The Squid's Ear
Writing about unusual and experimental music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear
Facebook: Squidco Sales

Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Zakrocki, Garbowski Gradziuk 
  Ballads & Blues
  (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!)) 


  
   review by Nick Ostrum
  2024-06-03
Zakrocki, Garbowski Gradziuk: Ballads & Blues (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

Ballads & Blues finds guitarist Patryk Zakrocki, bassist Maciej Garbowski and percussionist Krzysztof Gradziuk in a studio in Warsaw performing two discs worth of material. There is no live audience, no extra takes from days later. I imagine there were some predetermined structures or motifs, maybe even a few threadbare compositions, but only a few and they must have been quite open. Although Zakrocki's guitar runs through delays and four distinct amplifiers, the scenario and instrumentation are pretty straightforward: a guitar-led trio in a studio aiming to capture the "spirit of blues" in real time. The music they produce, however, is hardly as conventional as any of that makes it sound.

A couple qualifiers. Ballads & Blues is not a take on the blues, or a reinterpretation of it. It eschews most stylistic elements often associated with the genre, until the last three cuts (Blues XV, XVI, XVII) on the second disc. Because of that, these tracks provide a closure of their own, an assemblage of the elements in the excursions that precede them, and something more recognizable as a deconstruction of its primary stylistic inspiration. Even here, however, the twelve bar blocks, the repetition, the drive to resolution are all missing. At times Zakrocki plays a few strings of notes, whose melodies might fit into a more classic song structure. These are the exceptions. The real link with anything recognizably blues or balladic is the pervasive mood of solitude and melancholy, and maybe the baseline idea of fumbling through sounds, structures and combinations in order to make new sense out of a problem.

On Ballads & Blues, the problems are less concrete, or at least concretely expressed, than those Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Skip James, and their ilk were concerned with. However, especially leaning back on those early recordings, or the countless "field recordings" of Black ensembles especially throughout the South in the early days of wax records, one might view this album as a modern take on early blues environments, smeared recordings in the open air or on the porch or in the bar where the ambient sounds enveloped the balladeer.

Zakrocki, Garbowski and Gradziuk are clearly steeped in modern experimental music. That much comes through in their technique and their ability to improvise without vamping, melody, steady rhythm and other tactics conventionally employed. This recording is more about feeling and sounds (especially Gradziuk's creative use of various clings, clangs, rattles, and various other objects) than song. Such a statement may sound anathema to the project's aims. Blues is based on song, on beginnings and endings and directional progress. I would nevertheless argue that these three musicians are really onto something bluesy in some ethereal but fundamental sense. And, even if I am wrong about that, this album is really a wonderful and curious listen.



Zakrocki, Garbowski Gradziuk: Ballads & Blues
Is Sold at Squidco!
Squidco




Comments and Feedback:



The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Berlin Art Quartet (
Schubert /
Bauer /
Muller /
Bruggemann):
Live At MIM
(Unisono Records)



Jimmy Lyons:
Rivbea Live! Series,
Volume 3
(NoBusiness)



Erik Klinga:
Elusive Shimmer
(thanatosis produktion)



Das B (
Mazen Kerbaj /
Mike Majkowski /
Magda Mayas /
Tony Buck):
Love
(thanatosis produktion /
Corbett Vs Dempsey)



Brass Clouds:
Escape Vessels
(Bathysphere Records)



Fire! Orchestra:
Echoes
[2 CDs]
(Rune Grammofon)



Sophie Agnel /
John Edwards /
Steve Noble:
Three On A Match
(Otoroku)



Satoko Fujii
This is It! (
w/
Natsuki Tamura /
Takashi Itani):
Message
(Libra)



Sorry For Laughing (
G. Whitlow /
M. Bates /
Dave-Id /
E. Ka-Spel):
Rain Flowers
[2 CDS]
(Klanggalerie)



New Origin (
feat. Christoph Rocher /
Joe Fonda /
Harvey Sorge):
The Poet Walks
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Simon Nabatov:
Agree to Disagree
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Von Schlippenbach, Alexander /
Barry Altschul Quartet w/
Joe Fonda &
Rudi Mahal:
Free Flow
[2 CDs]
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Thelonious Monk with
Sonny Rollins:
1953 To 1957
Revisited
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Daniel Carter /
Ayumi Ishito /
George Draguns /
Ed Wilcox:
Makeshift Spirituals
(577 Records)



Kory Reeder:
Homestead
(Another Timbre)



John Cage:
Chamber Works 1943-1951
(Another Timbre)



Josh Sinton:
Couloir &
Book Of Practitioners
Vol. 2
Book "W"
[2 CDs]
(FiP recordings)



Elliott Sharp /
Scott Fields:
Reimsi Geara
(Relative Pitch)



KnCurrent (
Brennan /
Cooper-Moore /
Davis /
Hwang):
KnCurrent
(Deep Dish)



Biota:
Measured Not Found
(Recommended Records)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (35784)