Record Reviews

SLALOM ~ WUNDERKAMERA LADO ABC A/15 ~ POLAND ~ Electronic & Ambient Recorded: 2015 Released: 2015 This is the second album by Polish Avant-Rock trio SlalomFind albums by this artist, which comprises of guitarist Bartlomiej TycinskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Bartosz WeberFind albums by this artist and drummer Hubert ZemlerFind albums by this artist. Tycinski and Weber play also synthesizers. A couple of "honorable" guests add their contributions as well. The album presents eight original compositions credited to all three members of the trio. The music of Slalom is a mixture of Rock, Ambient, Industrial and Electronic, with an overall Jazzy feel on improvisation, although no bona fide Jazz improvisation is attempted at any stage. It has a strong melodic basis and uses many short melodic phrases, often repeated continuously with slight variations, which build up a continuity of hypnotic nature, which is a great fun to listen to. All the above creates a very original and intriguing world of sound, which is quite unique and daring, something that happens very rarely in today´s Rock music, or any music for that matter. Although it might sound chaotic and confusing at first, this music makes perfect sense if one only cares to listen attentively. It is difficult to value the individual playing abilities of Tycinski and Weber, as the sounds they produce are often hidden behind a veil of electronics, distortion and synthesized / sampled sounds, but it is immediately apparent that Zemler does a brilliant work on this album from start to finish and keeps this music together so powerfully, that without him it would have probably disintegrated. He shows and incredible versatility as a drummer, getting away with even meters, polyrhythmic complexities and other tricks of the trade with astounding ease and elegance. It is very encouraging to hear that the young generation of Polish musicians does experiment in idioms other that the Jazz, for which the country´s musical scene is famous. This album shows that a lot of interesting stuff is happening in the Polish musical "underground", some of them even completely innovate and fascinating. As always, the more the popular music scene degrades into idiocy and brainlessness, the reaction of the Avant-Garde scene becomes more powerful and mind-expanding. This music is definitely worth exploring by everybody who is interested in challenging, intelligent music which stays away from the dreadful clichés and values its independence. Well done indeed!

Updated: 12/04/2019Posted:

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