s w e e t b e a t s
march.16.2004 - #1238
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artist : Skalpel
album : Skalpel
year : 2004
label : Ninja Tune
genre : Lo-Fi
catalogue : ZENCD87
url : www.ninjatune.net
quality : CD lame VBR 3.90.3 --alt-preset standard
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01.High 04:25
02.Not Too Bad 03:16
03.1958 02:31
04.Together 05:19
05.So Far 05:14
06.Break in 05:37
07.Quiz 02:35
08.Asphodel 03:34
09.Theme From Behind the Curtain 04:12
10.Sculpture 04:52
10 tracks | 41:35 mins | 59,3 MB
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Polish duo Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo have been making warm, crisp
and complex beat-based music for a while now. ItÆs just that
theyÆve been making it in Poland. There, they are among the
best-known and most respected DJs and producers about, with even a
Paszporty Polityki nomination to their name (the most prestigious
culture award in the country). Beyond, they are virtually unknown.
Until now, that is, and the release of their debut album by Ninja
Tune. The pair came to NinjaÆs attention via DJ Vadim who had
worked with them on one of his Eastern European tours. But, as the
saying goes, it ainÆt where ya fromà and Skalpel are definitely at
some tomorrow places.
Drawing on PolandÆs rich jazz heritage (much of it semi-illegal
samizdat recordings made when the Communists thought that jazz
could bring down the state), Cichy and Pudlo have an unrivalled
source of samples to tap and they tap it with consummate aplomb.
They combine a kind of broad brush romanticism with the most
carefully dissected breaks for a sound which comes on like an East
European ôIn A Silent Wayö with heavier drumming. The truth is that
they just get it right, again and again and again, making music
which is by turns emotive, funny and filmic but always funky as
fuck.
The opening ôHighö combines sharp conga playing with spectral
warbling and flute stabs, ôNot Too Badö is held together by a
killer double bass riff, single ô1958ö is kitsch dancefloor
business, ôBreak Inö lifts you up out of your seat and has you
hanging above the couch, ôQuizö is garage-band jazz, ôBehind The
Curtainö is sublime road movie music.
But scratch a little deeper and the Polish scene of the 60s and 70s
is more than just another crate to dig and also serves as their
main inspiration. ôWe are much more influenced by this music than
the present day scene,ö explains Cichy. Pudlo points to the
richness of a scene which included Michael Urbaniak (the only
violinist to play with Miles Davis, like, ever) and Krzysztof
Komeda (who composed the music for PolanskiÆs ôRosemaryÆs Baby).
Which perhaps explains why SkalpelÆs music, despite their name,
never feels clinical. This is about keeping something living û not
a post-mortem. --nijatune.net
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s w e e t b e a t s
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greetings to: dps, diss, bcc, cqi, kw, sour, its, om,
drum, just, nuhs, cmg, soup, chr, dh, ms, tr and ube.
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