Hailing from Warsaw, producer, DJ and vocalist Avtomat is a core part of Oramics and Ciężki Brokat, two collectives that focus on supporting women and LGBTQ artists from Central and Eastern Europe and creating safe spaces for queer ravers, respectively. 

Collectives like these have always been important in Poland, but now more so than ever. A recent statement from Poland's far right President Andrzej Duda laid bear his views towards the LGBTQIA+ community, fostering an even more hateful and violent environment than before for those living in the country.

This is nothing new though, these sentiments have been shamelessly echoed through the government for several years now, demonstrating how instrumental Ciężki Brokat and Oramics' work is. As well as championing these communities on the ground, last year in a bid to support queer Polish organisations and fracture these degrading far right ideals, Oramics released Total Solidarity, a mammoth compilation to raise money for Miłość Nie Wyklucza and Kampania Przeciw Homofobii.

As well as providing platforms and spaces for these communities, Avtomat has his fingers in many other pies. As a composer and producer he leads folktronica project Pleśni, matching traditional Slavic polyphonic singing with electronica, while on a weekly basis he teaches production and DJing at Instytut Dźwięku in the capital.

For this week's Wednesday Alternative mix he takes us on a full throttle ride through abrasive, vibrant and energetic electronics, from jungle to ghetto tech and deconstructed rhythms, and shines a light on several Polish and Eastern European producers. If you didn't already miss the club, now you most definitely will...

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Avtomat: The 'Wednesday Alternative' Mix

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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.

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As Oramics, we are a feminist artist platform created in 2017 aiming to support women, queer and non-binary people in the electronic music industry. 

Oramics is also dedicated to supporting regionally underrepresented artists by amplifying the voices from the eastern european electronic music scene and examining inequality within the industry. 

https://oramics.pl/ 

📧 Ideas, other inquiries, offers: oramicspl@gmail.com

Ransom Note is an online music, arts and culture magazine. We provide a home for readers and writers with boundless enthusiasm, esoteric knowledge, fierce opinions and impeccable taste.

With our core team immersed in all aspects of dance music, we publish news, articles, and interviews covering the greatest in innovative, underground culture from across the globe. We offer regular, exclusive music and mixtapes from our favourite artists, and publish features shining a light on everything from the freshest new artists to the untold tales from rave history.

Alongside this we offer musings on film, books, life, and art, generating some context and controversy as an antidote to the reheated PR that clogs up the internet. Our office is fuelled by Tunnock’s Bars, cat memes, hangovers and a ridiculous, never ending love for our culture.

We're always interested in getting new writers on board – feel free to get in touch if you’ve got a story to tell.

With love until the grave.

~  Soundscapes ~

~~ Mixed media Visual Artist - Vj - ~~~

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