“I think I am the same as an artist and as a person. Music is my way of communication and I see the art, the music as a whole thing, with no borders, divisions, or even genres.”
Hania Raniis a pianist, composer and musician who splits her life between Warsaw, where she makes her home, and Berlin where she studied and often works. She has written for strings, piano, voice and electronics and has collaborated with the likes of Christian Löffler, Dobrawa Czocher and Hior Chronik, and released an album with her Polish group tęskno last year. She has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in Europe - from the National Philharmony in Warsaw, to Funkhaus in Berlin, to The Roundhouse in London (where she made her debut at the Gondwana 10thanniversary festival last October) and at festivals such as Open’er, Scope Festival and Eurosonic. Her compositions for solo piano were born out of a fascination with the piano as an instrument, and her desire to interpret its sound and harmonic possibilities in their entirety and in her own way.
Esja is her debut solo album and for Rani it is her first, real, personal statement as an artist. “No hiding behind the "collaborations" or "projects" anymore. For the very first time, finally - just me, as I am”.
Recorded at Rani’s apartment in Warsaw (the piano room has a beautiful reverb and the space has become part art studio and part sound laboratory for Rani) and at her friend Bergur Þórisson’sstudio in Reykjavik, Esja is a series of beautiful melodic vignettes. Sensual, sensitive, rhythmic, atmospheric, free but harmonious, beguiling and hypnotic, collectively they project a sense of unlimited space and time.
Originally, Rani hadn’t planned to release a solo piano album at all. “I would like to be considered first of all as a composer of music - so not being limited to any instrument or voice or whatever. The solo album came when I went to Reykjavik, where I wrote some new songs instantly while in the studio, so they were almost improvised compositions. It was then that I decided to release an unadorned solo piano album - telling a lot about my musical roots, which are definitely in this instrument. But it’s also just a small prelude of all the music that I want to share in the future”.
Rani grew up in Gdansk with her parents (a doctor and architect) and surrounded by music and films. Initially inspired to study classical music, she was introduced to jazz and electronics at music school, widening her interests and as she puts it, “mixing Chopin & Schostakovitch with Dave Brubeck and Moderat”.Other inspirations include composers such as Max Richter, Esbjorn Svensson, Miles Davis, Nils Frahm, Murcof, Portico Quartet, Radiohead and even The Beatles.“It’s what connects all these artists that inspires me, their special approach to music and sound. For me they have big hearts and huge minds.”
But Rani’s inspirations aren’t just musical, she has drawn inspiration from places she has lived and visited. “It’s about the feeling, the general atmosphere, sometimes about memories. Moving to Berlin (where you have the freedom to be yourself), exploring Iceland and the wild mountains in Bieszczady, South-East Poland, all changed me as a person, so I guess, also affected me as an artist.” And inspiration comes too from visual arts. Her father was an architect and the arts remain hugely important to Rani. “Ifind that what really inspires my music is not the music, but all the other things. I take inspiration for the form of my own pieces from architecture and design. Then I translate this "foreign" language, to my own music and the outcome is way more interesting for me than just getting it from the music.
Indeed, for Rani it is often an image or a colour that comes first, what she calls a sound image. “I can really feel the colours, the mood - just like with photography. If the image is strong enough, sounds come along very quickly, trying to build the right image stuck in my head. The music fills the space, the music brings the new worlds, new spaces. One such inspiration was the collage artist Anthony Zinonos whose artwork adorns the cover of Esja and whose work Hania first found when she was working on the music that would become this album.“I really like the mix of colours and minimalistic style which perfectly describe me as a person and as an artist. I am really in love with his sense of humour and rare ability to match pure shapes with energetic colours and mood”
Beautifully sculpted, Esja opens with the gorgeous Eden,which features a chorus full of warmth and grace. Sun is inspired by the sensation of the warmth of the sun, but also by the feeling of being small in the face of the universe. Hawaii Oslotakes its name from the film of the same name, but is inspired by the contrast of mood and location, always changing as you listen. Biesyis named for the Bieszczady Mountains and a memory of driving in Bieszczady'sforests and twisted roads with friends. The wistful, charming, Luka, is a love song written for someone who affected Rani’s music profoundly. The shimmering Glassis named for its fragility, but also for its many colours, like glass caught in the light. Today it Cameis the only song from the album recorded on a grand piano (belonging to Olafur Arnalds in his studio in Reykjavik). Inspired by the piano, Rani wrote a simple, beautiful tune, and when asked what the song was, she replied “it came today" and that became the title of a memorable piece. Finally, Esjais the named by the mountain in south-west Iceland (which can be seen from almost everywhere in Reykjavik) and because of constant changes to the weather there, it always looks different. It therefore became the perfect title for one of her favourite pieces, one that sounds different every time she performs it. And in turn it became the perfect title for her debut album. A powerful, entrancing statement that offers new delights and new insights on every listen and announces Hani Rani as a major new artist.

Initially put together in memory of a family member, Olga Wojciechowska’s new album, 'Infinite Distances' is built around a similar sounding melody that appears across the backbone of the album - the sign of something that won’t let go. Opening with ‘Images Imprisoned Within You’, the beautiful orchestral piece sets the tone for a potentially optimistic journey. But the album, with its changes in direction and varying emotion portrayed throughout the seven tracks, somehow always ends up at the same place. It was a memory Olga couldn’t shake.
Told through several different approaches, varying from expansive modern-classical pieces, to more experimental and electronic touches in tracks like ‘Memory Of The Pioneers’ and ’Starless Water’; ‘Infinite Distances’ is a personal recollection that spans the emotions surrounding the feelings of loss; the highs, the lows, the polaroid-like happy memories, the ones that you never want to let go, and those that will never quite fade away.
In contrast to the inspiration behind the album, the artwork from Marco Vannini brings a vivid and subjective aspect to the release, whilst maintaining the idea of fragmented and juxtaposing memories together in one place.
As a true multi-instrumentalist, Olga has produced as Strië, for Serein with ‘Perpetual Journey’ (2018) and previously as her true name Olga Wojciechowska for the likes of Time Released Sound. Olga has also produced alongside Erik Skodvin on Sonic Pieces, collaborated with Greg Haines and reworked Nathan Fake on Ninja Tune. Olga can also be heard in the more contemporary space with commissions by Oslo Opera House and the Royal Opera House.

Since his earliest projects nearly two decades ago, Polish composer Michal Jacaszek has kept some proximity to film music. Initially, his output simply felt cinematic by nature; densely detailed electroacoustic textures on releases like Lo-Fi Stories (2004), Treny (2008) and Glimmer (2011) evoked dimly-lit worlds within themselves, vignettes of the imagination. Over time his interest in sound design and collaboration would manifest actual film projects and commissions, some of which have earned him awards. Jacaszek’s practice — an amalgamation of ambient, classical, and musique concrete — deploys field recordings, acoustic samples, poetry, and baroque instrumentation to paint pictures, oftentimes melancholic, nostalgic, tragic. His 2020 album, Music For Film, marks the naturally-occurring intersection of his identities as a solo artist and a film score artist. The collection is now sequenced and released as a single autonomic movement.
“I didn’t write to particular scenes,” says Jacaszek, recalling the process of envisioning music for Rainer Sarnet’s 2017 black-and-white fantasy drama November. “He asked me to create a bunch of pieces for a dark fairytale-like movie about love in old Estonian pagan times — full of dark magic, strange beliefs, poverty, grit, and natural beauty.” That versatile purpose from the onset affords the material particular pliability in the album format; the pieces work on their own. Two tracks originated from the 2019 documentary He Dreams of Giants; another was first used in 2008 project Golgota wrocławska. Context removed, they fuse seamlessly; ten years time between some recordings, erased.
A visceral dynamism emerges here with a relatively restricted palette of sounds. Music moves in measured steps, inconspicuous yet holding attention. Opener “The Zone” is curious and brittle, crawling on keys and a foundational bass thump as strings seep beneath in a raspy hush. Centerpiece “Dance” folds into an ominous and molasses-slow trot through minor chords, spacious percussion, and static, all under the spell of a mournful violin lead. Windswept vocals haunt “Liina” from a distance, while they sink deeply into orchestral closer “November Late.”
Jacaszek’s work is that of an auteur; he has signatures that he uses faithfully and with much aplomb. Listeners can expect subtle gesture and baroque grandeur on Music For Films: soaring melodies cloaked in reverberation, delicate piano ruminations, and textural craftwork capable of creating and disrupting motifs, smothering and enchanting minds.

? Arkadiusz Entropia - Ostatni żyjący potomek starożytnej rasy Ludzi Drzew, których krew pachniała jak farba (36#41)
"Ostatni żyjący potomek starożytnej rasy ludzi drzew, których krew pachniała jak farba" to album o dalekiej przeszłości, gdzie dwójka kochanków dzieli nowo odzyskany przez ich rasę kruchy pokój. Historia zaczyna się od krótkiego wspomnienia wielkich wojen domowych toczonych przez Ludzi Drzewa, aby potem przejść w opis wydarzeń teraźniejszych dla narratora.
Album powstawał sam z siebie, na podstawie zapisów ostatniego żyjącego potomka rasy Ludzi Drzew. Utwory opisujące wydarzenia, które przeżyły te istoty, powstawały samoczynnie, dopełniając obrazu nakreślonego przez narratora. Komputer był jedynie narzędziem, które umożliwiło przełożenie tej narracji na dźwięk.
Przy tworzeniu albumu nie użyto żadnego fizycznego instrumentu, tak analogowego jak cyfrowego. Został on w całości wygenerowany przy użyciu komputera
? fp:
⚫ label:
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▶ patronite.pl/trzyszostki

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Monochrome Studio
Mixed At – Monochrome Studio
Mastered At – legatomastering.pl
Credits
Artwork, Cover – Bartosz Tymosiewicz
Bass, Double Bass – Rafał Miciński
Drums, Percussion – Michał Leks
Guitar [Double Neck], Acoustic Guitar – Artur Rumiński
Layout – Łukasz Hajduk
Mastered By – Marcin Bociński
Photography By – Tomasz Młynarski
Recorded By, Mixed By – Krzysztof Kurek
Synthesizer, Piano – Maciej Śmigrodzki
Notes
Recorded and mixed March 2019

Release on Ongehoord as 12' vinyl, direct metal mastering, pantone colour. Includes Liner Notes by Laurens Otto.
ongehoord.bandcamp.com
'A native of Poznan, the multi-instrumentalist composer/producer Waclaw Zimpel has steadily been gaining recognition as one of the most singular and original talents to have emerged from Poland in contemporary times. His second solo album 'Massive Oscillations' is set for release on January 31st, and is his first for the Amsterdam-based label Ongehoord. At various points Waclaw deploys bass clarinet, alto clarinet, electronics, prepared upright piano and Yuri Landman guitar object. Wojciech Traczyk adds double bass and Holly Hock provides vocals to 'Release', whist all tracks were mixed by James Holden, who according to Zimpel "added his magic touch". 'Massive Oscillations' is Zimpel's most accomplished album to date - a hypnotic and beguiling work given to moments of subtle euphoria. Gently rhythmic, repetetive but morphing grooves are decorated with elegant musical flourishes. An exquisite vertical listening experience, tracks rev like ignition on a motor. They swell, undulate and breathe in a non linear motion, hovering more than moving, or steadily levitating heavenwards. 'Massive Oscillations' is the result of a nine-day residency at the Willem Twee studio in Den Bosch, Netherlands.'
'The longplayer is not only a consolidation of Zimpel's previous experiments, but is also driven by his curiosity and desire to explore new avenues and possibilities, striving to create an innovative musical vernacular. Inspired as much by jazz as electronics, minimalism and roots music from across the world, he doesn't so much blur boundaries as eradicate them altogether.' "I was looking for new kinds of sounds and had an idea of where I wanted 'Massive Oscillations' to go," says Zimpel, "but that all changed the moment I started playing with the studio's collection of vintage synthesizers and electronic equipment."
'In keeping with his restless improvisational spirit, Zimpel jettisoned previous ideas and set about using the studio's array of oscillators, generators, sequencers, tape recorders and filters (alongside his beloved clarinet) to capitalize on opportunities the facility offered him. Subliminal factors were also at play: Having tuned the oscillators by ear for 'Sine Tapes' and title track 'Massive Oscillations', whilst attempting to work out melodies on his clarinet, Zimpel found he'd inadvertently arrived at a lower frequency than intended. By a happy accident, he realized he'd subconsciously been tuning in to the bells of St Jan's Cathedral, which is located close to the studio. "It was this kind of magical coincidence that really helped shape the recording", he recalls.'
credits
releases January 31, 2020
Waclaw Zimpel: Bass Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Electronics, Prepared Upright Piano, Yuri Landman guitar object
Guest appearance: Wojciech Traczyk: Double Bass (Track 04) Holly Hock: Vocals (Track 04)
Recorded, Produced by Waclaw Zimpel
Mixing by James Holden at Sacred Walls London
Mastering by Brandenburg Mastering
Liner notes by Laurens Otto
Design by Lukasz Paluch
Thanks to Sara Kałużna, Hans Kulk, Rikkert Brok, Ulf Eriksson, Jeroen Vermandere, Willem Twee Studios, Inter Arts Center.

dlaczego,

Written and produced by Sam Shackleton and Waclaw Zimpel. Electronics, sequencing, and programming by Sam Shackleton. Alto clarinet, violin, harmonium, e-piano, organ, frame drum, percussions, lira, and monochord by Waclaw Zimpel
"Sam Shackleton, returning to Cosmo Rhythmatic after his outing on the label as Tunes of Negation, and Polish clarinetist/multi-instrumentalist Wacław Zimpel have joined forces for this debut collaborative release.
Both artists boast a track record of successful collaborative projects, the two have united after being introduced by mutual friends, in wake of a shared interest in minimalism and a broad set of influences rooted in different musical traditions. Joining Zimpel’s demanding multi-layered experience in avantgarde jazz with Shackleton’s mathematical, esoteric lyricism, the pair have used all the tools at their disposal, aiming at a new form of ritual trance music. This fierce fusion of styles brings out the very best in each other, showing unique clarity and force."

Inner Symphonies is entirely written and performed by Hania and Dobrawa, and recorded in Szczecin’s Philharmonic Hall. ‘It really comes from our two very close but very different worlds,’ explains Hania. ‘Inner means something little, private, intimate, while the symphonic means something huge. It’s a new adventure for us.’

SALTO is pleased to announce the release of their debut album 'Cappuccino'.
SALTO is a Polish alternative experimental band. This debut album is the culmination of a year's worth of live recordings that have been carefully and caringly mastered and curated. During their performances SALTO seeks to create an authentic atmosphere full of emotion and improvisation. 'Cappuccino' is an album that offers a layered experience that reveals more of itself with each listen. Whimsical and experimental instrumentals will have the listener feeling euphoric in one moment and emotional in the next. 'Cappuccino' is inspired by post-rock, trans, noise, shoegaze or even jazz music. The soul of the album was brilliantly captured and visually communicated by Ania Cywińska, who designed exceptional cover and CD graphics.
„Cappuccino” to debiutancki album poznańsko-średzkiego trio o przewrotnej nazwie SALTO. W obecnym składzie tworzą od roku, czego owocem są utwory zarejestrowane na żywo. Zależało im, aby zachować pełną autentyczność atmosfery, gdzie emocje wyrażają się w improwizacji. Uważny słuchacz znajdzie tu eksperymentalną muzykę instrumentalną - raz euforyczną, raz senną - ułożoną w dłuższe formy, wyraźnie inspirowaną post-rockiem, transem, noizem, shoegazem czy nawet jazzem. O stronę graficzną zadbała Ania Cywińska, która zgrabnie połączyła muzyczny chaos w wizualną całość.

Country: Poland
Genre: Rock
Style: Post Rock
All music written and performed by Yenisei:
Grzegorz Cisek - Bass
Michał Gawroński - Drums
Piotr Grobelny - Guitars
Piotr Klamiński - Guitars
Rafał Piniaź - Keys, Pads, Synths
Recorded by Tomasz Stołowski at Nebula Studio Poland
Mixed and mastered by Maciej Karbowski at Nebula Studio Poland
Guest vocals on "No Escape" by Marta Młynarczyk
Album artwork and layout by Jarek Kubicki
kubicki.info

Hailing from Poland and lead by mysterious sole member K.M., ARS MAGNA UMBRAE debuted in 2017 with a promising EP, “Through Lunar Gateways”, the first stone of an occult black metal tower pointed at the firmament. The band's newest full-length effort, “Lunar Ascension” is the top of that admirable building, an open eye on immense cosmic depths, and a privileged observation point to investigate the mysteries of the night sky, darkness and death.
Equally inspired by Nightbringer, Blut Aus Nord and Mare Cognitum, and mainly focused on dissonant riffs and bewitching melodies, ARS MAGNA UMBRAE's music is a true assault on the senses. At times it's as suffocatingly dense and aggressive as only the old black metal was; in other occasions it tries to tone down the tension with atmospheric interludes bordering on raw dark ambient. But it's a pious wish: all in all, ARS MAGNA UMBRAE remain a sinister and terrifying occult black metal monster, at ease only in the utmost darkness. They only light they seek is the light of dead stars, silent witnesses of the void that will swallow us all.
Originally self-released via Bandcamp, “Lunar Ascension” has been revised and expanded thanks to the addition of a final track, “The Feast Of Shades”, a triumphant ending to a visionary album.

Żałosne (słownik: wyrażający żal / wzbudzający litość)
Sitarstwo było nierozerwalnie związane z Biłgorajem już od początków powstania miasta (XVI w.) jednak dopiero w XVIII wieku sita i przetaki stały się wizytówką Biłgoraja a ich produkcją zajmowali się niemal wszyscy mieszkańcy. Wiosną sitarze wyruszali sprzedawać swe wyroby, rytuał pożegnania tak opisuje etnograf Oskar Kolberg:
Do zwyczajów miejscowych należy i to, że gdy sitarze wyjeżdżają w drogę z sitami, wtedy ich żony, krewni i przyjaciele odprowadzają ich aż pod figurę św. Jana Nepomucena tuż za miastem na trakcie zamojskim stojącą i tam ich żegnają, częstując wódką i arakiem, co się zowie żałosne.
Żałosne to album o rozstaniu i przeżywaniu z nim związanej żałoby.