The KDMS! Source: Off Festival promotional photo
The freshest music from Poland and the world makes its way through several Polish cities over the hottest months of the year, showcasing the most exciting rising stars of the local scene alongside the biggest acts on the global alternative music scene across every imaginable genre
Poland's summer festival series kicked off in June with the Heineken Open'er, the biggest international music event on the calendar, featuring world-class acts like Janelle Monae and Justice and top local acts like Julia Marcell and Iza Lach.
The Audioriver Festival (27-29.07) in the city of Płock, near the outskirts of Warsaw, has set up five stages hosting 60 different bands based in the alternative music scene against the picturesque setting of the Vistula bankside. The event puts a particular emphasis on promoting new Polish talents, with special showcases and workshops accompanying the general programme. From major superstars on the global experimental electronic scene like Röyksopp, Goldie, Roni Size, Modeselektor and Nicolas Jaar to hot Polish acts like club vocalist Novika, punk rock Skinny Patrini and electro dynamites Marcin Czubala, Catz’n Dogz and C.I.A. DJs Bueno Bros and Hungry Hungry Models also whip up their unique styles of mixing and matching the freshest samples from a variety of genres and inspirations.
The Off Festival in Katowice takes off on the 3rd of August (lasting through 05.08) presenting a few dozen of the biggest acts on the Polish indie rock, electro and hip-hop scene alongside big international names on the alternative scene like Metronomy, Iggy and the Stooges, and rap pioneer Doom. Highlights of Polish performance at the Off Festival include acoustic folk-pop acts Paula and Karol, Cold Air, Hanimal, Kristen and the aptly-named Enchanted Hunters. Levity brings a fun, ambient sound that combines post-rock with free jazz, while Marcin Masecki's new Profesjonalizm project brings on another contemporary face of jazz from the newest album Chopin, Chopin, Chopin, also presented at the Edinburgh Jazz&Blues Festival. Legends of Polish rock are also in the house, with Apteka celebrating 30 years on stage, Nosowska's gritty rock and The Shipyard's combination of all of the top acts of Polish rock of the past three decades, its members drawn from rock legends Brygada Kryzys, Izrael and many more. The most anticipated performances are expected from neo-disco duo KDMS! and alternative up-and-comers Minerals, who have already earned well-deserved comparisons to Coldplay and Radiohead.
The urban aspect of the Off Festival is also highlighted in several cross-genre projects by two of Poland's most exciting young artists. Julian Jakub Ziółkowski (born 1980) presents his latest mural Kim in ul. Plebiscytowa. The mural is characteristically eerie, presenting a contemporary take on morbid surrealism. Konrad Smoleński will perform his BNNT Sound Bombing, which he presented earlier this year at the 2012 Paris Triennale. The performance installation challenging the audio threshold with high-intensity electro-mechanical noise. Some of Poland's prominent poets and writers are also slated to attend the festival to participate in discussions on literature and other cultural matters. Invited literary guests inclue Krzysztof Varga, Wojciech Bąkowski and Olga Tokarczuk
Alter Art, the organisers behind the Open'er also bring the Coke Live Festival to Kraków this August (11-12.08), with headliners Snoop Dogg, The Roots, The Killers and Crystal Fighters joined on stage by punk rock crew Cool Kids of Death and post-rock Keira is You (both also performing at the Off Festival), alternative pop songstress Iza Lach (who recently recorded a duet with Snoop Dogg himself) and hip-hop guru Pezet and his younger brother Małolat.
The Tauron New Music Festival brings the beat back to Katowice at the end of August (23-26.08) with some of the most daring experimental music makers from all over the world, skipping over, alas, local acts in favor of cutting edge artists across genres like Hot Chip, Young Montana?, Ghostpoet, Caribou and King Krule.
The alternative music scene is gaining speed in Poland, even making its mark on festivals and events dedicated to other media formats, such as the T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival, which hosts global stars CocoRosie and Peaches, along with concerts by Polish acts Cool Kids of Death, Mary Komasa, Igor Boxx, Ballady i Romanse and more...
Author: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: press information