HYPR105 BAD ZU - BAD LUCK 
Bandcamp: badzu.bandcamp.com/album/bad-luck

Bad Zu, now an international multimedia band, is releasing their third album on Hyperboloid, their first in four years. Three years in the making, "Bad Luck" reflects the uncertain and vulnerable times we live in right now. "Bad Luck" represents the rollercoaster of emotions that was experienced by all of us in the last three years, not only the group led by Philipp Alexandrov. There's a place for hope in a track called "Safe Place" and a place for loss in "Death Around the Corner." The album was finishing on the run — in the buses, gas stations, and motels — and it shows in its constantly changing, always moving sound representing vitality and chaos.

Attention to detail in the sound of "Bad Luck" is astounding; as Alexandrov says about the approach to making the album, "It helped us rethink the importance of music to ourselves." For years, Bad Zu was known for its energetic and astonishing performances, and you can feel their live vibe completely in "Siren Vogue" thanks to the recordings of the crowd. There's also the tribute to the night club Mutabor on the eponymous track: the dark rhythms with a take on tribal music fit the name perfectly. As always with Bad Zu, many worldwide rhythms and melodies don't dwell on any particular ethnic sound: that sophisticated approach matches the universal themes of "Bad Luck." Many filtered and sliced vocal parts create a sense of dialogue with a listener and get the feeling of a deep dive into the Bad Zu world, more considered than ever.

Music - Philipp Alexandrov
Drums - Alexander Malyshev
Mixing Mastering - iBenji
Art - Kitasavi
Video - Alexey Voronov

BAD LUCK

bandcamp

BAD ZU - PRAY WITH ME

Not your run-of-the-mill working-class Eastern European non-binary DJ. The producer, vocalist, but also visual and digital artist strives for innovative sound design and visceral body response, despite (or maybe coupled with) raw emotion that permeates their musical output. They’re a proud member of the Ciężki Brokat crew (with whom they run the annual Warsaw Pride official afterparty), co-creator of Radio Kapitał, Polish ambassador for Keychange and SHAPE Platform 2021 resident.

Their own music has morphed several times throughout the last 15 years – from industrial or purely synthetic timbres, through polyphonic singing with Pleśni to a perplexing fusion of rhythmically and sonically jagged compositions, bass-heavy club tracks on their EPs, 'Gusła (Human Rites)' on Tańce, a limited vinyl release on London-based 51-53 Records, 'Doolska' and the latest, more experimental 'Lamenty' EP.

They presented their music during numerous festivals (Unsound, CTM, Schiev, Up To Date, Tauron Nowa Muzyka, Les Siestes Electroniques, Audioriver) and an assortment of clubs (including the legendary Berghain) in Poland and abroad (Berlin, London, Prague, Oslo, Copenhagen, Ljubljana). They remixed tracks by Kamp and Baasch, recorded mixes for Resident Advisor, DJ Mag, HӦR and CRACK, composed and created impromptu live music for interactive theatre plays: Method of National Constellations, quadraphonic sound for Jawić się, music for a Women’s Strike street theatre Manifesta and original score for Ideologix, a US-written and directed queer opera.

In the club their seventeen-year experience of supporting queer, anti-fascist and underground scenes results in an almost annoyingly disparate selection of the most forward-thinking sound offered by today’s scene. In their series of DJ-sets and club nights they blend unusual rhythmic patterns kicked up a notch with their improvised vocals.

BAD ZU - PRAY WITH ME

Hyperboloid Records