and wooden sticks – which directed them towards the idea of "Trash Music". The Remont Pomp band from Gdańsk was founded in 2009, and it's constituted of both professional musicians and disabled persons. They will be accompanied by Mikołaj Trzaska and his clarinet quartet. (October 13th, 7 pm, Manggha Museum).
Edited by Filip Lech, translated by Paulina Schlosser
Sources: Unsound, Culture.pl, press release