An overview of the Polish noise scene

[scumwalski]

Back in 2011 I was asked to write a short article on harsh noise. Initially, the text was supposed to be a brief overview of the genre and its subgenres. Soon after, the idea evolved into its current form. The article was published in several consecutive issues of Hard Art, chronologically covering the development of the noise scene in Poland.

I am very well aware that the article has its flaws – I've noticed a number of them long after it had been published. Nevertheless, I believe that this is the first attempt at a write-up on this particular area of Polish music. I've decided to post the article here in its initial, unchanged form – just the way it was published in the magazine mentioned above. I hope that it will inspire you to dig deeper into the Polish underground as there are still many gems to be found. I also hope to expand the text, update the data, correct all mistakes etc. therefore all feedback is welcome.

http://harshnoise.org/?p=3631

[Jaakko V.]

Took a while to gather the energy to read this rather long text on screen, but happy that eventually I did. Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[scumwalski]

Thanks for taking the time to read it. I know that going through a wall of text can be a daunting task at times.
The article was intentionally broken up in short pieces for print in order to prevent this.

There isn't much info on Polish experimental/noise scene available online so I'm just trying to spread the word. There's a lot of great stuff going on locally.

I'm really glad you liked it.

[Zeno Marx]

Yes, thank you for posting this.  I'll nibble at it for sure.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

The next year saw a release of the debut album of a new trio Schmerz which consisted of Marcin Lojek (Mantichora, New Nihilism), Mikolaj Zentara (widely recognized for his outstanding black metal outfit Mgla or the lesser known Leichenhalle) and Hubert Kulisiewicz (Sujoy). "Old School Misanthropy" was based on the 'traditional' European power electronics sounds. Most of the tracks were quite simple structurally, mostly based on low synthesizer textures and distorted vocal lines. Shortly afterwards, the trio seemed to have disbanded.

I recall Mikolaj mentioned Schmerz was planning new things, even live performance? Was it perhaps duo now?
Besides Leichenhalle, he also did Arca Funebris and I believe also St. Stephens Criminal Hospital.
He released on same label GRUNT "Terror & Degeneration" tape (back then was only available as cdr)

[scumwalski]

Yeah that's what I heard as well. I'm not really into PE so I haven't been paying that much attention to what they're currently up to. I know for sure that one of the guys is now heavily involved in manufacturing synth modules (Xaoc Devices) which is pretty fantastic. There's lots of things going on at the same time and it's difficult to keep track of it all.

[metalpunk]

I recall Mikolaj mentioned Schmerz was planning new things, even live performance? Was it perhaps duo now?
Besides Leichenhalle, he also did Arca Funebris and I believe also St. Stephens Criminal Hospital.
He released on same label GRUNT "Terror & Degeneration" tape (back then was only available as cdr)

Yes it was planned. But because they are busy guys nothing happenned so far. As Dawid mentioned Marcin now is very busy with his XAOC devices activities and other activities as bands or label are suffering from this, but he is interested in changing it by the way. I hope that SCHMERZ will be active again, at lest they should finish an albub, because as far as I know there is a lot of sounds were recorded for this during days when they were in business.
I'm very happy to be a part of Polish scene (even if there not so much words about my stuff in the article :)) it was big improvement for me after I left Russia in 2009 and moved to Warsaw.

[scumwalski]

I haven't mentioned MAAAA in the original text because the initial idea was to write about acts which have originated in Poland. Now it seems kinda obvious that omitting them was a huge mistake. On the other hand, MAAAA is a big name in Poland so it's all good. Plus I intend to keep updating the text, add more media etc. so they are most definitely going to get covered.

I'd also suggest picking up the Encyclopedia of Industrial Music from Impulsy Stetoskopu since it covers Polish bands/solo acts which don't exactly fit in the narrowed down category of 'noise'.

BTW, I really hope that the English version is readable enough. I usually write all reviews/interviews in English and translate it to Polish afterwards but this article was initially written in Polish. Translating from Polish to English is much more difficult for whatever reason.

[ImpulsyStetoskopu]

Once I wrote that it would be great to present here big, extensive, rich in names and contexts articles about industrial/noise/experimental circles in less known place in the world. Let this article about Polish scene start similiar from Hungary, Czech Republic/Slovakia, Sweden, Norway, and maybe Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and others.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

There is topic about Swedish noise. Not article but talk. Same about Norway where a lot of projects are being introduced. But Hungary, Czech, Slovakia and all sorts of south american countries would be most welcome.