Mikolaj Krencik, alias Miko, apart from his main project ‘Balagany Na Bani’ hip-hop collective, during the last year has also revealed himself as a great editor as well as a re-mixer in the juke/footwork world. After Symbiotic Sounds he was considered one of the most promising Polish producers promoting juke/footwork and his versions of hits like Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe, I'm In It or Bonfire showed the range of musical arsenal at his disposal. For majority of listeners the fundamental question was when his first EP would be released. After a long period of waiting Polish Juke would like to present the first debut material by Miko 'Do They Know Ya'. 

'Do They Know Ya' brings four original tracks, personal variations on footwork/juke. One should add they are quite surprising variations, which use the illustrative, space and ambient music, evoking emotions, interacting with the listener, attracting him/her. Footwork stays in the background and complements the whole making the basis for the sound, however, sometimes switches to the foreground speeding up the action a bit. 

'Do They Know Ya' is a clear-cut miniature, consistently and consciously prepared. The tension builds up gradually with no intrusiveness or obviousness. What is left is the essence required to please the ear and move the body to the beat. 

Do They Know Ya EP

Peace Is A Problem

Goin' Down

Juicy Jukin'

Lux Familiar was one of the producers who made it to the first Ghosts Traxx compilation from the Polish Juke collective made up of enthusiasts inspired by Chicago footwork and juke from. So far the leading names associated with the 160 bpm tempo were mainly Symbiotic Sounds, Fidser, Musley, Miko and COMOC. Lux Familiar’s debut EP, 'Visionary', undoubtedly introduces his name to the group. 

The EP starts with ‘Dance Sucka’ track, which is organized around footwork-jungle groove and recurring ‘Dance sucka!’, ‘Move sucka!’ samples. As a result we are getting a ‘battle track’ in European style. 'U Wnt Mr', on the other hand, brings on sunny pulsating stretched around a crudely incised ‘more’ word. 'Let's Get Dirty' is heralding another change. One can detect a clear inspiration with DJ Rashad’s tracks, in which an ultra-energetic vibe gets mixed with a moment of warm breath and melancholy. The title track, ‘Visionary’, is kept in similar spirit – nervously jumping bass drum is soothed with a sudden change of tempo and hip-hop beat in the second part. The two final tracks, 'Sweet Fantasy' and 'Take Me', are a true show off from Lux Familiar. He manages to perfectly balance energy and emotions without getting banal about it. 

After COMOC’s dark and experimental ‘Action Canceled’ EP, Lux Familiar’s ‘Visionary’ is a completely new phenomenon - very descriptive, rich in melody and warm sounds. The EP can make Lux instantaneously one of the best-recognized and key characters of the local juke/footwork scene. 

Visionary EP

Lux Familiar - Sweet Fantasy

Lux Familiar - U Wnt Mr + Benncart

Lux Familiar - Dance Sucka

One can hardly come across nowadays a music label striving to promote some form of sound- imagery and narration. Dance music – short, intense and pleasure-oriented – is usually limited to a simple model of noise, limiters and compression – tiny details disappear in the sea of overload and one-dimensional quality. The new 'Danzig In Da Ghetto' EP by Rhythm Baboon is breaking this flat and predictable surface of music reality adding to it new dimensions. 

Following the peaceful intro, ‘First In Your Heart’ reminds opening credits in a film – speeds up rapidly breaking into the mind with these mad keyboard sounds. Tension and anxiety break into the foreground – we are in an unspecified place exposed to some short-lasting flashes. ‘It’s Time To P’ presents the full soundscape panorama. We are in the distant future. There are no familiar points of reference. One can only hear a distorted robotic „voice”, pulsating sirens and synthesizer-like fraying of the new metropolis. ‘Ain’t No Dance’ transfers us exactly into the centre of the ghost-city. We can see randomly spread bits and pieces of the foregone technology – silicon and grapheme, the debris of something that reminds buildings covered with layers of new and completely unknown to us materials. Aggressively sounding messages can be heard everywhere – the ground is shaking from a low frequency thumping echo. ‘Danzig In Da Ghetto’ stretches out the final scene before us. In the huge post-industrial space, in the wall cracks, we can see some sick choreography of shapes, quasi-machines and hybrid silhouettes made up of the pieces of fallen civilizations. It all happens as if unintentionally, on the wave of temporary energetic affirmation resembling a post-apocalyptic dance macabre (Totentanz) which at some point just freezes into stillness and quietness. 

Rhythm Baboon has created a coherent and complete music whole in a very evocative and picturesque way. One can find here elements of industrial, the sounds of the electronics of the 90s, sometimes it refers to Nightmares on Wax („Aftermath”, „Biofeedback”). The apparent contradictions of the structure elements make up the power of the image (its density). This narrative futurism reverses the possible interpretation direction – paradoxically the music seems to compliment imagination generating spontaneous after-images (psychographs) and thus involuntarily becomes a dream score. 

Danzig In Da Ghetto EP

Rhythm Baboon - Danzig In Da Ghetto

Rhythm Baboon - First In Your Heart

When Om Unit and Machinedrum started to experiment (pretty much at the same time) in 2011 with footwork/jungle fusion, nobody could have expected how versatile globally the results of their works were going to be. Initially the reactions were different. The edits of jungle and drum and bass classics by Om Unit, aka Philip D. Kick, were at first approached with caution and critisized by the genre purists. At that time not many recognised the potentials of juke/footwork nor knew what they actually were. That did not discourage producers from following the way indicated by Om Unit and Machinedrum, and experimenting with this dirty and coarse music from the Windy City giving it some European character. One of them is a Polish producer - Dubsknit - with his ‘Dedicated’ EP released in Polish Juke. 

‘Dedicated’ starts with some ambient smutches of ‘U don't’ bearing some distant resemblance to Nookie’s ‘Solstice’. The female ethereal vocal leads the way with some lines from the movie classic remake, ‘Solaris’, in the track’s latter part. Austerity of the means used is contrasted here with the subtleness of the meticulously constructed reality. Next track ‘Whatcha gonna do’ brings a change of mood. The sound of crackling vinyl and the escalating feeling of unidentified anxiety reminds of the well-known Burial’s works – for example in ‘Prayer’. Dubsknit, however, gives it another lilt founding it on the footwork/jungle pulsation. ‘Whoosh’ adds even more speed. Following the spacious and relaxing intro, a bass attack is caried out like massive perseids bombardment of the earth’s atmospheare. ‘So many plngs’ brings a relative moment of relief and time to breathe: the erratic flashes of grainy bass are transecting crystal multicoloured nebulas. 

‘Dedicated’ by Dubsknit is an ideally balanced whole in which an even tiny detail is heavily controlled. One can detect here the hint of Om Unit, Sepalcure’s or Ital Tek’s works, however not so explicit and only constituing a starting point for Dubsknit’s further searches. Because of it all, his voice is very suggestive and vivid, not avoiding emotionality and hence memorable. 

Dedicated EP

Dubsknit - Whoosh

Split Series is a new publishing branch of Polish Juke. Its main goal is a confrontation of two producers - a Polish Juke representative and representative of the widely understood international juke/footwork community. Another crucial task posed in this series is to generate a creative offensive between the producers, an offensive, which is to inspire and create new contexts. Each of the releases consists of two original tracks and their remixes. 

The first duo of producers, the opening of the series, are one of the most uncompromising creators moving at 160bpm rate. On the Polish side, there is COMOC - a still surprising and seeking, on the international one, there is a Japanese footwork scene representative - CRZKNY, whose tracks display characteristic clear and heavy sounding called Gorjuke. 

The dynamics of the original tracks as well as the remixes oscillates between CRZKNY’s aggressive beats and COMOC’s dynamic riposte. CRZKNY refers to the argument of force, which COMOC aims at turning into a sophisticated and effective response; at some points the intensity of Kenny’s dynamics gets broken down by COMOC in a contrapuntal way with some spatial hip-hop rhythmics. The Split’s multitude of events happen in a rapid sequence, and the strategies as well as choices of the producers change radically with every track in response to the opponent’s move.

Polish Juke Split Series 01

CRZKNY - Kisses

Comoc - Grind It (CRZKNY remix)

Comoc - Grind It

Available for FREE DOWNLOAD over the weekend! 3... 2... 1... GO!
→ https://polishjuke.bandcamp.com/album/footwitch-ep

Footwitch EP

Tribute to HWDJAZZ

Lk Yrz

Ping Shit

Livin Aqua

HUIU

We know where we're going

Available for FREE DOWNLOAD over the weekend! 3... 2... 1... GO!
→ polishjuke.bandcamp.com/album/footwitch-ep

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