Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą spoken word. Pokaż wszystkie posty
Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą spoken word. Pokaż wszystkie posty

środa, 17 czerwca 2026

LYR - Dark Sky Reservation (2026)


The combination of spoken word poetry and alternative music is something that appeals to me a lot: so this year's BIG SPECIAL will be LYR - similarly hailing from UK but besides that, extremely different: instead of the post-punk spirit, LYR combines the unique vocals with artsy and pretty minimalist electronica and neoclassical music. This is LYR's fourth album and I'm very excited to discover the rest of their discography.

The lyrics here are, of course, the clue. And I already love some of the phrases/sentences coined for the album (especially the chorus in Blah! Blah! Blah! with the actual medical condition choice blindness embraced and used in a lyrical way) as well as particularly clever and sometimes hilarious word craftsmanship. Again, Blah! Blah! Blah! is a great example here: a song I'm genuinely as invested in the "plot" of the song as in the song as a musical entity in general. As could be expected (I knew, there is a post-punky element to this music), the album is very much a commentary about the world we live in as the artists describe themselves as "navigating towards sightings of hopefulness and constancy in an increasingly bewildering and storm-battered world".

The album title as well as a number of songs on it reference also the changing climate which is a) as interesting a topic as it is terrifying and b) not that much touch upon in music. Yet. But it has to be said that the band create a perfectly catchy songs as well. And with ease too. Eclipse is a perfect example of a song that steals the chorus from some kind of radio hit and repurposes it to accompany another brillant sheet of lyrics.

Dark Sky Reservation costs 11 EUR (9 GBP).

Check: Blah! Blah! Blah!
Country: UK
Genre: spoken word art rock
Label: Real World Records



czwartek, 5 czerwca 2025

Benefits - Constant Noise (2025)


The band who "write songs about things that concern [them]" and really, all of us, is back with a sophomore album. And I can safely say that they only get better with their fascinating and inspiring blend of poetry and synthetic music. Whatever you need to hear right now is probably already on Constant Noise.

I can't think of many artists who make music quite like Benefits. The spoken word poetry is, of course, the first thing that catches your attention. It is a lyrical take on post-punk social commentary focus, but there's more to it. I'm afraid not being a native speaker, a lot of it flies above me, but what I can catch, is striking enough. That's why those moments when lyrics about war and injustice is matched with disco-like electronica is especially shocking. But the music varies basically from track to track with harsh guitar noise and atmospheric drones as important as the electronic notes.

This combination of poetry and guitars makes me think of last year's album from Overhead, the Albatross, but maybe because since the recent dunk!festival, they are on my mind regularly. What also certainly deserves attention is the track recorded together with Peter Doherty of The Libertines which is a nice little thing that can brighten the day of an indie rock veteran like myself.

Constant Noise costs 9.5 EUR (7.99 GBP).

Check: Land of the Tyrants
Country: UK
Genre: eclectic lyrical post-punk
Label: Invada Records



wtorek, 25 października 2022

Steve Queralt & Michael Smith - Sun Moon Town (2022)



The RIDE's bassist Steve Queralt and the BBC writer Michael Smith decided to work together on a captivating record called Sun Moon Town. The results are mesmerizing and very much focused on the word which I appreciate a lot.

It gives me overall vibes of Oddfellow's Casino's The Cult of Water - not only due to the spoken word vocals but also thank to the slightly psychedelic, guitar and electronica-oriented moody music that fills the backgrounds (especially in In a Wonderland!). The responsibilities are clear: Queralt wrote and performed the music part, Smith the lyrics and vocals one with particularly attentive way of speaking, making the whole thing sound like an exciting take on an audio book. No wonder that even Queralt says: "Michael’s voice has so much depth and character and I love his eye-rolling, withering view of the world". 

This fantastically mesmerizing cooperation is all about the way the cities and the reality around us changed in recent years, very much in Future Conditional's style we tasted just some weeks ago. In particular, Smith wrote about his return to London, a place that changed a lot in short time. As he states in Glitches: "We’ve sleepwalked into the wrong England, so new it looks like the future, a future no one wants". The music changes throughout the album, from the post-rock like steadily going towards calmer, ambient like album's finale in In a Wonderland that features Smith's son reading Lewis Carroll's poem to make it even more special.

Sun Moon Town costs 5 EUR (4 GBP).

Check: Vespertina
Country: UK
Genre: spoken word electronica
Label: Bytes 



wtorek, 26 lipca 2022

Catástrofe Club - El crecimiento infinito (2022)


Catástrofe Club are from Catalonia and make some super interesting post-punk-like eclectic music. The Josep Maria Herrera-David Molina duo are self-proclaimed "portraitists of the global catastrophe" who "compose and create with a particular sense of tragicomedy" and with an impressive approach to mixing genres in order to create a poignant message in an attractive form, just as it is on their new album.

El crecimiento infinito is the final part of their long play trilogy. My first thought when listening to this album was to check if this was a side project of Oscar D'Aniello a.k.a. Delafé, Spanish indie pop slash spoken word hip-hop artist the first albums of whom I really enjoyed back in the day. It's obviously not, but Herrera's voice and, most importantly, the spoken word way of "singing" bears strong resemblance here. However, the project, although very melodic, is far from a chill indie pop: it's post-punk delivered in various unique ways, so unfamiliar for the genre. The flow and catchiness of pop music and the lively electronica the compositions are built on are not your typical post-punk accessories.

However the whole theme they point the audience at, as they "question the individual, but in a somewhat calmer way, accepting the collapse and fatality of a social tragedy as something certain and inevitable that can only be contemplated", the collapse that has many reasons, but most importantly the consumptive way of life and the heavy but clever critique the artists employ, is taken right from the post-punk handbooks. So is the overall minimalism and slower pace that create this fantastic atmosphere within which the mesmerizing spoken word phrases go on and on and drill into the listener's mind.

El crecimiento infinito costs 8 EUR.

Check: Safari
Country: Catalonia/Spain
Genre: electronic post-punk
Label: Hidden Track Records



czwartek, 16 czerwca 2022

Gravity Failed - Tape Therapy (2022)


A Lincoln, UK-based artist who creates electronica-filled music passages that serve as backgrounds to spoken word lyrics - this is Gravity Failed. From what I can tell, the musician has just debuted with a mysterious EP called Tape Therapy.

The soundscapes we can witness on the album have many different faces: from the lively and filled with this synthy energy that makes everything more interesting in I Can't Be Better Than I Am to extremely airy and ethereal in the sacral-like No Numbers. But the project's main characteristic are the poetic and poignant lyrics in the form of spoken word, noir movies-like vocals that present a lot of story-building vibes, perhaps more prose than poetry in fact. I'm always keen on discovering new approaches to vocals and this is certainly an interesting one. I wonder for whom this is a therapy - is it something that helps the artist or is it supposed to lead the audience toward some kind of katharsis?

Tape Therapy costs 0.75 EUR (0.5 GBP).

Check: Tape Therapy
Country: UK
Genre: spoken word electronica



piątek, 14 maja 2021

Where Mermaids Drown - And the Raging Winds Do Blow (2021)


The French post-rock band Where Mermaids Drown certainly has some attention from their very beginning. This is their debut EP and, as far as I know, it's covered by Where Post-Rock Dwells and released by POST. Recordings - so not just random people. And this is very much earned as And the Raging Winds Do Blow brings a lot of good, instrumental music.

This is this kind of post-rock that is played on Dunk!Festival and, I dare say, will be in not so distant future. It's clear that the French know how to write compositions in this genre so that they are captivating and diverse - so we have some spoken word samples, a lot of picturesque guitar soundscapes and the feeling of monumentality just within the reach of your hand. The EP consists only of three pieces but this is a) still a lot of music, b) quality material and this beats quantity every time. What's surprising, although the music of Where Mermaids Drown is filled with guitar noise, it is not built as archetype crescendo-finished compositions. Except for the last one, fantastically satisfying Brine Pool that makes me think that the whole half-an-hour-long EP is basically one single, epic track.

And the Raging Winds Do Blow costs 5 EUR.

Check: Brine Pool
Country: France
Genre: guitar post-rock
Label: POST. Recordings



piątek, 2 kwietnia 2021

trajedesaliva - Ultratumba (2021)


The Spanish/Galician trajedesaliva is a band of a certainly long history. It was started back in 1998 as an attempt to create some darkwave/dark jazz music. I hadn't heard about them before I discovered their new (but only the fourth one?) album called Ultratumba and I have to say, there is a lot going on there and I love it.

The thing that enchanted me is, as it's often the case with me, the spoken word/poetry inclusion. This is something that sounds especially powerfully and poignant on the backgrounds of deep basses and electronic chaos. Especially with the heavy beats of A casa por las vías. Or with the harsh noise of other tracks. It is even more impressive when you realize the album was recorded "using only analogue synthesizers and voice". It was meant to be an intimate, personal take on industrial and noise (Familia Ferro!) electronica and it certainly feels like it. This is the way the duo conveys the message of the album being "family dialogue, full of sadness, acceptance and hope, that digs into the origin of melancholy". There's few things more personal than family relations. And few more intimate music touches than whispering vocals (so great in Arenas calientes!). 

Ultratumba costs 7 EUR.

Check: Arenas calientes
Country: Spain
Genre: spoken word noisy ambient
Label: Gradual Hate Records



wtorek, 12 stycznia 2021

Michael Denny & Simon Sylvester - Imaginary Mountains (2020)


Michael Denny is a composer, Simon Sylvester is a writer, both are related to the land of Cumbria, and together they created an album with music stretching from ambient soundscapes to mild post-rock ornamented with poems read by Hilary Pezet. This is Imaginary Mountains.

The album makes a "soundtrack to a walk in the wilds of another Cumbria" that was created for Aerial Festival, a festival of sounds and words in the Lake District. Very folk culture vibes here. And so the presence of the land and its people with their folklore and history is extremely audible throughout the work. This is, first of all, due to the lyrics/poems with the themes of last year's tough experiences of pandemics and lockdowns situated in the first rows but also considering a lot of other burning matters. 

But there are also samples of nature sounds and people's lives incorporated into the music and being its vital parts. Some pieces are extremely touching, most notably Fools We Are with its existential theme and very post-rock-like composition and ecologically engaged Ever Smaller Circle. There's a lot of  difficult topics here but aren't they all parts of our life now? 

Imaginary Mountains costs 6 GBP.

Check: Fools We Are 
Country: UK
Genre: spoken word post-rock



niedziela, 23 sierpnia 2020

Meqonenôt - So Hollow Hallowed (2020) PL


Niemiecki projekt Meqonenôt to klasyka anonimowego bandcampowego grania. Nie wiadomo o nim nic, ale nie zmienia to wiele - muzykę tworzy bardzo, bardzo udaną, a posłuchać można jej na płycie So Hollow Hallowed .

Bardzo ważną częścią muzyki projektu są wiersze walijskiego poety Dylana Thomasa. Zarówno Ceremony After a Fire Raid jak i Death Shall Have No Dominion to poważne poematy ważnego twórcy deklamowane niczym wojenne przemowy. Poza tym płyta opiera się na powolnym post-rocku graniczącym z instrumentalnym ambientem opartym na pojedynczych dźwiękach gitar i perkusji, co tworzy mroczny i minimalistyczny klimat, który pasuje tu jak ulał. Niemniej, długie utwory rozwijają się z czasem, So Hollow kończy się marszową perkusją i eterycznymi chórami, a So Hallowed na odwrót, zaczyna się niczym demowy utwór I Like Trains, a kończy deklamacją na tle minimalistycznego ambientu. Interesujące.

So Hollow Hallowed kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić.

Sprawdź: So Hallowed
Kraj: Niemcy
Szufladka: spoken word post-rock



Meqonenôt - So Hollow Hallowed (2020) EN


A German project Meqonenôt is a classic anonymous Bandcamp music. There's nothing you know about it but it doesn't change much as the music it provides is really, really good and now can be listened to on the album called So Hollow Hallowed .

A huge part of the music are poems by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Both Ceremony After a Fire Raid and Death Shall Have No Dominion are serious ones written by a serious writer and cited as if they were war speeches. Besides this, the tracks are made of slow post-rock bordering with instrumental ambient based on the sounds of a single guitar and drums which creates dark and minimalist atmosphere and it's very fitting here. Still, the long tracks develop in time, So Hollow ends with marching drums and airy backing vocals while So Hallowed quite the opposite, begins like it was some demo track from I Like Trains and finishes with spoken word in the background of minimalist ambient. Very interesting.

So Hollow Hallowed costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: So Hallowed
Country: Germany
Genre: spoken word post-rock



czwartek, 16 kwietnia 2020

Staghorn - Corvus IV (2020) PL


Amerykańskie Staghorn to bez wątpienia moje odkrycie zeszłorocznego festiwalu Dunk. Tak więc niezwykle się cieszę, że zespół wraca w tym roku z krótką płyta zatytułowaną Corvus IV.

Zespół zdecydowanie kupuje widownie mroczno folkowym imydżem, zarówno na scenie jak i choćby na cover artach. Jednak najważniejszy jest on w ekologiczno-apokaliptycznym światopoglądzie głoszonym przez artystów. W ich kawałkach przez wieki wykorzystywana natura jawi się jako siła, z którą należy się liczyć. A głoszą to nie tylko mocnym, wkręcającym się w mózg post-rockiem, ale też swoim znakiem szczególnym - nagrywanymi własnym sumptem samplami z recytowaną ni to poezją ni wstrząsającą gawędą pełną metafor i obrazowych fraz.

Żeby jednak bardziej zobrazować powagę sytuacji, zespół nie waha się używać elementów post-metalowych, takich jak naprawdę przejmujący wokal w Rahula. Największe wrażenie robi jednak epickie, monumentalne zakończenie w Samsarze.

Corvus IV kosztuje 30 złotych (7 USD).

Sprawdź: Samsara
Kraj: Illinois, US
Szufladka: spoken word post-rock



Staghorn - Corvus IV (2020) EN


The American Staghorn undoubtedly made my greatest discovery during the last year's Dunk Festival. So I'm super happy they are back with a short album called Corvus IV.

The band decidedly bought me with their dark folk image both on the stage and the cover arts. But also in their ecological-apocalyptic worldview they preach. In their music, the abused nature seems to be the power people should not ignore. And they do that not only with a strong, brain-invading post-rock but also with their most characteristic trait - self-recorded samples containing spoken poetry or stirring tale filled with metaphors and picturesque phrases.

To illustrate the gravity of the situation, the band don't hesitate to use some post-metal elements like the poignant vocals in Rahula. Still, the most impressive track here has to be the epic and monumental finish in Samsara.

Corvus IV costs 7 USD.

Check: Samsara
Country: Illinois, US
Genre: spoken word post-rock



wtorek, 14 stycznia 2020

A·L·M·A - Invierno totalitario (2019) EN


This kind of propositions intrigue me a lot: the Spanish A·L·M·A is a combination of industrial metal with spoken word with a clear message. The Asturiano Pedro Pablo Bazán's project showed its debuting album called ("Totalitarian Winter").

The musician claims there's been nothing like this before. There's still some clear inspirations that can be pointed out, especially the industrial music. Not to mention that the material was mixed by the legendary Einstürzende Neubauten's Alexander Hacke. On the other hand, there's also present a spirit of the protest songs from the past with suggestive lyrics that are sometimes spoken, sometimes even shouted out, "the musical pieces seem designed as if they were manifests of anger towards alienation, but to a type of everyday mastery and control, and therefore constant".

Bazán's interview with Agente Provocador is really filled with interesting statements. For example on the album's main theme "the central object is the wartenberg wheel, an instrument used in neurology to check nerve reflexes or physiological sensitivity to stimuli, that is, we try, with this album, to check the listener's point of identification with reality".

Invierno totalitario costs 7.99 EUR.

Check: La tragedia de la vida cotidiana
Country: Asturias/Spain
Genre: industrial spoken word



A·L·M·A - Invierno totalitario (2019) PL


Bardzo intrygują mnie takie propozycje: hiszpańska A·L·M·A to połączenie industrialnego metalu i spoken wordu z bardzo czytelnym przesłaniem. Projekt Asturyjczyka Pedro Pablo Bazána pokazał właśnie swój debiutancki album Invierno totalitario ("Totalitarna zima").

Muzyk zarzeka się, że muzycznie nie było wcześniej czegoś podobnego. Wciąż jednak można wskazać kilka czytelnych inspiracji, przede wszystkim industrialem. Zresztą materiał miksował Alexander Hacke z kultowego Einstürzende Neubauten. Z drugiej strony obecny jest też duch rewolucyjnych protest-songów z przekonującym recytującym lub nawet wykrzykującym wokalem, "muzyczne kawałki brzmią jakby były zaprojektowane do manifestowania wściekłości wobec alienacji".

Zresztą wywiad z Bazánem dla Agente Provocador jest pełen ciekawych stwierdzeń. Na przykład to o motywie przewodnim płyty: "centralnym obiektem jest tutaj kółko wartenberga, instrument używany w neurologii to badania odruchów nerwowych i fizjologicznych odruchów na bodźce, w ten sposób chcieliśmy, za pomocą tego albumu, sprawdzić identyfikację słuchaczy z rzeczywistością".

Invierno totalitario kosztuje 34 złote (7,99 EUR).

Sprawdź: La tragedia de la vida cotidiana
Kraj: Asturia/Hiszpania
Szufladka: industrial spoken word



sobota, 5 października 2019

The Owl Who Married a Goose - Zeit, fliegst du davon (2019) EN


There's not many things that can top the mix of ambient and neoclassicism when it comes to atmosphere. This is exactly what the German project The Owl Who Married a Goose offers the audience. And since it does it so well, I couldn't miss on the bog the new album Zeit, fliegst du davon.

The German's music is filled with strings and strings' way of building the atmosphere that is a bit gloomy, very much not in hurry and extremely engaging (Addendum!). Another impressive thing is the way the piano works here, especially when it appears after the unnerving droning passages (in the double track called Zeit, fliegst du davon nimmst du mich mit). And finally, there's also the fascinating and poignant track Amadeus with the recitation of Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl.

Zeit, fliegst du davon costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Amadeus
Country: Germany
Genre: neoclassical ambient



The Owl Who Married a Goose - Zeit, fliegst du davon (2019) PL


Niewiele rzeczy potrafi przebić klimatem połączenie ambientu i neoklasyki. To właśnie serwuje słuchaczom niemiecki projekt The Owl Who Married a Goose, a ze robi to znakomicie, musiał znaleźć się na blogu ze swoim nowym albumem Zeit, fliegst du davon.

W muzyce Niemca dużo jest smyczków i smyczkowego budowania atmosfery nieco ponurej, bardzo niespiesznej i wybitnie wciągającej. (Addendum!). Wrażenie robi też gra na pianinie, tym bardziej, gdy pojawia się po dronująco melancholijnych pasażach (podwójny utwór Zeit, fliegst du davon nimmst du mich mit). W końcu jest też fascynujący, niepokojący kawałek Amadeus z recytowanym poematem Howl Allena Ginsberga.

Zeit, fliegst du davon kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić.

Sprawdź: Amadeus
Kraj: Niemcy
Szufladka: neoclassical ambient



poniedziałek, 15 lipca 2019

Lazybones Flame Kids - Beyond (2019) EN


Italian band with q unique name, unique work description ("atmospheric touches of instrumental rock with the emotional pull of American Football's repetitive arpeggios") and finally with unique instrumental music. We're checking out their new album called Beyond.

The album is meant to be a "soundtrack to overcoming one’s limitations" and shows the idea of the Italians on their music: to combine the emotions of the instrumental post-rock with the emotions of the American emo music. And indeed, the first two tracks contain some international level post-rock focused on generating atmosphere while the following ones include both emotional vocals and moody whispers.

An interesting case is the track That One is Cacus the lyrics of which are taken from the 25th song of Dante Alighieri's Inferno. Spoken out loud make a brilliant complement to the peaceful post-rock in the background and this is first of all what makes the band's music stand out. Just like the whispers (awesome in Seven Kings of Rome) as there's nothing better to create thick atmosphere. But still, the album;'s best is probably the "traditionally" post-rock A Part of You.

Beyond costs 7 EUR.

Check: A Part of You
Country: Italy
Genre: spoken word post-rock



Lazybones Flame Kids - Beyond (2019) PL


Włoski zespół z oryginalną nazwą, oryginalnym opisem swojej muzyki ("klimatyczne dotknięcia instrumentalnego rocka z emocjonalnym przyciąganiem powtarzających się arfików American Football") i w końcu z oryginalną muzyką instrumentalną. Sprawdzamy ich nowy album Beyond.

Krążek pomyślany jako "ściezka dźwiękowa do przezwyciężania ludzkich ograniczeń" pokazuje pomysł Włochów na swoją muzykę: aby połączyć emocje instrumentalnego post-rocka z emocjami amerykańskiego emo. I faktycznie, dwa pierwsze utwory to wysokiej jakości post-rock ukierunkowany na generowanie atmosfery, podczas gdy kolejne zawierają i emocjonalny wokal i klimatyczne szepty.

Sporą ciekawostką jest kawałek That One is Cacus, którego słowa zaczerpnięto z 25. pieśni Piekła Dantego. Melorecytowane stanowią znakomite uzupełnienie dla spokojnego post-rocka w tle. Właśnie to zastosowanie spoken word wyróżnia zespół spośród innych. Podobnie jak szepty (znakomite w Seven Kings of Rome), bo przecież niewiele innych rzeczy buduje taki klimat. Najlepszy na płycie jest chyba jednak "tradycyjnie" post-rockowy A Part of You.

Beyond kosztuje 30 złotych (7 EUR).

Sprawdź: A Part of You
Kraj: Włochy
Szufladka: spoken word post-rock



poniedziałek, 11 marca 2019

The Dwindlers - Beautiful Unfamiliar (2019) EN


The combination of music and poetry is one of the most beautiful ones on this blog. This time it was made by a New York-based duet The Dwindlers, or "ambience and imaginery" as they say. It can be tasted on the January album called Beautiful Unfamiliar.

The tracks here are devoted to the journey the artists had in Europe, which is especially noticeable in Dekuji Praha with a title translated to "Thank you, Prague". But their credo is already present in the statement that they "write about dreams, nature, and travel". The poetry part is the responsibility of the writer (and a singer) Michelle Seaman. In the album's best track, the opener Water Be My Road Now, inspires awe not only with the words and her deep voice, but also wit the airy backing vocals.

The music side is the domain of Benjamin Dauer. It is basically elusive electronics, peaceful and adding to the project's atmosphere but never in the foreground. Also, Dauer can be heard as a vocalist in Cold Sugar. Still, the most interesting part of the album is the title's unfamiliar beauty, this look from outside on our European culture.

Beautiful Unfamiliar costs 9 USD.

Genre: Water Be My Road Now
Country: New York, US
genre: poetry ambient



The Dwindlers - Beautiful Unfamiliar (2019) PL


Połączenie nieoczywistej muzyki i poezji to jedno z piękniejszych na tym blogu. Tym razem robi to duet z Nowego Jorku, The Dwindlers, czyli "atmosfera i wyobraźnia" jak piszą. Można ich zakosztować na styczniowej płycie projektu, Beautiful Unfamiliar.

Utwory na albumie poświęcone są doświadczeniu podróży artystów po Europie, co słychać zwłaszcza w kawałku Dekuji Praha, którego tytułu nie trzeba tłumaczyć. Zresztą swoje credo zawarli oni w zdaniu mówiącym, że "piszą o snach, naturze i podróży". Za poezję odpowiada pisarka (a także wokalistka) Michelle Seaman. W najlepszym na płycie kawałku, Water Be My Road Now zachwyca nie tylko słowami i głębokim głosem, ale również fantastycznie eterycznymi chórkami.

Z kolei muzyka jest domeną Benjamina Dauera. Ta jest bardzo ulotną elektroniką, spokojną i dodającą całości klimatu, jednak nigdy nie na pierwszym planie. Zresztą, Dauer również użycza swojego głosu, jak w Cold Sugar. Najciekawsze jednak na płycie jest tytułowe nieznajome piękno, to spojrzenie z zewnątrz na naszą, europejską kulturę.

Beautiful Unfamiliar kosztuje 35 złotych (9 USD).

Sprawdź: Water Be My Road Now
Kraj: Nowy Jork, US
Szufladka: poetry ambient