THE KDMS! is UK vocalist Kathy Diamond and Polish producer Max Skiba's musical mélange of electronic music and disco funk. These pioneers of the new disco scene mix a new Soul sound with a hearty dose of House. Stephane Girard of residentadvisor.net has called it "the kind of non-ironic, let's-slap-that-bass-like-there-is-no-tomorrow disco that isn't 'nu' or 'old', just slightly dated and timeless at the same time". At Juicy Beats they're set to deliver songs from their latest 2012 release Kinky Drama and Magic Stories.
It just so happens that the next act on the Don't Panic... lineup is THE KDMS!'s own manager. Born Artur Koryciński in Warsaw and raised in Berlin, Artur 8 is an avid record collector, music promoter and one of the most respected DJs in Europe. He draws his inspiration from all over the musical map - cinema scores, Chicago House, Detroit Techno, New Disco. He's also the music director of the Astigmatic Festival, which debuted in Płock in 2003, the curator of the 2008 Astigmatic Inspired by Chopin album, which reinvented the music of Poland's prized composer through contemporary electronica, and runs his King of Kong club music project (together with Max Skiba), bringing together the top music and DJ acts from Poland and the world.
No new Polish music showcase is complete this summer without a performance from the über-talented songstress Julia Marcell. She composes her own songs and plays her own instruments - piano, violin and guitar - underpinning it all with a fresh electronic rhythms. Her voice has been compared to a blend of Björk Kate Bush, Regina Spektor, Lykke Li and Joanna Newsom - but she shakes up all comparisons by wavering between breathy and ethereal to strong and smoky. She recently brought her dynamic vocals to the SXSW, Haldern, C/O Pop and Heineken Open'er festivals earlier this year, establishing herself on the international stage.
Kamp! is a Polish electronic pop trio from Łódź that has been performing since 2008, experimenting with synth-pop sounds inspired by the new wave of the '80s, the Krautrock of the '70s and '90s-era French House. The band has been playing its signature strand of melodic synthie-pop since 2008. They sing in English, with impeccable delivery and all-around great sound. Their first album Cairo came out in 2011, launching an international tour that hit up Los Angeles, Liverpool, Berlin and New York. They also founded their independent net label Brennessel - a free music distribution and promotional platform for up-and-coming new artists from Poland and abroad. The blogiverse has been raving about them for the past year, such as theburningear.com's surmisal that "this spacey, dancey, funky, electro magic is the perfect shimmering soundtrack to these warmer summer evenings".
Paula & Karol are another glowing fixture on Poland's new music scene on tour this year, making appearances at this year's SXSW and The Great Escape. Straying from the pop and club spectrum, the band presents a new take on folk music, with an upbeat, bubbly style, witty lyrics and a sound that continues to grow as the band gains speed. Established in Warsaw in 2009 by Candadian-born Paula Bialska and Polish-born Karol Strzemieczny. Since then they've grown to include more members and more instruments as they've grown to become major players on Poland's alternative music scene, winning praise from local critics and even a recommendation from reviewers at The Guardian.
Don't Panic... takes a Dub twist in Dortmund with a performance by Radikal Guru (Mateusz Miller), a producer and DJ who made a name for himself with his 2008 Vinyl singles released by Dubbed Out records (UK) in 2008. He honed his skills in Poland, making Trip-hop and Jungle beats, eventually evolving his craft in Ireland, crewating his own mixes and expanding his production technique into Dubstep and other genres. His latest album Rootstepa came out in 2011, with tracks that give a world sound to the roots of Ragga and other Caribbean flavours.
Don't Panic We're from Poland is an ongoing international programme of concerts by rising stars of the contemporary Polish music scene produced by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. In Dortmund it takes place within the framework of the ongoing Klopsztanga 2012 - Polish Cultural Programme in North Rhine-Westphalia.
2012 marks the 17th edition of Juicy Beats, an annual music festival aimed at presenting the freshest acts in contemporary music from all over the world in Dortmund's Westfalenpark, with headlining acts like Modeselektor+Pfadfinderei, Casper, I Heart Sharks and Dillon. The lineup presents 40 bands and 100 DJs on six stages and 14 other showcase formats. Six bands from Poland take the Don't Panic... stage on the 28th of July 2012 from 2:30 pm - 10:00 pm.
2:30-3:30 Paula & Karol
4:00-5:00 Kamp!
5:30-6:30 Julia Marcell
6:45-8:00 Radikal Guru
8:30 - 9:00 Artur 8
9:00 - 10:00 KDMS!
For more information on Juicy Beats, see: www.juicybeats.net
Author: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: www.juicybeats.net, gomma.de, radikalguru.com, residentialadvisor.net, own sources