Translate

Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą Lewandowski Dawid. Pokaż wszystkie posty
Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą Lewandowski Dawid. Pokaż wszystkie posty

sobota, 24 stycznia 2015

Orange The Juice - The Messiah Is Back (2014)

Orange The Juice 

Konrad Zawadzki – wokale, inne dźwięki
Dawid Lewandowski – gitara elektryczna, wokale, inne dźwięki
Marcin A. Steczkowski – fortepian, klawisze, kornet, inne dźwięki, programowanie
Mariusz Godzina – saksofony
Marcin Jadach – gitara basowa, kontrabas, synth bass
Jan Kiedrzyński – perkusja. 

Gościnnie: Ida Zalewska – wokale
Maciej Obara – saksofon altowy (5)
Erwin Żebro – trąbka prowadząca (2, 6)
Maciej Kosztyła – saksofon tenorowy (2, 6)
Marcin Taras – tuba (2, 6)
Paweł Gielareck – theremin (5)
Maciek Witek – dyrygent chóru Cantus ze Stalowej Woli (2, 4)

The Messiah Is Back (2014)

By Maciej Nowotny

Kolektyw ten tworzy trzymająca się razem grupa muzyków, którzy zadebiutowali w ramach bandu o nazwie Transgress. Przekształcił się on następnie w Orange The Juice, który wydał obiecującą EPkę "Romanian Beach", a zaistniał też w jeszcze innym wcieleniu o nazwie Minimatikon, wydając płytę "The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari". Generalnie podziwiam tych młodych ludzi za odwagę robienia muzy jaką kochają i dzięki nim Stalowa Wola, gdzie mieszkają, kojarzy mi się z czymś więcej niż Hutą produkującą poradzieckie czołgi, Muzeum Jana Pawła II i kinem Ballada.

Ale do rzeczy, czyli muzyki. Na wstępie chciałem powiedzieć, że znam ich poprzednie płyty i od paru lat słyszałem "groźne" zapowiedzi artystów, iż "wiekopomny" album "Messiah Is Back" (w kategorii odjechanych tytułów w pierwszej trójce albumów w zeszłym roku) niebawem ujrzy światło dzienne. Trochę trzeba było czekać (nie żeby mi się dłużyło, się składa, że mam czego słuchać) i w końcu jest płyta, będąca w moim odczuciu podsumowaniem całego młodzieńczo-debiutanckiego okresu tych muzyków. Kilka kawałków zostało dopracowanych, przedsięwzięto też próbę ułożenia tego materiału w jakąś spójną całość. 



Język tej kapeli bardzo trudno określić: stanowi on zlepek wszystkich możliwych wpływów, a najlepiej charakteryzują go nagłe i niespodziewane przeskoki od jednego do drugiego. Znacie mnie, zawsze piszę to, co myślę, stąd uczciwie powiem, że ja tego nie kupuję i boli mnie od tego głowa. Widzę w tym grawitujący w stronę chaosu eklektyzm, a nie przemyślaną koncepcję, za którą stoi cel i jakaś istotna wiadomość, która mogłaby pobudzić mój zasadniczo leniwy i zepsuty nadmiarem wrażeń intelekt. Ale dopuszczam możliwość, że inni słuchacze mogą odebrać to zupełnie inaczej.

Bez wątpienia bowiem na plus tej płyty należy zapisać, że doprawdy świetnie to jest zagrane, w czym nie przeszkadzają zaproszeni goście, wśród których znalazła się tak wyrazista postać jak młody saksofonista Maciej Obara czy mniej znana, ale interesująca jazzowa wokalistka, Ida Zalewska (wymieniam tylko niektórych). Podoba mi się też frenetyczna energia bijąca z płyty, pewnego rodzaju kreatywny flow przywodzący na myśl dzieła Franka Zappy i bezkompromisowość wyrażająca się w trzymaniu się swojego języka, a nie kopiowanie czegoś już dobrze znanego, tak nagminne wśród naszych debiutantów.

Ale. Ale mam wrażenie, że lepiej byłoby dla muzyków (i dla mnie jako życzliwego im słuchacza, którego wszakże - przyznaję to - irytuje nieco ich muzyczne rozkojarzenie), gdyby zostawili za sobą już cały ten młodzieńczy okres i zaproponowali nam coś bardziej dojrzałego. Nowe kompozycje, nowa koncepcja, niech przestana już cyzelować te starocie, które komponowali na gitarze w garażu jako nastolatkowie, a skierują się ku nowym terytorium. Czekam niecierpliwie na ich płytę, jaka ma wyjść w tym roku w wydawnictwie For Tune z nadzieją, że usłyszę na niej coś innego niż jeszcze jedną wariację na temat tych samych powtarzających się tematów znanych z poprzednich płyt tego zespołu. Jeśli zaś tak właśnie będzie to zamiast Orange The Juice poproszę Bloody Mary...

piątek, 9 stycznia 2015

2WKL – Cyber Ja2z (2002)

2WKL

Wojciech Konikiewicz - keyboards
Dawid Lewandowski - drums

Cyber Ja2z

PRIVATE EDITION




By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish duo 2WKL, which comprises of keyboardist/composer Wojciech Konikiewicz and drummer/composer Dawid Wojtek Lewandowski, who lives in France. The music was performed using a plethora of synthesizers, keyboards and programmed and live drums and was recorded live to DAT, featuring no overdubs or other studio trickery. The album presents six original compositions, three of which were composed by Konikiewicz and three were co-composed by Konikiewicz and Lewandowski.

The music is an interesting amalgam of ambient/synthesizer music with strong ethnic elements, especially the rhythmic patterns, jazzy improvisation, groove, funk and even some Jazz-Rock idioms. Although performed only by two musicians, practically live, the overall sound is powerful and multilayered, often quite complex and intricate. Although strong melodic elements are present, the music is mostly atmospheric and contemplative, except for the moments when it creates a strong funk groove, becoming almost danceable.

Konikiewicz plays some amazing synthesizer sounds, which are consistent with his well deserved position as one of the best keyboardists on the Polish scene. This album proves that he is always ready to experiment and find his own place within the developing and emerging music technology. The solos Konikiewicz plays on this album are truly stellar and should be part of the electric / electronic pantheon of the Polish recorded legacy.

Lewandowski's drums programming is among the best I have come across in the ambitious music, which proves that automated drums can be creative and even fascinating. There is not a dull moment on this album, much thanks to the great drum tracks.

Although this album was recorded a decade and a half ago, there are very few, if any, synthesizer oriented albums released on the Polish scene since, that can match its diversity, imagination and virtuosity. It is definitely worth to be dug up and discovered by all those who missed it at the time.

środa, 15 sierpnia 2012

String Connection - Workoholic (1982)

String Connection (band)

Krzesimir Dębski – violin, piano, Polymoog
Zbigniew Lewandowski – drums
Andrzej Olejniczak – tenor & soprano saxophones
Janusz Skowron – Fender, Hammond, Polymoog
Krzysztof Ścierański – bass guitar

guests:
Mirosław Michalak – guitar (1 & 5)
Zdzisław Śróda – trombone (1)

Workoholic (1982)

String Connection is one of the top "stars" of the polish 80'. Playing hundreds of shows (not only in Poland) durring that period and recording few great albums, Krzesimir Dębski's (violin) crew managed to break into hearts of many (not only) jazz fans. Disbandment in 1988 was not yet the end of String Connection - they managed to play few shows in 1998 and decided to return for longer tour in 2011, issuing live album in 2012.

Their compositions are quite "listenable" - lots of beautiful classical influenced melodies by Dębski, strong rhythm section, great piano and sax. Much of that can be experienced on "Bokra", the very first tune from SC first album "Workoholic". Here it is:



There is a lot of dynamic, groovy playing here, still leaving place for calmer moods. The song starts and ends with orchestral-sounding section (faded out in the end), kind of unusual - 3 bars in length makes it feel like being "too short". Afterwards, the main, groovy rhythm appears followed by the melody played together by violin and sax. The tune runs like that into the next section and, after repeating the main groove, calms the mood down - beautiful sax playing here. This softer section leads the way to the soloing cycle. Piano, violing and sax solos are played over the same chordal pattern (8 bars) launched 4 and a half times for each solo - every instrument ends it's part by reaching F# minor chord, on which music morphes into the main groove (plus melody). Second and third solo (violin and sax) start with calming the music down for two turns. After the solos, the main rhythm + melody is repeated as in the begining, along with the next section, making it's way to the ending part.

Score and tab: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bw7O1HDkrEexejFJcmwzYlg2ZlU
Score only: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bw7O1HDkrEexR3E5TnVkUTJiazQ
Tab only: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bw7O1HDkrEexYU5DYUtlOEFhLWM

Krzysztof Ścierański is considered to be one of the best bass players in Poland. Somebody called him "Polish Pastorius" once, but his style is quite different from famous Jaco. Ścierański, a self-taught musician, plays fretted basses (I don't know if he ever played fretless), "digs" stuff like slapping, or harmonics and likes to use bass effects (chorus, reverb, delay and so). The first "big" thing he got involved into was Laboratorium - polish jazz-fusion band of 70'-80', considered by many the best polish fusion band. Before String Connection, Krzysztof played in Zbigniew Namysłowski's fusion outfit called Air Condition and, after SC, lots of great projects, gigs and solo stuff. IMHO the most important bassist in Polish fusion. Just listen to this performance by, mentioned earlier, Air Condition with Namysłowski:

One word of explaination about String Connection album name. As you might notice, there is no such word in English as "Workoholic". "Workaholic" yes, not "Workoholic". Krzesimir Dębski explained in one of his interviews, that he made that word up - there was a trend is polish jazz then to do such things. He wanted to join "work" with "alcoholic", as he considered himself to be addicted to work (if somebody plays rehearsals at 4 a.m., like Dębski did in early stage of SC era, should be IMHO considered workaholic) and didn't know that very similar word already exists. That's why there is a "typo" in the album title.

By Brian The Fire
http://fusionbasstabs.blogspot.com 

Track listing:
"Bokra" (K. Dębski) – 7:10
"Cantabile in H-Moll" (K. Dębski) – 6:00
"Kill the Raven" (J. Skowron) – 3:48
"Quasi String Waltz" (K. Dębski) – 3:20
"Workoholic" (K. Dębski) – 4:32
"Seekuh" (K. Ścierański) – 3:10
"Primary" (J. Skowron) – 5:10
"Gutan Dance" (K. Dębski) – 5:30


sobota, 17 marca 2012

Minimatikon - The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (2011)

Minimatikon (band)

Konrad Zawadzki - vocals, sounds, noise
Dawid Lewandowski - guitar, vocal, sounds
Marcin Yadach - double bass, bass guitar
Janek Kiedrzyński - drums
Marcin A. Steczkowski - keyboards, trumpet, sounds
Mariusz Godzina - saxophones

The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (2011)

(Editor) Soundtracks can be divided into bad (independent enough that can be listened without film) or good (not independent enough to be listened separately from film). This one is closer to this second category. I really wish I could listen to it while watching film! It sounds enough intriguing, dark and oneiric to make me curious how this two elements, music and film, coexist together. But even without film I cannot say that its rehearsal is unsatisfactory. It shows that Marcin Staczkowski (leader) and his partners are clearly making progress since they started in 2010 as The Transgress ("Oneisrism op. 1") and in 2011 released very promising EP "Romanian Beach" (2011) by their next band Orange The Juice. Names of the bands change but core personnel remains the same which is beneficial to the music of this ensemble which is becoming more mature, coherent, deep. Saying all this positive things I still must notice that there are also on this CD weaker moments. For example pulse as supplied by rhythm section is at moments so simple, obvious and mechanical. That is why after listening to this material I am still waiting for first release showing all their potential actualized... 

"MINIMATIKON - a movie soundtrack project by Orange the Juice – are planning to release a soundtrack for the 1920 movie “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” on 31st October, 2011. The CD will be a limited collector’s edition. 

Supported by two additional musicians and going by the name of MINIMATIKON, Orange The Juice have composed a score for Robert Wien’s horror movie “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, which has become the movie’s official soundtrack in Poland’s indie movie theatres. 

Minimatikon’s music illustration for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is often considered one of the greatest horror movies of the silent era, was created and recorded at Minimatikon Studio in Stalowa Wola, Poland. It was produced by Marcin A. Steczkowski, Daniel Lewandowski and Marcin Jadach. As in the case of Orange The Juice’s debut album You Name It, the cover art for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was made by Gdańsk, Poland-based Studio TOF." (source:  http://www.orangethejuice.com/)



1. Them Birds; 2. Them Skies; 3. Them Merchants; 4. Them Delusions; 5. Them Nights; 6. Them Shades; 7. Them Angels; 8. Them Traps; 9. Them Potions; 10. Them Journeys; 11. Them Roses; 12. Them Conversations; 13. Them Eyes; 14. Them Demons; 15. Them Legends; 16. Them Gods; 17. Them Doors; 18. Them People; 19. Them Whispers.

By Maciej Nowotny

piątek, 2 grudnia 2011

Orange The Juice - Romanian Beach [EP] (2011)

Orange The Juice (band)

Konrad Zawadzki - vocals, sounds, noise
Dawid Lewandowski - guitar, vocal, sounds
Marcin Jadach - double bass, bass guitar
Janek Kiedrzyński - drums
Marcin A. Steczkowski - keyboards, trumpet, sounds
Mariusz Godzina - saxophones

Romanian Beach [EP] (2011)

This EP made good impression on me. It comes as second from band of young musicians gathered around Marcin A. Steczkowski after promising "Oneirism Op.1". Though definitely not within mainstream of jazz but rather closer to its experimental and auto-ironic side, it brings fresh attitude and sounds that may appeal especially to younger generations brought up on indie music. As with all EPs question remains how this good yet relatively short material will translate into LP... That's unclear at the moment but if these young musicians manage to remain on such a creative and communicative course the outcome should be at least satisfactory, perhaps even more than that...

Please, check sample of music from this EP: http://www.myspace.com/orangethejuice or from concert:


Author: Maciej Nowotny


Zobacz też: