JACEK SIENKIEWICZ
Experimental, but extremely considered mixes. Subtle, mesmeric and impossible to pigeonhole compositions invite everyone to immerse in Sienkiewiczs’ sound-situations.
Back in 90s he started experimenting with analogue machines, vintage Roland synths and analogue sequencing. While playing live sets of (freshly discovered at that time in Poland) Detroit techno and Chicago dance inspired compositions, he decided to launch his own label Recognition. This enabled him to put his complex approach to sound organisation and club music into practice. As described on his website, Sienkiewicz is trying to find a balance between the avant-garde and the dancefloor, between primal emotions and highly sophisticated sonic wizardry.
Starting from an art performance at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw in 1996, through to many clubs, numerous major festivals (I Love Techno, Awakenings and Transmediale), and many co-operations with prolific dance labels, to his own — the proclaimed pioneer of techno in Poland is re-discovering his own musical path. This is definitely not the end of his adventures.
B.YHZZ
Angry, chaotic, weird and powerful mixes, chock-full of surprises. B.YHZZ (pronounces as „be wise”), a member of Intruder Alert (a Warsaw club-night collective) is completely unpredictable. From dark, heavy riffs and screams to unsettling electronics mixed with dance beats. His deconstruction of club music consists of involving noise, hardcore, industrial and sometimes even nu metal in his sound-projects… There is no point asking about music genres here, the borders are blown up entirely. Although, B.YHZZ’s experiments are wild, even savage sometimes, they raise the curiosity of recipient at the same time. Regardless of whether you are a plain listener, dancer or a wallflower, you should definitely check out this intriguing musical balance between chaos and control.
FOQL
Energetic dark techno mixed with found footage and samples of classics. FOQL is a project of Justyna Banaszczyk, an artist from Łódź, currently based in Warsaw. She’s a rebel storyteller, who addresses subjects from the archives like, among others, science and society. Justyna herself resigned from the academic system of education and was left to her own devices, following her own sound-path. The ambience of her recordings is disturbing, but strangely attractive at the same time. It makes you imagine yourself as a character in “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” sequel, a decadent guest of the restaurant at the end of the Universe, existing in a specific time-loop — the period just before the real apocalypse, the end of everything, the big bang… but at least you’re observing it all drinking alcohol at the ‘Best Party Ever’.
In the past she took a part in more chaotic and dirty synth punk projects like RNA2 (as Marburg) and in Kolektyw Ebola. She co-operated with local labels like Oficyna Biedoty and Pointless Geometry, then with a Dutch Enfant Terrible and New York Haunted – the label of Dutch producer Drvg Cvltvre.
VTSS
DJ, live performer and producer from Warsaw, fascinated by analogue sounds. Her musical language is emotional, expressive and raw. The experiments keep in suspense revealing additional levels with time. Some writers/critics connect her directly with two categories — techno and ambient, as the two faces of VTSS’s creative output. However, it’s far more complex, because the diversity of her compositions includes also quite particularly harsh and noisy sound-beasts, as well as the chill-out ones with ethnic-inspired vocals. Therefore when using those descriptive categories in this case we should add an asterisk.
It is also worth noting that VTSS collaborates with Behind The Stage squad — a collective established in 2009, focused on event organisation and podcast creation. Among the members you can find producers, DJs, VJs, performance artists, sound engineers and graphic designers. The main squad consists of VTSS, ISNT, rraph (Eastern Renaissance), Fau, Amandra, Partre and Deaşupra — check them out.
