To find out more information about our Sangoplasmo takeover featuring the likes of Lutto Lento, Heroiny (live), Michael Kupicz and Flip Lech head over to the session page here.
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There’s a lot of beauty in the physical music format. Vinyls and cassette players are still treasured, tangible items for many a music devotee.
Sangoplasmo Records is a Polish upstart dedicated to experimental music and the cassette tape. Established in 2011 by Lutto Lento – already heralded on the FTD label of BR’s Charles Drakeford – their output shows an appreciation for drone, ambient, field recordings, folk and soundscapes especially.
Their influences spiral off in a number of even more obtuse directions though. Cautiously digging through their back catalogue you’ll find odes to the beauty of nature, unidentified flying objects and people like Wilhelm Reich or Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Katapulto’s “Animalia” includes five recordings in six different languages about five animals, for instance. Some lysergic journey into sounds of the netherworld, haunting and weirdly comforting. Dreamy and introspective, yet slow and beautiful.
In recent releases, Sangoplasmo has detoured into more rhythm-based genres, incorporating the likes of techno into their arsenal. The songs are still weirdly wonderful, but now also celebrate the grainier, oddball crevices of rhythm-led music. The type of stuff that’s hazy enough for dreaming, yet somehow danceable too. Lutto Lento’s very own “Death Beam” nabs inspiration from the electromagnetic weapon invented by Nikola Tesla in the 1930s. It’s an exercise in random squelches and electronic hiccups, strangely witch house-like yet still acutely Sangoplasmo.
In order to better understand the label’s head space, Lutto – real name Lubomir Grzelak – gave us a rundown of his favourite cuts from the unusual, psychedelia-loving imprint.
Piotr Kurek “Edena”
Piotr Kurek, composer and multi-instrumentalist, is well-known as Pietnastka and as a part of the Suaves Figures duo. The songs are fantastically mysterious and filled with beautiful, fairy-like melodies and bizarre vocals.
Michał Kupicz “Bez Tytułu”
The man who has produced, mixed and mastered tons of great Polish bands. On his debut project Kupicz used samples of musicians he’d recorded to later transform them into a primitive, dark sound mass.
Lutto Lento “Duch Gór”
Label’s head honcho with a two-piece sound homage to the Polish and Czech mountain spirit of the Giant Mountains.
Zarasai “Griežta”
Lithuanian cellist Anton Lukoszevieze and Lithuanian composer Arturas Bumšteinas try to explore and fake the cultural heritage of Zarasai city.
Katapulto “Animalia”
Five recordings in six different languages about five animals.
Edward Sol “How Can I Sleep With These Voices In My Head?”
Edward recorded the sounds of thousands of frogs in Lychanka village, Ukraine. No edits, no layering at all, just a pure field recording about sex and desire.
The Phantom “MC1”
An unexpected and unusual piece of work compared to other recordings by The Phantom. The synth pieces are influenced by the film scores of Tangerine Dream, Michel Rubini and Pino Donaggio.
Well known for his retro-futurist electronic dance soundtracks, Parisi went on a holiday trip to Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park to create this.
Sultan Hagavik “8 Przepięknych Melodii”
Duo from Wroclaw using cassette decks as instruments. Cut-ups plus distorted fragments of familiar and totally unknown tracks.
