The musical creativity of Pokorski is multifaceted and often governed by contradictions. Some people know him as the guitarist from Lao Che, a group fond of concept albums that include the most self-sacrificing album in the history of Polish rock, Powstanie warszawskie / Warsaw Uprising. Others associate him with Krojc, a pseudonym he used to record an adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie / Tales of Pirx the Pilot. With the writer famously dissatisfied with cinematic adaptations of his prose, Pokorski resolved that an audio version may be abstract enough to achieve a different effect.
While Pirx was released on tape, Pokorski desired a different analogue medium for this project – vinyl. Wieczna Miłość – Upadłe Anioły Popkultury / Eternal Love – Fallen Popculture Angels resembles a contemporary reflection on such pioneers of experimental electronic music as Klaus Schulze and Holger Czukay. Amongst slow waves of synth sound we hear static, noise, circuits, parts of field recordings, occasional whispering of the word “love.” Pokorski adds rudimentary elements to the beat, reviving his compositions in moments that stagnate. He manages this very effectively - concluding portions of the album immerse the listener in a blissful hum. Transported to a different reality of sound throughout the album, the listener is instigated back to the world at the end of the album by the wailing of sirens.
WMUAP was pressed onto only five records and of course, not all of them were for sale. Pokorski kept one each for himself and for his children. #33 is a 7-inch record that will have 100 copies for its release and is a drastic departure from the previous album. While WMUAP is a harmless, comprehensible, unambiguous album, #33 is far less acessible. In an interview with Culture.pl, Pokorski remarked that,
To be honest, the recording of this material is a consequence of abandoning the computer in the process of making music. I replaced the computer with a sampler and a sequencer. In learning how to work these devices I created a number of songs, four of which have come out on the album.
The tracks on #33 are cold, screechy and not very pleasant. Every sound is precise, even if it’s enmeshed in layers of bass. You might call the tracks samples or works in progess themselves, lasting no more than two and a half minutes that run at an extremely fast pace.
These elements combine in a manner that seem inhuman, a paradoxical outcome for an artist who denounced the use of a computer in the process. The sound is reminiscent of techno and house music from the 1980s and '90s, particularly those of the industrial movements in Detroit and Chicago. That tone, according to the musician, was exactly the angle he was going for:
When it comes to subjects for albums and track titles, they are a reflection of my thoughts about the state of European and American civilisations – the civilisations of advanced nations. Recently I have had the impression that we have reached a wall, that something had to change instead of just turning in circles.
With song titles such as We Don't Care, Dead End, and Too Much, Pokorski's prognosis is presumably not optimistic. It's a convincing perspective, if only for as long as the short album spins around.
- Jakub Pokorski - Wieczna Miłość – Upadłe Anioły Popkultury / Eternal Love – Fallen Popculture Angels, self-release, September 2013
- Jakub Pokorski - #33, Monotype Records, November 2013
Author: Filip Lech, October 2013, translation: SMG 24/10/2013