Recognition Techno | Minimal | Tech-House 5 Items

Label cover.

The sun, kissing the forehead through half-closed blinds; the night, coming uninvited through a windowpane like a damp, sticky shroud. Light and darkness, solid foundations and elusive glimpses of parallel realities. Armies of digital insects - taken aback by warmth of one brave heart, 90s chillout rooms updated for todays vast and desolated space full of fragile souls desperate in their look for any kind of communion; “artificial intelligence” after three decades of wandering, trying to finally find a helping hand, solace and peace. Shimmer and shine. Welcome to “Pristine”, a new recording from the mind of Jacek Sienkiewicz. For the past years Jacek has been escaping his image of relentless producer and performer of driving, multi-layered club music. His most recent works include deep ambient records, abstract electro-acoustic experiments, and super smart, stripped-down yet incredibly complex contemporary electronica. The last few records, mostly on his own label Recognition include albums with Max Loderbauer and Atom™, reinterpretations of works by Bogdan Mazurek of the legendary Polish Radio Experimental Studio, scores for radio plays and last year’s massively overlooked “Krasz”, music for theatrical performance of Ballard’s/Cronenberg’s “Crash”. “Pristine”, a labour of love, is at times abstract and atonal, at times breathtakingly beautiful and tender.

8 tracks written and performed in Jacek’s unmistakable, singular style, and covering many grounds - abstract, electronic forms, neo-classical wonders, super tight compositions and freeform, jazz-like improvisations and stripped-down rhythms. Different moods, machine-translated and reverseengineered in a variety of recording locations, make up this exceptional record. Shimmer and shine, immerse and enjoy.

The “Tumult Hands” duet is made by Jacek Sienkiewicz and Jerzy Przezdziecki - the producers whose composition has - to a large extent- defined the Polish techno music. Sienkiewicz - as early as Recognition - started his adventure with music in the late 1990s. Subsequent records, already under his own name, were released, among others, at Cocoon Records, Trapez, Klang Elektronik and WMFRec. Przezdziecki started publishing a little later. Over the last two decades, he has been presenting various types of electronic music, among others, as Praecox, Epi Centrum and Jurek Przezdziecki. “Tumult Hands” has two EPs on its account – “Tumult Hands EP” (2014) and “Tropic Factory” (2016). Both were published by Recognition. So a full record was a matter of time. The album titled: “th” (Recognition, 2022) has been prepared for many years. The repertoire was created mainly out of improvisation. As artists themselves say, “it is the result of discovering and accepting a chance event.” For both producers, close contact with instruments was important during their composition; the type of interaction between the maker and an electronic device. Individual works have been maturing for a long time. Paradoxically - the lapse of time did not cause them to be ageing but vice versa - allowed them to mature and gain natural weight. “th” brings very diverse music. In part, it is the repayment of the debt that Sienkiewicz and Przezdziecki incurred towards the most creative techno period, that is, the 90s of the 20th century. The lovers of experimental dance music from before the quarter of the century will easily capture in the duet’s themes the art of Cristian Vogel, producers known from the tin series of Chain Reaction record company or early recordings of Richie Hawtin (Plastikman, F.U.S.E.). This is a very similar, non-standard approach to sound structure and an original approach to rhythmic structures. Minimalist melodies, accompanying e.g. the opening of the “enter TH” or “pow” set, contribute to the composition an element of some sublimity and metaphysical anxiety. Obviously, it is still the dance music but the duet - to some extent by abandoning the club functionality (understood in the techno convention) - has given its music a definitely sophisticated, artistic elegance. Publishing cooperation between such important makers, as well as high quality of recordings, leads us to see “th” as something more than just another techno record. It is an event and an electronic adventure that all lovers looking for dance music will appreciate.

Most recently Jacek Sienkiewicz had been mainly preoccupied with with experimental music - his explorations of outer limits of sound resulted in 3 albums released already in 2019, with two more to follow by the end of the year. So, It was good and perhaps refreshing to hear his surprising return to the dancefloor with “Lightin", an unexpected Summer afterparty anthem released digitally in June. By popular demand, it’s now released on vinyl in its full, 11+ minutes glory. Lightweight, gentle and tuneful, propelled by a syncopated rhythm, it rolls like a steam engine taking you to your favourite holiday destination. Side B brings us another new track - “Tracker” is definitely built for clubs and designed for peak time moments, be it in a cramped, dark basement or a big room at a festival. This EP is Jacek’s first new club-oriented record on his Recognition label since 2016’s “Hideland” - and a teaser for an all-new album, due next year.

Recognition opens up its archives and invites to a futuristic sentimental journey with respective stages set by the records 9702 (CD version) and 9799 (four exclusive tracks on a vinyl EP). Four tracks from single come from the time of Jacek Sienkiewicz’s first record (Recognition CD). These earliest recordings openly refer to a formula and rhythmical density of Detroit Techno, although end result of this confrontation turns out to be surprisingly “separate” and individualistic. In turn, 9702 album contains a set of varied tracks recorded withing five years after Warsaw label’s launch and its first release. Extended compositions and short improvised sound notes resemble eccentric propositions of such labels as (early) Warp or Rephlex, standing next to melancholy-saturated minimalistic techno and abstract collage structures which prove out to share many characteristics of clicks’n'cuts movement of the second half of the 1990s. Usage of human voice samples is an outstanding feature of many of these archive materials. Entirety of mastered-anew content encompassing both records, contains all principal trademarks which distinguish Jacek Sienkiewicz’s creations an his label Recognition - utmost care about depth of sound sphere, experimental inclinations and focus on complex motoric aspect of the rhythmical base. This collection of music from Recognition’s first five years, surprising for its freshness and sheer impetus, is a must for all fans of Jacek Sienkiewicz and Polish electronic music of the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. In connection with publication of yet-unheard tracks, Jacek shares another slice of yet-unknown artistic vision, connecting sound with other media such as image, light and movement. RECOGNITION XX - audio-video performance - comes out in summer as a result of this retrospective look.