OFF Festival Katowice 2012: Dreaming with Mazzy Star

We liked what she did with The Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack, we appreciated The Warm Inventions, but we still couldn’t wait for the phenomenal Hope Sandoval to sing “Fade Into You” (one of Pitchfork’s top 20 tracks of the 90s!) once more, and who knows, perhaps even something new. At long last, our wishes have come true: Hope has started performing again and is back in the studio alongside David Roback. It’s possible that her OFF Festival appearance will be more than just a look back on the beautiful, dreamy, and intricate songs released over the past two decades, giving fans a taste of some of the new recordings off Mazzy Star’s forthcoming album, slated for release this fall.

 

Chromatics

This Portland, Oregon, trio have been honing their trademark stuffy, grimy retro-electronic sound for over a decade. The group’s first commercial success came with their appearance on the phenomenal soundtrack to the equally excellent picture Drive, composed by none other than Johnny Jewel, producer and member of Chromatics. Their latest album, Kill For Love, clocking in a 90 minutes, is a kind of extension of that aesthetic, augmented with new ideas and sounds. “This is a modern masterpiece, it’s as simple as that,” raved one Drowned in Sound reviewer. We have no quarrel with that.

 

Dâm FunK

Whom do we have to thank for the revival of boogie and funk on the indie scene? There’s only one possible answer: Dâm-Funk. Damon G. Riddick, a multi-instrumentalist, DJ, vocalist, and producer from California, emerged from obscurity in 2007 when he began remixing and composing original tracks for Stones Throw Records (his second album, Toeachizown, released in 2009, has since risen to cult status). Dâm-Funk’s weekly “Funkmosphere” parties have also become a thing of legend, and we’re sure the vibe at his show in Katowice will be just as hot!

 

Kristen

Led by Michał Biela of Ścianka fame, Kristen has been playing for going on 15 years and continues to impress fans with its original combination of alt-rock and free jazz, as heard on their 2010 album Western Lands – recorded in collaboration with Etam Etamski, Kuba Suchar (Mikrokolektyw), and Marcina Ciupidro (formerly of Robotobibok) – as well as last year’s EP, titled An Accident, which is somewhat of an appendix to the 2010 record. Too bad Kristen doesn’t seek out attention: if you knew them better, you’d have a much higher opinion of contemporary Polish music.

 

The Shipyard

Piotr Pawłowski, bassist of the legendary Made in Poland and cornerstone of the project known as Heart & Soul (along with Rykarda Parasol), founded The Shipyard after moving to the Tri-City area. This extraordinary band – or alternative supergroup, rather – features drummer Filip Gałązka (Tymon & the Transistors, Brygada Kryzys, Izrael), guitarist Nela Gzowska (Kobiety), vocalist Rafał Jurewicz (Sound of Pixies), and guitarist Michał Miegoń (Kiev Office, Karol Schwarz All Stars). Their heavy, noisy, and catchy music fuses shoegaze, cold wave, and punk. Their debut album, We Will Sea, forthcoming on Nasiono Records in late August, will certainly be huge event. So will their appearance at the OFF Festival.

 

Keira Is You

Soaring post-rock with an emo sensibility: few bands in Poland follow in the path of Keira Is You. And few artists are as independent as this Chorzów-based quartet. Suffice it to say that since their inception in 2008, they’ve performed across the continent on self-organized tours and released two records – Nothing Else Will Happen (2009) and One Of Those Things That You Do Once In A Lifetime And Hopefully Learn A Lesson From (2011) – both available in the US and Japan. The band is a long-time collaborator with producer Magnus Lindberg, a member of the Swedish post-metal group Cult of Luna.