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Robert Piotrowicz, "Rurokura and Eastern European Folk Music Research Volume 2"
The latest release from this up and coming Polish sound artist steps away from his usual preference for walls of digital noise and instead plunders through tapes of traditional folk music for source material, leaving enough evidence of its pedigree there, but taking it to far off realms of sound.
The A side, titled "Wedding," opens with "Greek Catholic Stork Boy Choir of Ozerki Village," a rapid fire pulsing slab of cut up jittery notes. There’s obviously underlying musical elements there, but sped up, flanged, and covered in a digital noise sheen so as to not completely give up its source. The second piece, "Molomotki Ocarina Orchestra," keeps the same tone but locks it into a rhythmic loop that exhibits the smallest changes.
While the "Wedding" side was rapid, spastic and joyous; the "Funeral" side is appropriately slow and meditative. "School Girl Band of Gromovaya Balka" takes up the entire side B. It's a piece that uses the same type of source sounds as the A side but instead sequences them into a slow orchestral dirge. Here, knocking percussive elements, heavy sub-bass, and open, shimmery notes create an expansive drone.
The sound is one that’s a bit too harsh for the musique concrete crowd, yet not speaker-damaging enough for the noise kids. Thus, it exists in its own purgatory, waiting for listeners who are willing to step outside their comfort zone and embrace something different.
