Skalpel - Slumber Session | Live

Poland's @skalpelmusic are the latest producers to turn their hand to our midweek musical chill out. Ahead of their new album, Transit (out 10th November via Plug Audio) the duo have created a deep ambient dream soundscape, littered with jazz. Relax, recharge, and enjoy!
Tracklist:
1. Robotobibok – Jurij , Obuh
2. Skalpel – Deep Breath, Ninja Tune
3. Heliocentrocs – Winter Song, Now Again
4. David McCallum - House of Mirrors, Capitol
5. Peter-Thomas-Sound-Orchester – Bolero on the Moon Rocks, Fontana
6. Serge Gainsbourg - La Horse, Universal
7. Andrzej Korzynski – Saved fom Olivion, Finders Keepers
8. Lalo Schifrin – Shifting Gears, Warner
9. David Axelrod – Merlin’s Prophecy, Capitol
10. Don Ellis – Childe of Extasy, CBS
11. Meeting By Chance – Permutations (Rain), PlugAudio
12. Soft Machine – Snooland, Columbia
13. Skalpel – Sea, PlugAudio
14. Laboratorium – Ikona, Polskie Nagrania
15. Maynard Ferguson – S.O.M.F. , CBS
16. Dusty – Keep it Raw, Jazz & Milk
17. Flanger – OuterSpace/Inner Space, Ninja Tune
18. Medeski Martin & Wood – Whiney Bitches, Blue Note

Watermark - Drop | EP

Nowy projekt Marcina Cichego ze Skalpela.

Mimo, że Igor Pudło i Marcin Cichy wrócili do wspólnego tworzenia pod szyldem Skalpel, obaj producenci nie zaniechali autorskiej twórczości. Najnowszym tego przykładem jest projekt Watermark, który właśnie zadebiutował EP-ką zatytulowaną „Drop”.
W minimalistycznie opakowanej kopercie z wyciętym kształtem kropli znajdujemy płytę z czterema nagraniami, układającymi się w ponad dwudziestominutową suitę. Otwierający zestaw „I” osadzony jest na wolnym rytmie perkusji, który wnosi melodyjne dźwięki klawiszy zanurzone w ambientowym tle. „II” ma bardziej oszczędny ton – koncentrując się na wolno płynących smugach onirycznych dźwięków.

You may download the album for free, just click BUY NOW and "Name Your Price" € 0 Download Album: bandcamp.com

Skalpel - Transit | Album

 

When SKALPEL was releasing their debut album on Ninja Tune in 2004, Poland was just accessing the European Union and NME described the music duo as an exotic oddity from a faraway land. After 10 years and with 2 nu-jazz classic albums under their belt („Skalpel“ and „Konfusion“) that put Poland on the electronic genre map. SKALPEL, well respected and recognized is back with a new release in yet again an important moment in history when the Polish Prime Minister becomes the new European Council President .

On their previews releases SKALPEL „resurrected the dusty and smoky spirit of 60s and 70s Polish Jazz and then re-imagined it for 21st century audiophiles”. The new album TRANSIT shows that the producers‘ imagination takes them much further beyond Polish inspirations creating a truly international blend. They do not limit themselves to Europe but also reach for music of American continents and take a journey across Asia. Eastern European melancholy intertwines with Mediterranean warmth.Transit is about transition – from one music genre to another, from sample-based music to programming and electronic production, from black and white to full colour spectrum, from dark to bright, form low-fi to hi-fi. Finally from Ninja Tune to their own imprint PlugAudio.

Transit is about communication: conquering literally borders between countries but also metaphorically between music styles the world over. It’s about communicating with fans through emotions, feeling and soul.

To describe the music one could use: ambient, swing, latin, cinematic, trip-hop, easy-listening, broken beat but the key word is really VIBES. In music instrument context, there are a lot of vibraphone parts on it but also in terms of ambience, there are plenty of good vibes.

Marcin and Igor still live in Poland, where SKALPEL has a cult status but a lot of their fans moved to the UK and other European countries and the social, political and cultural European environment in Europe has changed.

In Skalpel’s case, a lot has also changed, however, what was written about their first album remains: “Warm, crisp and complex without being complicated. A refreshing break with prevailing UK trendmongering and banwagoneering, Skalpel are just focusing on doing it right.”

… And this is the right time for SKALPEL’s new music.

credits

released 10 October 2014 
shipping date around : 10/10/2014

Skalpel - HIGHCAST 55 | Mix

Shortly after the turn of the century, the unparalleled vibe of Skalpel‘s unique Nu-Jazz downtempo caught the ear of the monolithic Ninja Tune. Despite reaching into its second decade and recovering from a late 90s market over-saturation, Downtempo was still thriving. Many of the latter era’s heroes were just beginning to make their mark (Bonobo, Blockhead and Amon Tobin, for example) and Ninja Tune sat unrivaled.
But the new era brought with it less of a smokey lounge & new-agey electronica backbone (as it had in the 90s) and more dark experimentation. Nostalgic Jazz rolled up in smokey Hip Hop beats had proven its timelessness in the 90s (and was the very sound Ninja Tune was built off of) but was then all too susceptible to being a caricature of itself. Then came Poland’s Skalpel.
With Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudło’s Ninja Tune debut in 2003, they made waves. The duo’s appropriation of 60s and 70s Polish Jazz reinvigorated Nu-Jazz Downtempo in all the right ways & sold like hot cakes. Soon followed two iconic, critically-lauded albums in 2004 and 2005 and then… nothing. Nothing, that is, until this past May when the duo dropped Simple EP via Plug Audio
Meant to serve as a taster for their 3rd studio album out later this year, Simple EP arrives at a truly pristine time. The last few years have seen the slow launch of a 3rd era of Downtempo, one that is far more eclectic and experimental than its predecessors yet not without pockets (such as Gergaz, Cold Busted and Darker Than Wax) that maintain the tradition of smokey broken Jazz.
But even in these widely proliferated times, the brilliance that put Skalpel front and center a decade ago (and inspired a generation) once again allows them to transcend the pack. Simple EP is, above all else, an exercise in Jazz, using the dynamic mode to deliver inescapable vibes that sooth and fuel. Elements of Hip Hop are deconstructed, if not out right hidden, and emphasis is granted more strongly towards original musicianship, rather than cleverly looped samples (as is the tradition).
Given the culture significance of Skalpel’s return and our utter fascination with innovative downtempo, we were obligated to do something special for this release. No, a review would not cut it. So, it is with great honor we present to you HIGHCAST 55, a brief-yet-scrumptious stroll guided by Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudło, a.k.a. Skalpel.

Tracklist:
Przasnik – Kinda Buoyant Thing (Kosmos Radio Re:Swing) (Funky Mamas and Papas)
Skalpel – Salvadanio (Plug Audio)
Archie Pelago – Brown Oxford (Mister Saturday Night)
Blakula! – Witches Crew (Bear Funk)
Zombie Zombie – Rocket Number 9 (Versatile)
Mickey Moonlight – Interplanetary Music (Ed Banger)
The Heliocentrics – The Zero Hour (Now Again)
Tosca – Heatwave (Rodney Hunter Bounce-a-Thon Wersion) (G-Stoned)
Jimi Tenor – Year of Apocalypse (Warp)
Broadcast –Monica (Her Parents Have Been Informed) (Warp)

DOWNLOAD (320kbps MP3)

Skalpel - Soundtrack | Video

Skalpel "Soundtrack" - prezentujemy teledysk zapowiadający EP-kę "Simple", której premiera odbędzie się 10 maja 2014 podczas Free Form Festival w Warszawie. Charakter EP-ki "Simple" wydawca opisuje: "jazz tanecznym krokiem wychodzi z ciemnej, zadymionej piwnicy na klubowy parkiet"

Skalpel stworzył klip do "Soundtrack" we współpracy z Natalią Nguyen, która odpowiada za reżyserię i animację. Jeszcze w 2014 roku ukaże się trzeci album Skalpela. Wcześniej duet z Wrocławia zaprezentował inny utwór z EP-ki "Simple" - kawałek tytułowy. Na EP-ce znajdą się łącznie cztery premierowe kawałki, których nie będzie na albumie. .

Zespół Skalpel jest znany z sięgania po polski jazz z lat 60. i 70 i konstruowania na jego bazie własnej autorskiej wizji współczesnej muzyki, łączącej to, co najlepsze w jazzie, hip hopie i muzyce klubowej. Na świecie debiutancka płyta zespołu z 2004 roku znalazła się w podsumowaniu Album Of The Year przygotowanym przez DJ Magazine. Album został też nominowany do BBC - Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Awards 2004. W opinii BBC zespół muzycznie ulokował się gdzieś w okolicach The Cinematic Orchestra, ale poszedł w bardziej minimalistycznym, wschodnio-europejskim kierunku. “Dryfujące klimatyczności i poszukujące basy zagarniane były w odpowiednim kierunku przez konkretną, wiodącą prym perkusję.”

Zapraszamy do oglądania teledysku!

Skalpel - Simple (taken from Simple EP - to be released on 10.05.2014) | Single

Skalpel returns with new tunes after a lengthy sabbatical.

Duo, established by composers and producers well known in broadly defined electronic music circles. Their trademark was referencing a rich heritage of Polish jazz of the 1960s and the 1970s, with inspiration taken from the likes of Komeda, Stańko, Urbaniak and molding all of those retro ideas into their own original vision of contemporary sound. Two internationally acclaimed albums „Skalpel“ and „Konfusion“ released at that time by Ninja Tune put Skalpel on the radar of curious and avid fans of different genres of music – from jazz, through electronica to club and hip-hop.

After a few years break Skalpel is back with brand new tracks to be released later in the year on „Transit“ album but before it happens there is more music: they will start off with „Simple“ that will give a little sample of band’s new sound and contains three extra tracks that will not feature on the album, a remix and an intro to „Transit“ in the form of it the title track. This will be a treat for those who have patiently waited since 2005.

credits

releases 01 May 2014