Błażej Król used to be a member of the remarkable band Kawałek Kulki, which never ceased to be an underground project - and has been a prodigy ever since he left that group. Kawałek Kulki played a complicated kind of rock that was naive, hot and emotional. Król wrote wild, spontaneous, poetic lyrics which had scads of verses and were kilometers long. It was as if he was nervously cutting out the words from youth novels and rearranging the snippings into new poems.
Later he played with The Complainer & The Complainers. He also developed a taste for electronic instruments. There came a time when he wanted to found a new band, and he was probably thinking of a rock line-up, but ended up with an electronic duo. The band UL/KR - letters taken from the original name Ulica krokodyli, or Crocodile Lane - consists of Król and Maurycy Kiebzak-Górski, from Gorzów. The two use samplers, computer static and distorted guitars to create a background for Król’s singing.
Król’s lyrics have changed significantly since the days of Kawałek Kulki. The words of his songs are now brief, concrete, sketchy and dreamy. Król uses simple language: city, river, night, summer, blood. An entire song may be made up of only a dozen of words, which leaves a strong impression. All in all, UL/KR really know how to get listeners hooked. Król confesses that he gets bored at very long concerts and that he doesn’t like to listen to lengthy albums. UL/KR’s first album was 22-minutes long. Their second record is lighter and brighter, but also under a half an hour.
Everything here – lyrics, music, atmosphere – has the quality of a drug- or alcohol-induced experience. The hero of this adventure - the listener - is conscious of the conventionality of the situation. It is a mere dream, an episode, a gap. UL/KR exaggerates and overstates. The band creates a dark atmosphere and evokes emptiness and undefined longings. The foreground is occupied by Król singing, whose vocal style blends avant-garde with pop.
Jacek Świąder, Gazeta Wyborcza, June 2013
Albums:
2012 – UL/KR
2013 - Ament
Official website: www.ulkr.thinman.pl