Drone Records

ZENIAL - Chimera

Format: LP

Label & Cat.Number: Zoharum ZOHAR 051-1 LP

Release Year: 2013

Note: very "old school" analogue electronic compositions from this long active Polish artist, most of them created during a residency at legendary electronic music studio EMS in Stockholm; recommended if you like the very reduced analog-synth sounds from the past or contemporary stuff as ELEH... lim. 200 copies only

Price (incl. 19% VAT): €15.00

Warning: Currently we do not have this album in stock!

More Info

"Zoharum presents its second vinyl release. This time it's a full-length album by Łukasz Szałankiewicz aka ZENIAL who returns to the label after two acclaimed releases (a solo album "Connection Reset by Peer" and a live album "There's No Other God than Rambo!" by AABZU, a duo with Maciek Szymczuk.) "Chimera" is 40-minutes of music that will appeal to fans of electronics as well as its contemporary genres followers.

Each vinyl has two sides and here this division is even more evident. The first side gathers 3 compositions: the title track, which was inspired by footage from the 1980s; "Hästhallen," which was prepared as a sound background for gallery installations; "Unclean/Clean," which is a reworked version of a digital bonus to "Connection Reset by Peer". These tracks were previously presented in galleries in Karlskrona (SE), Gdańsk (PL) and Rostock (DE) and also on Swedish radio (in the series presenting the latest compositions from Stockholm EMS where they were created), but the following vinyl album is the first physical format which one can listen to these compositions from.

The second side with two tracks is a closed entity dedicated to Franz Bardon, Czech scholar of hermetics, and conceived in collaboration with Prague Skolska28 gallery. The title Rosora is a sort of acoustic instrument used in magical practices. The final of this project took place on Babel Festival together with Mikolas Chadima and Martin Blazick. There is also a limited DVD with the video material by Radosław Deruba (he collaborated with Łukasz Szałankiewicz on the occassion of "Connection Reset by Peer" album.)

What is more, 4 out of 5 compositions were created during Łukasz Szałankiewicz residency in prestigious EMS studio, which is a Stockholm counterpart of the legendary Polish Radio Experimental Studio.

The album was mastered by Marcin Bociński (Legato Recording). The cover is graced by paintings of Wiktor Jackowski, one of the most interesting contemporary painters of a younger generation, who is also the author of cover design. The album is strictly limited to 200 copies. Release date: 25.08.2013." [label info]

www.zoharum.com

"Of a more experimental nature is the music by Zenial, also known as Lukasz Szalankiewicz, who recorded much of the basic material for this album at the EMS studios in Stockholm. There are three pieces on side which are not related to each other and two on the other side, which are dedicated to 'Franz Bardon, Czech scholar of hermetics' and named after the 'Rosora' a sort of acoustic instrument used in magical practices'. The analogue synthesizers found at EMS are put to great use here: a loud but clean sound of humming sine waves and square shapes. Zenial adds, perhaps, a bit of field recordings in the title piece, but that might very well be also some kind of synthesizers. In his compositional approach, Zenial, is a highly minimal. In 'Unclean/Clean' for instance various layers of 'wind' like sounds layered together - it's the only piece not recorded at EMS and has quite a laptop like approach to it. In 'Rosora 28' quite harsh layers of synthetic sounds bounce against each other for quite a while, before some more sounds of equally loud proportion come in. In a way all five pieces may remind the listener of old school industrial music in a way, but it has a crystal clear sound, which may remind the listener of some earlier private studio electronic music from the sixties. Monolithic in approach, but I thought was all great music. Quite loud, maybe even noise related but with a strong compositional approach. An excellent post industrial music record." [FdW/Vital Weekly]