There’s been much media talk recently about Poland becoming the next big clubland destination but Jacek Sienkiewicz, arguably Poland’s most important electronic figurehead, wants everyone to slow down….
“The Polish club scene is still growing… but it needs more attention to detail, more thought and care” he explains. “There’s a lot of clubs but only a few have decent soundsystems and there’s far too many dodgy promoters looking for a quick cash in. The quantity/quality factor is not properly balanced yet.”
Sienkiewicz has been steadily building his reputation as international DJ and producer for some 15 years now, and runs Recognition, one of Poland’s oldest club labels. One of Poland’s only labels. “There are some decent labels, just not many… many are for experimental which is a proper niche” Sienkiewicz says. “In terms of Recognition, it’s time for some hard work. New stuff will be out this autumn, from me and some new, young and exciting Polish artists. I’m not selling shiploads of records but the quality is there.”
And a solid profile. Local Recognition artists such as Etiop (mixing machine-funk with tech-house), Jackname Trouble (abstract four-to-the-floor and downtempo) and Jurek Przezdziecki (epic ‘Motor’ minimalism) have all been making waves in Europe in recent months. And Sienkiewicz’s own work away from home, including recent Cocoon-released album On The Road, continues to benefit the label and its promising roster.
“I’m happy with what I’ve achieved so far but I don’t over-estimate it” Przezdziecki confides. “I still have a day-job in advertising and so creating music is purely for pleasure. I’m still learning; I’m waiting for the moment when I really surprise myself and things develop further.”
Poland first landed on the ‘late clubbing’ map during the 1990s. Capital Warsaw hosted major techno events at the Blue Velvet club before Trend opened and, in turn, venues such as Piekarnia, W5 and CeDeQ. The Trojmiasto (the geographical triangle between cities Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia) welcomed techno mecca Club Sfinks, and huge illegal raves were springing up all over the countryside.
“A lot of parties were organised on the spur of the moment” Przezdziecki reflects. “Polish anti-drugs laws were quite liberal at this time so police raids were infrequent. A few of my friends would put on massive ‘acid’ parties in forests and sometimes big Western DJs would turn up. If there were any problems it was down to a faulty generator rather than the police.”
A number of influential clubs operates in Poland today. Much of the current hype about its growing dance scene is focussed on 1500m2 in Warsaw (a super-venue able that has recently attracted the likes of Agoria, Ame and Simian Mobile Disco) but, elsewhere, there are popular spaces such as SQ and 8 Bit (Poznan), Krakowska 180 (Wroclaw), Fabryka (Krakow) and Cityhall (Szczecin).
The latter, close to the German border, is a regular haunt of DJ and production duo Catz N’ Dogz. Szczecin locals Grzegorz Demianczuk and Wojciech Taranczuk are two of Poland’s brightest lights - forward-thinking purveyors of deep, dubby disco and tech-house, whose unique rumblings have been increasingly linked to their country’s cool clubbing ascent.
“We had parties in our hometown long before everyone else in Poland,” Demianczuk (‘Greg’) opens. “There was a crew, Family Groove, playing in a local restaurant and inviting people like Dixon and Martin Landsky; this was 10 years ago, before people really knew them here. We drew inspiration from that.”
In rapid turn, ‘Greg’ and ‘Voitek’ started producing minimal club tracks for Trapez, Trenton and Crosstown Rebels under the 3 Channels alias. By 2008 they’d switched names to Catz N’ Dogz and earned the attentions of Claude VonStroke who promptly released a slew of successful singles and albums via his Dirtybird sub-label Mothership. Late last year, the boys released sophomore long-player Escape From Zoo, which blended house, tech and dubstep to significant acclaim.
“We were always trying new things with Escape… trying to get away from the people’s idea that we were this or that” Greg offers. “We didn’t know how to make soul tracks or dubstep; we loved the challenge.”
That fearless, positive spirit also drove the pair to set up a record label, PETS, and club night, Pets Gone Wild (based at SQ), with the aim of accelerating Poland’s musical evolution. “We are really trying to support Poland’s scene” Voitek stresses. “That’s why PETS’ first two releases were by Polish artists and why, today we look to make records combining Polish artists like SLG and Pol_on with international names. We want to keep making the label bigger, and truly establish Poland as a club destination.”
In truth a number of other factors aside from maverick promoters and sub-standard soundsystems is threatening to halt Poland’s journey towards becoming that destination. “I think it’s better still to talk about festivals than clubs here in Poland” Sienkiewicz bluntly remarks. “Some of them sport really amazing line-ups these days, and have a pretty unique proposition on a global scale. Festivals like Off, Tauron, Audioriver and Open’er for example.”
But what are the wider problems affecting Poland’s proto-club landscape? “The Polish government has never been that supportive and I think that’s the worst part of the story” Voitek says. “Legislation, particularly around tax, isn’t too helpful. There are also social pressures here. The pressure to settle down and have a family in your 20s is big; if you don’t, then people talk about you in a weird way. And homophobia is widespread; the best clubs in the world are gay clubs or gay friendly, so you can imagine how our scene is affected.”
Sienkiewicz elaborates further: “You have to understand that Poland has only been a free country for, like, two decades; after 50 years of Communism and World War 2 before that. Many people living in Poland were raised in a totally different reality and still cannot adjust. People don’t know how to spend their money.
“And right now, the economy is losing its momentum - people are getting poorer and prices go up. Living in Warsaw is more expensive than Oslo, and people here are earning 10 times less than there. It's all changing but some things have happened too fast for people to adjust and others are just taking too long. The combination is hurting music in Poland.”
Despite everything, there’s no denying that Polish dancefloors are moving in the right direction(s). By its own restricted standards, Poland’s electronic dance music scene has achieved much. Przezdziecki urges caution, however, where the future is concerned:
“The future of Polish electronic music is down to artists being unique and thinking in a non-stereotypical way. As the Polish scene grows artists shouldn’t look to blend with the whole but rather emphasize their own distinctness and individual value. There’s no one Polish sound or movement right now and that’s actually a good starting point. Individuality will help the wider Polish electronic scene make its mark on the world.
Younger artists and audiences are definitely coming through… names like Catz N’Dogz, Marcin Czubala and Jackname Trouble are making more and more of an impression. Our scene is growing, and life goes on...”
Words: Ben Lovett
Catz N’ Dogz are currently working on a new album with Martin ‘King Roc’ Dawson, and releases for Get Physical and Dirtybird.
Jacek Sienkiewicz’s album On The Road is out now on Cocoon.
Jurek Przezdziecki’s new album Biscuit Symphony is out June 20 on Definition Records.
