Urlaub in Polen - All

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 8 / 3 / 2021

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Once it felt like a court sentence. Holidays in Poland today, however, can be very inspirational, hence for example Felix Kubin's collaborations with the thriving electronica music scene in beautiful Kraków. In making a fresh restart, Jan Philipp Janzen and Georg Brenner have finally found the time off from a nine year holiday away in Poland to record Urlaub in Polen's sixth album. Janzen played drums on the 2013 performance of Can's 1972 album 'Ege Bamyasi', which was curated by Stephen Malkmus. There is no record dating from this hiatus of what Brenner was up to all those years. The five previous Urlaub In Polen albums were released between 2002 to 2011, of which 'Health and Welfare' for the Tomlab label is my favourite. Upbeat urgent driving krautrock beats open 'All' with a thumping bass line and vocoder vocals on 'Impulse Response', which features wonderfully melodic guitar playing reminiscent of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. This is swiftly followed with 'T.H.D.T.' which maintains an equal pace. A cracking intermezzo made from a violent film dialogue is next. Soon enough your ears will be back in the dextrous hands of Janzen on drums and singer Brenner on bass and guitar. 'Rodeo' is the next wild intermezzo to re-adjust the mood, but is topped by weirdly wizardry words on 'The Witcher' which reminds me of Wire in their later stages. The first track on Side 2, 'Overall' - some sort of title track - paves the way for 'The Hunter' which builds on that Wire heritage, vaguely recalling 'Outdoor Miner'. Lyrics in English used in German music are no longer a rarity as younger generations with a much better command of the language are taking over, but occasionally Urlaub In Polen bring back the days when words bore no real meaning and merely served the purpose of adding vocals to a sound collage. Their sense of adventure, however, stands out still. Drummer Janzen excels at multitasking different rhythms and they close off the album with 'Proxy Music' which quaintly blends the Munich disco sound and indeed early Roxy Music. Cheeky Cologners!

Track Listing:-

1 Void
2 Impulse Response
3 2 Sec. Delay
4 T.H.D.T
5 Rodeo
6 The Witcher
7 Overall
8 The Hunter
9 Lts
10 Proxy Music

Label Links:-

http://www.tapeterecords.de/
https://www.facebook.com/tapeterecords
https://twitter.com/tapete
https://www.youtube.com/user/tapeterecords/videos

Have a Listen:-

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