Throughout and instantly after the pandemic, the cut up within the Polish music scene turned extra evident than ever earlier than – even bigger crowds started to attend “star” concert events and mainstream festivals, and golf equipment and occasions associated to impartial music started to shut. There was a scarcity of audiences, and fewer and fewer new, attention-grabbing tasks have been being created. In some areas, this was much less noticeable (jazz was nonetheless doing very nicely); in others, there was a transparent stagnation (particularly in indie/various rock). Nonetheless, for the reason that pendulum had swung a lot in a single path, it needed to swing again to the opposite with an identical momentum. The final 12 months show that this has lastly occurred. These are the 30 finest Polish albums of 2024.

30. Porosty – Dungeon Crawler (Smashing Tape)

Monotony is often related to boredom, however when used as a instrument by Bartosz Zaskórski (working below the title Porosty, which suggests “Lichens” within the Polish language), it turned out to be an asset. Because of the repeated instrumental elements with every subsequent minute, Dungeon Crawler attracts deeper and deeper into the cyberpunk world of gloomy, dehumanized electronics. The repetition of beats, synthesizer chords, and melodies, in addition to the withdrawn, closely distorted voice, have a hypnotic impact, and processing the entire album by means of a retro filter leads to a really uncooked sound from the neighborhood of early EBM.

29. Lutownica – How About Twelve and Fourteen (Unbiased)

Lutownica (Soldering Iron) was based virtually a decade in the past by musicians from Blue Raincoat, Let the Boy Resolve, and Low Reduce – underground guitar bands actively releasing and performing music firstly of this century, all of them with a faithful fan base, however the day by day life took over and made them go on hiatus. The trio of Rafał Sztucki, Krystian Pilarczyk, and Zbigniew Ambroży can’t be thought of very busy both; for sure, the brand new album was launched 9 years after the debut.

Nevertheless, it’s the shortage of self-imposed stress, not attempting to face within the competitors for probably the most views and listens, and enjoying for their very own pleasure that provides How About Twelve and Fourteen a novel sort of freedom. Lutownica’s noise rock sound might be a bit outdated and deeply rooted within the Nineteen Nineties – influences of Killdozer, Hammerhead, or Pussy Galore are simple to catch – however there’s a lot authenticity in it that nobody would deny in the event that they have been described as one of many bands of that period.

28. Ostatnia Klatka – Ostatnia Klatka (Unbiased)

In 2020, lockdowns compelled us all to decelerate. What was horrible for some was a horrible expertise. Nonetheless, for others, it turned a artistic course of that in any other case wouldn’t have been potential due to many different duties and commitments. That’s when Ostatnia Klatka (The Final Cage) have been shaped nevertheless it took 4 extra years earlier than they launched their debut album.

There’s no secret behind the principle inspirations. The duo draw closely from Polish coldwave classics from the Eighties, together with such bands as 1984, Made in Poland, and Cytadela. Guitar, bass, drum machine, and virtually deadpan vocals – with the usage of just some units, they created music that’s, on the one hand, piercing chilly, on the opposite, because of lyrics describing each private emotional states and broader social context, boiling with emotion.

27. Królestwo – Patho Jazz (Unbiased)

Królestwo’s (The Kingdom) earlier two albums – 2017’s Ćwiczenia repetywne (Repetitive workouts) and 2020’s Antracyt (Anthracite) – have been proof of the good energy hidden in correctly graded, tension-raising iteration, however there’s a danger. Repetition is a double-edged sword; even probably the most expert craftsman can harm himself with out taking precautions. Maybe that was the first cause the band rebuilt its sound on the third album, swapping electrical bass for double bass and including saxophone, trumpet, and clarinets. The muse stays the identical, however a brand new, darkish jazz – or, because the title suggests, pathojazz – entourage has grown round it. Names like the Necks or the Lovecraft Sextet pop into thoughts whereas listening, however on the similar time, it’s a recent strategy to creating music getting ready to jazz and ambient.

26. Jantar – Turnus (Skinny Man)

Bossa nova hasn’t made a giant comeback as of but. Nonetheless, Billie Eilish, Laufey, TikTok, and Twitch have launched as soon as well-known Brazilian style, popularized by Antônio Carlos Jobim, to a brand new era, and there’s a lot to recommend that younger individuals love these syncopated guitar rhythms and melodic bass strains.

Warsaw’s Jantar doesn’t comply with the rising pattern however suits in completely, recording a whole album drawing from bossa and reworking inspirations in a nonobvious manner, attempting one thing new as a substitute of paying homage as shut as potential to the roots of this music. That shouldn’t come as a shock, contemplating the band’s line-up – Jakub Ziołek, Krzysztof Kaliski, Grzegorz Tarwid, and Tomasz Popowski are musicians identified on the Polish experimental, improvised, and jazz scenes for a few years. Publish-Bossa? Maybe it’s the subsequent huge factor within the second half of this decade.

25. Königreichssaal – Psalmen’o’delirium (Godz Ov Struggle)

Black steel is one among Poland’s finest export items. Furia, Mgła, Behemoth, and lots of others gained worldwide recognition within the final decade, which led the scene to develop in large proportions. Many new teams don’t have anything to say and easily imitate their heroes, however fortuitously, some don’t wish to be part of the mimetic choir and search particular person paths. Königreichssaal proved to be such a gaggle with a superb debut launched 4 years in the past (Witnessing the Dearth) and now verify that it was no one-time luck.

Psalmen’o’delirium is an equally compelling file, though very totally different. The tempo is way slower, the vocals are mad and unhinged, and the temper turns into extra disagreeable and even repulsive with every minute, nevertheless it’s too fascinating to hit the “cease” button. Generally, it’s good when the music makes us really feel unhealthy.

24. Tonfa – Trzecia szyna (Massive Tonga Vitality)

“Leaving the underground is a continuing wrestle,” says one of many verses within the track “Traczek”, however Tonfa appears to be in a superposition. They’ve already crossed the border of the underground and gained wider recognition. Nevertheless, they remained one among Poland’s most vital representatives of underground hip-hop. The important thing to success is the duo’s open thoughts and talent to work on every monitor with a transformative strategy. Trzecia szyna (Third Rail) grows from hip-hop roots, nevertheless it’s studded with too many nuances to fall into only one class. Solely so many colours can be utilized within the kaleidoscope, however the sample preparations nonetheless can shock.

23. Faraway – Faraway (Antena Krzyku)

Faraway is one other band that seemingly emerge from the Polish new wave and post-punk of the Eighties. Nonetheless, similar to Ostatnia Klatka, they don’t waste time for historic reconstruction, as a substitute displaying how this music might sound immediately if its time of glory had by no means handed. With the addition of the saxophone, livelier punk beats, dub pulse, synthesizer backgrounds, and even a little bit of African exoticism, acquainted rhythmic patterns, and piercing chilly aura particular for Japanese European post-punk sounds as recent as in the event that they have been invented yesterday. On the one hand, anybody who listened to Speaking Heads, Devo, or Oingo Boingo ought to really feel at house right here; however, Faraway discovered their very own voice on the debut album.

22. ||Ala|Meda|| – Spectra 02 (Brutality Backyard)

Alameda have been recording and performing below many variations of their title and with numerous lineups for greater than a decade now. Nevertheless, what stays fixed is the presence of the ever-evolving, increasing scope of Jakub Ziołek’s abilities (musician of many faces, identified from Stara Rzeka, Ed Wooden, George Dorn Screams, Innercity Ensemble, T’ien Lai, and Jantar) and drawing from numerous music traditions from everywhere in the globe.

The first affect for the second a part of Spectra (the primary was launched in 2022) is the varied music of International South. Nonetheless, there’s no cosmopolitanism or makes an attempt to impersonate another person behind it. Rhythms of batida, gqom, Africa, and Caribbean are a few of the borrowed components, however processed by means of electronics have equally a lot in frequent with deconstructed membership.

21. Hatti Vatti – Zeit (R&S)

When Piotr Kaliński lastly signed with R&S Data (through the years label of Aphex Twin, Biosphere, and Paula Temple, to call a couple of), he reworked his solo challenge right into a quartet with a definite jazz vibe, consisting of musicians related to Algorhythm, Hinode Tapes, EABS, Siema Ziemia, Lumbago, and P.Unity. Happily, with such a skillful, boldly mixing big selection of inspirations artists on board, there was no danger of lowering jazz to the extent of decoration, as with quite a few copycat tasks of late nu jazz. Because of the proper steadiness, there’s room for each instrumental virtuosity and elements that may calm the viewers down or put it right into a trance.