Hello Leo.
Lisa from Tombouctou gave me contact to you.
My name is Kuba, I used to play in bands like Kurws or Przepych, right now I’m active musically under the name Strzał w kolano . Together with a guitar-drums duo Zdrój and improvising guitarist Hubert Kostkiewicz (also from Kurws, Atol Atol Atol) we will be touring and we are looking for possibility to play some show in the area of Lyon. Would you be interested to set a show? If not, maybe you have some ideas to whom to forward us?
For the possible show We are thinking of one of the following dates:
sunday 15.06.2025
What do you think? Please let us know.
All the best
- Kuba / Strzał w kolano / Kurws / Przepych / Salka collective.
ZDRÓJ bc: https://zdroj.bandcamp.com/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWHAuT4TINmWSDfhzWqP_zzivvOFwaccj https://soundcloud.com/zdroj/sets fb: https://www.facebook.com/zdrojband
Zdrój is a Polish-Dutch improv duo from Wrocław, deeply embedded in the ever-evolving music scene around CRK Salka (home to bands like Kurws, Ukryte Zalety Systemu, Przepych, Atol Atol Atol, and Barłóg).
After their self-titled debut in 2022, in spring 2024, Zdrój returned with Koleiny (CD on Fonoradar Records, MC on Syf Records). While their first album was shaped in the studio, Koleiny consists entirely of raw, live improvisations captured during performances in 2022. On the album they dive into instrumental post-punk, infused with krautrock, noise, and flashes of EBM.
Stepping into a Zdrój gig, you never quite know what to expect—but chances are it’ll be short, noisy, and unexpectedly danceable. Their sets unfold in real-time, raw and impulsive, driven by a play-before-you-think mentality. For Zdrój, free improvisation isn’t just a musical approach; it’s a way of creating without hesitation.
Excerpt from the “Pandemic Gig of Salka’s Bands”" movie:VIDEO
A brief “Tężyczka” music-video from the band’s first album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0YnLSR1yco
About their second album “Koleiny”:
“A conversation between guitar and drums wrapped in effects and wandering between genres so deftly that you won’t be able to catch the transitions or the layering of individual themes and passages. ”Na Druhe Strane Řeky )
"They manage to find many shades in those trance-like rhythmic structures and gritty guitar sounds, giving the music an engaging, hypnotic pulse. ”Łukasz Iwański, Jazz Forum )
"Zdrój’s evolution is happening at a frenetic pace, consolidating the duo’s position among the most thrilling Polish concert phenomena. "Koleiny"is a total immersion and a dense sonic cauldron - it’s impossible to sit still while listening to such music. "Mateusz Sroczyński, JazzPRESS )
About the their debut “st” album:
"The songs on “Zdrój” are short miniatures, rarely longer than two minutes. There is little mathematical combining and sonic exploration here - guitar juggling, percussion acrobatics and intense playing are the order of the day. This explains the way in which the album was created - the material was unplanned, extracted from several hours of recording sessions that took place spontaneously and without any assumptions."
(Jakub Knera, Czas Kultury )
“The 14 short pieces - barely two pieces here last more than two minutes - are exercises in synchronization in improvisation. For these are forms created on the fly, which is no small feat by the way, and full of inner discipline. The musicians here work on raw loops, in which the distorted guitars are somewhat reminiscent of the dirty and dense sounds of contemporary African artists.”
(Bartek Chaciński, Polifonia )“Does the music of the Polish-Dutch duo have a SPA-like effect? It’s hard to say, certainly the mixture of slightly post-punk noise, framed in the form of free improvisations fits into the madness of the domestic alt-scene and, as such, can be a good antidote to closed musical forms. In addition, Zdrój is an original band, not only in terms of its streamlined formula, but also in terms of the sounds it generates, which are difficult to classify unequivocally. That’s an advantage; another is the great - despite convention - accessibility of these intriguing guitar-percussion preparations.” (Metal Hammer )
“It’s guitar noise with kraut repetitiveness mixed with the rawness of punk rock played so naively that I would most like to describe it as musical outsider art. It’s an oeuvre that doesn’t beg to be liked and mocks the rules governing rock music.”
(Rękopis znaleziony w Arkham )
(photo: Wojciech Chrubasik)
STRZAŁ W KOLANO
tumblr: https://jakubmajchrzak.tumblr.com/music https://www.facebook.com/jakub.majchrzak.sound.video
Jakub Majchrzak is an independent musician engaged in DIY music scene since twenty years as a band member (Kurws, Przepych, Norymberga, Pustostany among others) or solo, composing or as a collaborator during several improvised music appreances. As a result of residency in DIY festival Praga in Figueira da Foz he co-founded with Catarina Santos multimedia live act Życia Żółć. He’s performed nearly 500 shows in various coutries of Eurasia (performing on Primavera Sound Festival, Avant Art Festival, SOTU Festival, Stellar Swamp Festival, DomOFFon, SURVIVAL Art Review, Out of Smth; see the band links for full lists of the shows), has released 8 studio albums, 1 single and co-produced couple of ones (Barłóg, UZS).
Strzał w kolano (A shot in the knee) is a solo project started back in 2017 in Portugal and reactivated recently. The basis here is a classical guitar (quarter-tone tuned) plugged into separate guitar amplifiers via a piezo microphone. The signals coming out of the amplifiers are given distinct identities, via horizontal and vertical processings, as well as a still ones, in the texture of the sounds themselves.
in November 2024 his debut cassette has just been released by Pointless Geometry:
[https://pointless-geometry.bandcamp.com/album/strza-w-kolano-s-t >
A video from the performance on Canti Spazializzati #15 festival:VIDEO
“On “6 ćwiczeń przeciwko inflacji” (“6 anti-inflationary drills”), riffs equal parts snaking and menacing spark and erupt as they’re fed through different amplifiers and effects. Majchrzak’s ragged energy is magnified as his acoustic guitar splits through different signal chains to fill the space of a full band. ”Daryl Worthington, the Wire )Stylistically, Jakub Majchrzak’s “Strzał w kolano” (Shot in the Knee) stood out, thanks to the use of multi-channel processed classical guitar sound. This made up an energetic, measured, and at times even riff-like composition with tactical passages of slowdowns and motivic suspensions. "Agata Pasińska, Ruch Muzyczny )
(photo: Kazimierz Zdzieblo)
HUBERT KOSTKIEWICZ
bc: https://hubertkostkiewicz.bandcamp.com
sc: https://soundcloud.com/hubertkostkiewicz
Guitarist whose distinctive “physical” style was formed in the band Kurws. By day he contributes to the post-punk band Atol Atol. In his life he has played several hundred concerts and released several albums and cassettes. Outside of bands, he gives vent to his fascination with concrete, electroacoustic and improvised music. He seeks articulations that flow from limitations, from imperfections in performance and recording. He most often pursues his explorations with an electric guitar, but also reaches for acoustic instruments, processed field recordings or dub mixes.
He has given concerts in many places around the world (Europe, Russia, Japan), cooperated with the Japanese trio Kukangendai (concerts at the Avant Art Festival and Unsound), Arnold De Boer (ZEA, The Ex), Łukasz Rychlicki (Lotto, Kristen) and playing improvised music with many others.
In November 2024, his further solo guitar album “Four Guitar Solos For Bemma Bar” has been released by Pointless Geometry:
[https://pointless-geometry.bandcamp.com/album/hubert-kostkiewicz-four-guitar-solos-for-bemma-bar >
A music video from “Zapis” of Rychlicki / Kostkiewicz album:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLUZS287GHk
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https://jakubmajchrzakmusic.tumblr.com [https://www.facebook.com/jakub.majchrzak.sound.video >https://filmfreeway.com/JakubMajchrzak
