1-Bal
2-La ciutat ets tu
3-Drgacze
4-Sink
5-o_vbrdub
6-Aigua per A
7-Diners per N

All music performed and recorded by Tomasz Krakowiak 2007
tools: percussion and microphone placements.

http://www.tmhniyl.net/krakowiak

Tomasz Krakowiak (b. July 31, 1972, Tarnów, Poland) is a percussionist and composer. During the last few years, Krakowiak has performed and recorded with 
artists such as Mike Hansen, John Oswald, Ireneusz Socha, Le Quan Ninh, Kaffe Matthews, Mike Snow, Domenico Sciajno, Alessandro Bosetti, Anna Zaradny, 
Ute Völker, Sophie Angel, Otomo Yoshihide, Phil Minton, Paul Dutton, John Butcher, Gert-Jan Prins, Karlheinz Essl, Pau Torres and others throughout Europe 
and North America e.g. Musica Genera Festival, Victoriaville FIMAV, AudioArt Festival. Influenced by experimental and electroacoustic practices, Krakowiak's 
sounds are explorations of different sonoristic drum qualities. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada. 

 


SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

Tomasz Krakowik - La ciutat ets tu [etude records] 2007

Mike Hansen/Tomasz Krakowiak - Confines of Power [Frozen Elephant Music, FE007] 2007

nearField - vakar gerem keturiese prie misko, ant senu, nebenaudotu veikiancio metro begiu [Perineum#17] 2005

kathode - Ping [tvur, t10] 2005

kathode - Eel [tvur, t11] 2005

nearField - ArgeFont [deadbirdsrecords, DBR013] 2005

nearField - ...and i think i'll make a good barber [Umbrella Noise Collective, UMB019] 2005

Ear-Cam - Here To Go [Kikue Music, CD] 2005

Eugene Martynec - Toronto Duets [Artifact Music, ART031] 2004, (on track 5."Der Surkrutschnieder Marzurka") 2004

Mike Hansen/Tomasz Krakowiak - Relay [Spool Records, Field4] 2004

John Butcher/Mike Hansen/Tomasz Krakowiak - Equation [Spool Records, Line19] 2003

ATM + Guy electric orchestra EP 3" [WhyNot, NW06] 2003

Ireneusz Socha/Tomasz Krakowiak - KITS [dobosz/dembitzer, split] 2002

Hansen/Krakowiak - Sticks & Stones [WhyNot, NW04] 2002

Tricky once commented that he enjoyed listening to lyrics he couldn't quite understand: The missing parts made you zoom in even more attentively, 
enhancing the experience. While I see the point in defining the concept or technical procedure behind a particular recording, I have likewise always 
felt a preference for artists who did not feel the need to explain every single detail. „La Ciutat Ets Tu“, too, profits from its non-disclosing policy.

Nothing but two short sentences provide scant information on the equipment used for the album: „All music performed and recorded by Tomasz Krakowiak 2007. Tools: Percussion and Microphone Placements.“ When the album opens with the wobbling undulations of „bal“, that is hard to believe. A question rises from the ashes of this stuttering, stumbling tribal tour de force: How did he do it?

Even after several spins, it remains hard to say. Krakowiak appears to make use of a vast array of metal objects and drums, from concrete sources such as cymbals and toms to bowed blades, gyrating discs, loose objects inside cannisters and grinding machines. The big mystery is whether or not overdubs were used in the performance process, as individual tracks seem to both play against each other at times and to be continually transformed over the duration of a piece.

In the absence of a fully convincing rationale, the music itself gains the upper hand. Krakowiak is not a deconstructionist, he may (or not) use his percussive instruments in uncoventional ways, but he still does so to create a new sense of rhythm, which either manifests itself as grating steps (the title piece), as rippling movement („drgacze“) or as a sawing sensation, which gradually melts into a high-pitched shreek („sink“). The odd exception to the rule is the dark ambient texture of „o_vbrdub“, but it is quickly replaced by the harsh noise perturbations of „aigua per A“.

There is an immense concentration behind all tracks, a notion of complete control even in moments when things seem to adhere to the logic of chaos. This turns „La Ciutat Ets Tu“ into an almost meditative affair, despite its occasional dynamic outbursts and eclectic diversity. Whatever Tomasz Krakowiak may be doing here, he is surely doing it according to plan. - TOBIAS FISHER (TOKAFI)

Tub-clobbering Polish muso Tomasz Krakowiak elects to condense his name into a tight packet of consonants on the cover of his La Ciutat ets tu (ETUDE015). Seven tracks of radically reworked recordings of drumming and percussion will be your portion should you purchase this demon, sounding in places so alien as to make you feel quite vomitous -ED PINSET (THE SOUND PROJECTOR)

To listen to the first record, I had to clear my mind. It wasn't just a cup of java that I needed - I was searching for a secluded spot. I loaded the CD into my portable player and headed for the basement. After the kids were put to sleep was the best time to attempt any decent analysis of the music at hand. What exactly has percussionist [multi instrumentalist really - as he's played laptop, junk, even piano] cooked up this time around? Without a doubt, the sounds on "La Ciutat Ets Tu" are alien, even eerie. Not once do I get an impression that they're cold or in any way removed from the human element. Tomasz Krakowiak claims that his tools on the record were percussion and microphone placements. That's all. So how do you explain the vibrating sounds on "Aigua per A"? Did Krakowiak place old screws and nails on top of an old window air-conditioning unit and let the microphones pick up gyrations? Is that a fan that I'm hearing or are my ears being tricked into false sense of reality? "Drgacze" features light tickling of cymbals and possibly chains that are rattled in a subtly pleasing way, while "Sink" is a mystery piece altogether. Is the composer rubbing against a metal object or is he scraping nails on a chalkboard? The whole lot ends on a high note with "Diners per N". It's full of gentle trickling of water on a steel pan or perhaps fingers tapped in succession on the cymbals or perhaps something else altogether. The record's greatest merit is the guesswork that goes into the listening session. Would one even hazard to guess that this is the work of a percussionist or was it really made by somebody who understands the aesthetic qualities of his surroundings to the fullest. Listener is left alone with no clues as to source of the sounds at hand. Audio soundtrack to a movie that has yet to be produced, "La Ciutat Ets Tu" is perfectly satisfying and conducive to praise every minute of its duration. -TOM SEKOWSKI (GAZ-ETA)

I am not sure, but it seems that this is a work of multi-tracking music. Krakowiak doesn't limit himself to the percussion kit, but uses any sound that can be applied in a rhythmical manner. At times it seems like Krakowiak is scratching the surface and I mean this literally: rubbing the microphone over the carpet in a rhythmical fashion along with playing percussion. Krakowiak makes strong compositions, combining the kit with electro-acoustic sounds and very few, it seems, electronic processes. He also manages to get in a great amount of variation: from loud and noisy bits to almost melancholic drone like in 'o_vbrdub'. An exciting work of resonating sounds, rhythmical explosions and fine interaction. -FRANS DE WAARD (VITAL WEEKLY)

Tomasz Krakowiak is a Polish-born percussionist and composer currently resident in Toronto, Canada. His previous work has included collaborations with a large number of experimental musicians, including Mike Hansen, John Oswald, Kaffe Matthews, Mike Snow, Phil Minton, Paul Dutton, John Butcher and Gert-Jan Prins – all names which I must confess mean nothing to me, but which might mean something to you. This album, however, released on Barcelona-based label Etude Records in a limited edition of 500 copies, is a solo recording.

La Ciutat Ets Tu comes housed in a satin finish black card folder, which is certainly elegant but also rather frustratingly minimal in the information it offers, disclosing only that Krakowiak created this music using ‘percussion and microphone placements’. The listener is left to puzzle over how exactly these sounds were generated – particularly if, like this reviewer, they work with metal percussion themselves. What seems certain is that not only orthodox instruments were used. La Ciutat Ets Tu is a feast of found sounds, unearthing and exploiting the musical qualities inherent in the material objects which surround us in our daily existence.

‘bal’ opens the album with an undulating, sonorous tone, which wobbles away in the background, under shimmering cymbal notes, chimes and a chaotic, scrabbling beat. The title track, ‘la ciutat ets tu’, follows, with dense rhythmic scrapings and tumbling sounds – it sounds as if gravel is being churned in a drum of some kind, but it’s really impossible to be certain about the source of this sound. The piece gradually develops in intensity, with more sloshing and grinding sounds being added, before coming to an abrupt halt. There are no conventional instruments discernible on this track. ‘drgacze’ opens with a low, fluttering, metallic chopping sound like a distant helicopter, with more cyclical tones being added and sharp chime and bell notes very prominent in the foreground of the mix. Skittering, rapid beats on metal surfaces impart an urgency to the track. The next two tracks are the longest on the album, at eight and nine minutes respectively. ‘sink’ begins with a high-pitched cyclical squealing, like a poorly lubricated machine tool. This is joined by a rhythmic jangling sound, producing a busy, dense composition.‘o_vbrdub’, by way of contrast, is much quieter and more ambient in texture, with a low, rhythmic creaking and swirling windy tones reverberating around a hollow soundscape. ‘aigua per A’ is easily the most abrasive and challenging track on the album, with a harshly penetrating, vibrating frequency which approaches noise music territory and may well cause objects to fall off your shelves if you play it loud enough. If you make it through ‘aigua per A’, though (or even if you cheat and skip it, your jangled nerves will be soothed by the smooth, low, purring drones of ‘diners per N’.

Krakowiak’s use of unorthodox metal percussion and field recordings invites comparisons to both the pioneering industrial percussionist Z’EV, and the Polish band Hati who have been inspired by Z’EV’s example, but there are important point of distinction between these artists. Tomasz Krakowiak’s work, at least as it manifests here, has nothing of the alchemical, esoteric intention of Z’EV – Krakowiak takes a much more pragmatic interest in the sonic potential of various materials, whereas Z’EV exploits materials precisely for their elemental and symbolic associations as well as for their sound qualities. Hati’s music has a tribal, earthy, shamanic quality which I don’t discern in Krakowiak’s work – Krakowiak seems more avant-garde, more technical, and less ritualistic in his approach. His work also has little in common with 80s industrial acts like Einstürzende Neubauten and Test Dept., who both employed metal percussion to much more visceral and confrontational effect. All these artists are interesting in their own distinctive ways, though, and Tomasz Krakowiak has produced an intriguing and satisfyingly complex work in La Ciutat Ets Tu.-drengskap (HEATHEN HARVEST)

Poland-born, Toronto resident Krakowiak is a percussionist and composer who has worked with several of the great improvisers who regularly appear here (some names: Oswald, Bosetti, Yoshihide, Minton, Butcher - you get the picture, the artist's resume is a serious one). What was used in this CD is only "percussion and microphone placement", the result being an interesting kind of raw minimalism with various highs and very few lows. Just to give a vague idea of the territory, imagine a working method comprising the roaring power of Z'EV and Pholde mixed with a corpulent yet entrancing approach à la Jon Mueller. Krakowiak's timbres, thanks to the different ways of recording its instruments, range from subaqueous to grinding, his rolling thunders and gnarly abrasions appreciable on the medium distance yet pretty much the same from beginning to end. Only a track, totally based on an almost insignificant creak, is subpar; the rest is good enough for consideration, with a couple of impressive moments. I'd like to hear this man in more evolved contexts, but I smell substance anyway. Nice try.-MASSIMO RICCI (TOUCHING EXTREMES)

Tomasz Krakowiak è un affermato percussionista proveniente da Toronto e originario della Polonia, sicuramente non molto conosciuto nel panorama più o meno 'dark' che di norma tratta Darkroom Magazine, ma noto negli ambienti dell'improvvisazione libera e degli strumentisti virtuosi. Tra le sue recenti collaborazioni spiccano i nomi di John Oswald, Kaffe Matthews e Alessandro Borsetti. Ci accingiamo quindi a trattare un album per molti aspetti fuori dagli schemi consueti ed esente da un eccessivo riferimento all'oscurità. "La Ciutat Ets Tu" è diviso in sette brani, attraverso i quali Tomasz dà sfoggio delle sue qualità di percussionista utilizzando mezzi ignoti (non menzionati dalla grafica) fino a creare un magma noise, sporadicamente commistionato da droni (presenti in particolare in "Bael", pezzo che può essere accostato vagamente al filone dark ambient), il tutto forse registrato in fasi diverse e sovrapposto. I primi tre brani risentono di un percussionismo più classico e di un (presunto) effetto trigger, mentre già da "Sink" i suoni scivolano verso il noise tagliente prodotto senza l'ausilio dell'elettronica. Le ultime tre tracce hanno un'impostazione maggiormente lineare (in particolare "Aigua Per A" e "Diners Per N") basata su di un rumore univoco che ricorda la scuola giapponese, seppur ottenuto con metodi ben diversi: insomma, una sorta di power-electro generata con mezzi non elettronici. Per alcuni versi il disco può essere accostato ai primi lavori degli Einstürzende Neubauten, ovviamente epurati da qualsivoglia motivo melodico. In sintesi la fa da padrone il virtuosismo sfrenato, magari fine a sé stesso, ma capace di colpire varie frange di pubblico a partire dagli strumentisti, che gongoleranno all'ascolto di siffatta prova, per continuare con chi ama il free jazz, l'improvvisazione libera e le prove ai limiti del possibile, ma anche un seguace del noise, sebbene tecnicamente meno preparato, rimarrà basito all'ascolto dell'architettura messa in piedi da Tomasz. Molti oggigiorno 'giocano' con i software per ottenere suoni analoghi a quelli de "La Ciutat Ets Tu", ma fortunatamente c'è chi ancora riesce a fornire emozioni partendo da una solida base tecnico-strumentale.-Michele Viali (DARKROOM MAGAZINE)

Escuchando el CD puedes apreciar una gran cantidad de sonidos que se escapan de toda lógica. Estamos acostumbrados al empleo sistemático de sintetizadores y otros elementos que generen sonido, pero casi siempre con una connotación electrónica. Los sonidos se pueden modificar, se pueden aplicar distintos efectos y tratamientos para conseguir resultados muy distintos, pero la música de Tomasz se basa más en una experimentación pura. Micrófono o grabadora en mano, Tomasz compone sus temas grabando sonidos directamente y, luego, secuenciándolos a su gusto. Aunque también puede apreciarse el empleo de algún que otro sampler, principalmente todo lo que se oye en sus canciones es producto de esta experimentación con su entorno.

Llamamos experimentación a aquella música que se compone de una forma aleatoria, y principalmente generando melodías, o grooves utilizando instrumentos, o incluso objetos, de una manera peculiar o que de otra manera no estarían destinados a tal efecto. En esto Tomasz es un genio, pues siempre es gratificante escuchar sonidos de una manera que jamás hubieras imaginado, y no sólo eso, sino que es encomiable la imaginación empleada para tales objetivos. Aun así, no todo el álbum está creado a base de percusiones extrañas ni sonidos de dudosa procedencia (por ejemplo el tema 'Sink', que se basa en la repetición de un sonido muy agudo, como el generado por un cuchillo al ser afilado, pero que probablemente se trate del resultado de frotar una púa sobre las cuerdas de una guitarra), sino que también existen pasajes mas ambientales y relajados, con sonidos esporádicos que completan la secuencia enigmática.

Nuevamente, como siempre que hablo de un trabajo de estas características, recomendarlo encarecidamente a los amantes de este género de música. Soy consciente de que la naturaleza de estas composiciones no son fácilmente del agrado de la amplia mayoría de la gente, pues este tipo de música es más para reflexionar y estudiar a fondo que para escuchar frívolamente sin prestarle mucha atención. Hay que pararse y escuchar, escuchar mas allá de los sonidos que quizá no tengan ningún sentido, y comprender la perfecta unión de todos y cada uno de ellos. Es ahí donde reside la magia de estos géneros de música, y en concreto de Tomasz Krawokiak. Dale su oportunidad, y préstale toda la atención del mundo y pronto te sumergirás en este mundo onírico que en el fondo es una metáfora de parte de aquello que nos rodea. -ROBERTO G (MENTENEBRE)

Another Toronto-based figure, and not by chance often collaborating with Mike Hansen, is percussionist and composer Tomasz Krakowiak. His "La Ciutat Ets Tu" contains seven tracks of wild and fascinating noise collages, where the percussive element comes combines with minimalistic yet quite cacophonic soundscapes, and again there's more than one connection with the likes of Organum or Noise-Maker's Fifés, but surely the most suitable comparison is with Z'ev, the grandmaster of industrial percussions. Indeed, the use of metal thuds and reverberated sounds created by placed microphones creates small dissonant audio pictures with not much to envy to the Californian prime-mover.

That of Tomasz Krakowiak is definitely a name to note down on your personal watch-list. He also assembled a work of free improvisation and experiments of musique concrète in collaboration with Mike Hansen, "The Confines Of Power", released as mp3 files by Frozen Elephants Music. -SIMON V (FILTHFORGE)

Déjà remarqué aux côtés de John Butcher, Otomo Yoshihide ou John Oswald, le percussionniste Tomasz Krakowiak expérimentait récemment en solitaire jusqu’à former La ciutat ets tu, recueil de rythmes disparates mais de bonnes compositions.

Des drones multiples qu’accouchent des cymbales au grain tempétueux issu d’un objet que l’on gratte, de l’effet sonore des soubresauts d’une tige de métal aux velléités rythmiques du grondement d’une machine, Krakowiak fait donc son affaire. Parfois, il met en route une mécanique étrange capable de lui offrir d’autres cautions sonores à ses élucubrations amusées – Sink, épreuve d’endurance obligatoire mais convaincante – quand il construit ailleurs de drôles de structures : brutes et souvent abstraites, le motif répété pour toute raison d’avoir été. -LE SON DU GRISLI

In some ways this work is reminiscent to the Gunter Muller disc I covered last year as it presents a percussionist using his instruments in a way that mostly 
does not resemble drums or anything usually associated with the style. Instead it is heavily processed and treated to take on an entirely different quality and 
tone.  It is a very interesting work, but the presentation is almost a bit too familiar.It isn't entirely impossible to recognize some of what is traditionally 
associated with drums, sonically, at least, through this album.  There are some traditional drum skin rattles smattered across here and there, but not too 
obvious unless the effort is made to hear them.  Instead there is significantly more incidents where the sound is shaped into a more dense collage, like the 
dense roar that is the title track which eventually resembles a massive stampede of wildebeests moving across the plains.  "Drgacze" is a notable contrast to 
the verdant visuals of the aforementioned track, the rattles come across like an industrial jackhammer before a metal percussion section comes in that sounds 
like a gamelan band being physically assaulted during their performance.

The tracks in which the sounds are even less identifiable are, in my opinion, more fascinating. The rather simplistic, in a structural capacity at least, "O_vbrdub," is a slow moving mudslide of organic sounds: a thick and sticky slow motion avalanche of textual sound. At the same time, "Sink" rests upon a bed of harsh siren like loops and scraping high end rattles of noise alongside a digital micro-sample buzzing and cutting, slicing metallic sounds.

The album ends with the most dissonant tracks. "Aigua Per A" features a violent buzzing noise that wouldn't have been out of place on a peak-era Whitehouse album with sustained digital micro-sample stuttering and mechanical elements. The disc closes on an especially dark note, the low end rumble with clattering cymbals of "Diners Per N," which is nothing but sinister and looming

Musically, it is a very unique experiment that is extremely diverse without being the work of a dilettante. While it might seem to lack any specific thematic cohesion or overarching structure, it remains consistently interesting through its duration.-Creaig Dunton (BRAINWASHED)

Es sin duda uno de los mejores y más sorprendentes títulos de la serie. El percusionista polaco afincado en Canadá construye una auténtica sinfonía telúrica 
haciendo uso de materiales y objetos “de percusión” en una estudiada colocación de micrófonos. Este planteamiento espacial del sonido, no tanto el resultado 
del proceso instrumental, se asemeja al de una instalación sonora. La dimensión que aquí adquiere la percusión es pura arquitectura: planos, alturas, 
texturas y volúmenes en movimiento. A lo largo de siete cortes diferenciados por procesos y materiales, Krakowiak va definiendo “situaciones” como, por 
ejemplo, en el corte que titula el disco, donde los motivos circulares se acumulan en timbres expansivos, fracturas y relieves móviles. En Sink, el músico es 
capaz de recrear un paisaje sonoro rural por el que asoma el sonido hipnótico de una cigarra y los rebuznos sincopados de un asno, todo ello hecho con 
objetos. Los temas finales trabajan sobre motivos centrifugados en un contexto industrial con tratamiento atmosférico. Diners per N, el corte final, crece 
como una orquesta de figuras metálicas girando sobre sí mismas con precisión y delicadeza, provocando con su roce planos en suspensión. 
-Jesús Gonzalo (revistamu.com)