Give Up to Failure - COCOON (2023)

The Wrocław-based group Give Up to Failure is one of the few bands I know that successfully combine post-punk and post-rock genres. Their music is dark in two different ways and it works very well together. Three years after their debuting release Burden, they are back with something very special on COCOON.

It's really easy to sense what it meant for the band to finish this release. They state that "This album is blood, tears and rain for us (...). This album was supposed to be the beginning, and it became the end of a certain stage" and so the lineup of the outfit is going to change right now so the album is already a snapshot of the history of Polish underground music. The uniqueness of the band comes from their flexible approach to music genres. While the music is set in the extremely dark and gloomy kind of post-rock heaviness, the vocals make it closer to, depending on the song or even fragment of a song, the coldness of post-punk or the warmth of dream pop. I especially like when the soft but emotional ones lead the audience into the tear-jerking, melancholic place that is made of synthy and guitar-heavy noise (as in Sleepwalk).

The hypnotic darkness gets even more seductive in the single track Slow Collapse where the listener is enchanted by the tribal-like magical chanting. But, in truth, the whole album is mesmerizing, from the livelier beginnings to the hazy, noisy with the guitar overload finish. 

COCOON costs 6.5 EUR (30 PLN).

Give Up to Failure - Burden (2020)

Check: Slow Collapse

Country: Poland

Genre: post-punk post-rock

Label: Requiem Records

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Fragile Thoughts - Broken Strings & Empty Hearts (2021)

Last year, Polish band Give Up to Failure released one of the best album's of the year, one filled with genuinely dark and heavy shoegaze. At the beginning of 2021, Krzysztof Mlynczak, the guitarist of the band, showed that he really digs this atmosphere with an EP/single called Broken Strings & Empty Hearts.

The very short album is filled with dark neoclassicism. The piano and violins sounds create an unsettling, though beautiful, atmosphere of sadness and melancholy. It's not a loud music but there's a feeling that it can soon explode (and actually does in Pointless). The super subtle electronica and guitar noises in the backgrounds add up to the music's multidimensional nature but what matters most is the unbelievable dense atmosphere packed in those 10 minutes. The further you go, the more post-rock the music becomes and it's such a good forecast for Mlynczak next works. Hopefully soon.

Broken Strings & Empty Hearts costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Pointless

Country: Poland

Genre: neoclassical post-rock.

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Give Up to Failure - Burden (2020) EN

Wrocław-based Polish band playing very dark and very noisy blend of shoegaze and darkwave. This is Give Up to Failure, band that started to intrigue me playing live, now released a very interesting debut LP called Burden.

It seems to me that the Poles really underline their shoegaze inspirations. Indeed, the album really is loud and guitar-filled in the shoegaze style: more of the wall of guitar sounds than metal riffs. On the other hand, I'd rather call them darkwave, especially when it comes to the cold, dispersed vocals with the very coldwave vibes. And then, there's also rather flat sound and minimalist compositions. Atmosphere, darkness and melancholic noise.

It seems that their Bandcamp found compromise tagging their new album as darkgaze. Noise can be found everywhere on it, especially in tracks such as After the Fall or the final Burial Ground. But this noise is dirty, furious and not-at-all tamed. And it suits the band very well.

Burden costs 4 EUR (16 PLN).

Check: After the Fall

Country: Poland

Genre: darkwave shoegaze
Label: Requiem Records

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Give Up to Failure - Burden (2020) PL

Polacy z Wrocławia grający bardzo mroczny i bardzo noise'owy blend shoegaze'u i darkwave'u. Oto Give Up to Failure, zespół, który zaintrygował mnie na żywo, a teraz wydał bardzo ciekawy debiutancki long play zatytułowany Burden.

Zdaje się, że Polacy bardzo podkreślają swoje shoegaze'owe inspiracje. I faktycznie, na krążku z pewnością jest głośno i bardzo gitarowo ale właśnie w shoegaze'owym stylu: raczej ściana gitar niż metalowe riffy. Z drugiej strony, sam bardziej nazwałbym ich darkwave'em, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o zimny, rozproszony wokal w bardzo zimnofalowym stylu. Do tego dochodzi raczej płaski dźwięk i minimalistyczne kompozycje. Atmosfera, mrok i melancholijny hałas.

Wygląda na to, że ich Bandcamp poszedł na kompromis i otagował nową płytę grupy jako darkgaze. Hałasu jest co niemiara, zwłaszcza w takich kawałkach jak After the Fall czy finałowym Burial Ground. Ale jest to hałas brudny, noise'owy, zupełnie nie ułagodzony. Bardzo z tym zespołowi do twarzy.

Burden kosztuje 16 złotych.

Sprawdź: After the Fall

Kraj: Polska

Szufladka: darkwave shoegaze
Label: Requiem Records

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Watchcamp November/December 2019 with Give Up to Failure, Poly-Math, Roaring Empyrean, VSLME, Thomas James White EN

Give Up to Failure - All I Wanted

New and still one of few Polish shoegaze bands so I couldn't overlook their debut single. Perhaps it could be better recording-wise but clearly their potential is here. The single costs 0.5 EUR (2 PLN).

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Poly-Math - Sensors in Everything

Looong piece of quality post-rock from England with ever-changing composition, various surprises and impressive influence on the listener. The track costs whatever you want to pay.

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Roaring Empyrean - Birth of the Lunarface

Post-rock composition from India with a lot of grandeur and unsettling atmosphere with funeral doom vibes. Judging by the frequency of the bands' singles being released, perhaps there's going to be an album soon. The single costs whatever you want to pay.

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VSLME - DVRT

Awesome track from a Hungarian artist I had no clue about. A bit of post-rock, lots of industrial, tons of unsettling atmosphere and much guitar noise, a real gem. The single costs whatever you want to pay. 

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Thomas James White - Home (At the End of It All)

The British artist is a guest on my blog again, but how could I not appreciate him when he creates such a beautiful and atmospheric neoclassicism! The single costs one pound.

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Watchcamp November/December 2019 with Give Up to Failure, Poly-Math, Roaring Empyrean, VSLME, Thomas James White PL

Give Up to Failure - All I Wanted

Nowy i wciąż jeden z nielicznych polskich zespołów shoegaze'owych, nie mogłem więc przegapić ich debiutanckiego singla. Mogłoby być pewnie lepiej jeśli chodzi o realizację, ale z pewnością czuć potencjał grupy. Singiel kosztuje 2 złote.

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Poly-Math - Sensors in Everything

Długaśny kawałek wysokojakościowego post-rocka z Anglii o bardzo zmiennej kompozycji, z licznymi zaskoczeniami po drodze i imponującym oddziaływaniem na słuchacza. Utwór kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić.

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Roaring Empyrean - Birth of the Lunarface

Post-rockowa kompozycja z Indii mająca w sobie sporo rozmachu i niepokojącej atmosfery rodem z funeral doomu. Sądząc z częstotliwości ukazywania się ostatnio singli zespołu, możemy spodziewać się za jakiś czas płyty. Utwór kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić.

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VSLME - DVRT

Znakomity kawałek od zupełnie mi nieznanego artysty z Węgier, nieco post-rocka, mnóstwo industrialu, tony niepokojącej atmosfery i sporo gitarowego noise'u, prawdziwa perełka. Singiel kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić. 

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Thomas James White - Home (At the End of It All)

Brytyjczyk po raz kolejny na moim blogu, ale jak tu go nie doceniać, gdy gra tak klimatyczny i piękny neoklasycyzm! Singiel kosztuje jednego funta.

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