Various Artists - "Fonoteka 7 (Remixed)"

A quality compilation from a Polish retro netlabel (7/10) Związek Kompozytorów Polskich i Zakład Nagrań Dźwiękowych Estrady informuje: koniec z szeroko propagowaną akcją popularyzowania ckliwych serenadek czy wesołych uwerturek w rytmie polskich tańców ludowych. Istniejące i powstające nadal kompozycje rażą szablonem, banałem oraz żenującym poziomem artystycznym. Nie chodzi tu wcale o tytuły granych pozycji – bądź ich brak – ale o styl interpretacyjny, który nawiązuje najczęściej do najgorszych tradycji muzyków estradowych. Wśród nadesłanych do nas materiałów niewielu kompozytorów pokusiło się o wykroczenie poza zwykłą przeciętność, co najwyżej poprawność, graniczącą jednak z monotonią, szablonem i sztampą. Postawa wielu wykonawców trąci abnegacją i rutyniarstwem. Wieje nudą i szarzyzną. [...] Przed państwem ci, których wszystko co napisaliśmy nie dotyczy. [Read more --->] This is a quality compilation of contemporary club music: from electronica and nu jazz through hip hop to disco, all with a nice retro feeling, typical for productions coming from Estrada Nagrania netlabel. The retro feeling is strengthened through masterful mixing, blending modern tunes with sampled fragments of Polish radio programmes from the 1970s - often to very funny and surreal effects. Only several of these tracks suit my personal taste, hence the rating of "7". However, trying to adopt a more objective view, I have to admit all of this material is top class and should satisfy a more club-music-oriented listener. And for people longing for "good old times", ready for a nostalgic time travel back to '70s - this should be a masterpiece. If somebody is interested in my choice, here is the list of my favorites: 04 - Symbiotic Sounds - 1987 08 - 2 Pac - Thug Style (produced by ylaib) 15 - Printempo - Szarosc poniedzialkowego popoludnia 17 - Ortalio - Cynematyka 19 - Graf Cratedigger - Lotniskowiec 21 - Sawersky - Spectral Type 1 22 - Synnc - Nights Of course, the clear winner is the one and only Printempo, whose new track is equally fabulous to the material from the debut album of this act, which I reviewed earlier. The album has been released by the Estrada Nagrania netlabel and you can download it for free in mp3 format. The lossless version is available in the netlabel's Bandcamp store under the "name your price" scheme. You can also listen to the full album online on Bandcamp. Of course, if you like this album and you intend to keep it, I encourage you to make a donation (purchase) through Bandcamp, even if you need only a free mp3 version. After all, "name your price" means any amount you can afford. PLEASE SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS.

Printempo - "Printempo"

A masterpiece from a very strange netlabel (10/10) Debiut Printempo można uznać za wyraz nostalgii za czasami, gdy muzyka instrumentalna była muzyką popularną. Pomimo dużego rozrzutu pod względem doboru utworów, płyta jako całość jest niezwykle spójna – elementem scalającym jest indywidualność muzyczna artysty, którego bez wątpienia uznać można za jednego z najbardziej obiecujących instrumentalistów i kompozytorów młodego pokolenia. [Read more --->] Estrada Nagrania, the netlabel that released this album is very mysterious, indeed. They do not have a regular website. They use a blog instead, where they publish not only their releases, but also Polish videoclips and articles on music from the 70-ties. The blog's design is stylized to resemble Polish record companies from that period. If only Internet existed in the 70-ties, one could think this is an archival website, not updated for the last 30 years. Very well done indeed - browsing their blog you feel almost like a time traveler. Previously Estrada Nagrania released only top quality compilation albums of Polish music from the 70-ties. So this album is not only Printempo's debut, but also the netlabel's first contemporary music release. Now to the point. This album contains instrumental downtempo / nu jazz. And the execution is just superb! If only you like the genre, this is simply a must-have. It sounds natural, with a classy lo-fi tint here and there. All instruments sound like... instruments, not cheap artificial samples. The melodies are interesting, there is a perfect chillout atmosphere. Someone in the other review compared it to Bonobo and this is a very accurate comparison. Not exactly because of Printempo's derivativeness, but because of top quality of this music. Get it ASAP! The album has been released by the Estrada Nagrania netlabel and you can download it from the netlabel's Bandcamp store for PLN 15 (~EUR 3) in a variety of formats, including a FLAC version. You can also listen to the full album before making a purchasing decision. Please note, however, that Bandcamp release has been probably made from mp3 files (at least according to AuCDtect). Because Bandcamp requires sending them lossless material, the result is that when downloading mp3 version you end up with files that have been recoded into mp3 twice! Do I have to say what influence should it have on the quality of the music? So if you are going to buy this release, I recommend downloading and keeping a FLAC version - bearing in mind, however, that this is not true lossless, because the files are made from the mp3 source.

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