Skalpel - Konfusion
Released Nov. 1, 2005
on Ninja Tune
These two deejays dissect and reassemble sounds from old Polish jazz records with the precision of surgeons. The carefully-crafted, downtempo Skalpel songs fit in perfectly with the aesthetic of the Ninja Tune collective.
While many eastern European bands try to emulate Western styles, Skalpel’s Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo work instead within the framework of their native country and its history to produce a more unique sound.
It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to hear in a smoke-filled, dimly-lit club. It’s the sound of a bygone era reinterpreted through the ears of two audiophiles — an era when musicians held on to artistic freedom despite communist pressures.
In an interview with Pixelsurgeon, Cichy said that they did not start out to be ambassadors for Polish music and culture, but they could sense that it was happening. “We didn’t plan to be, but now we know that we are,” Pudlo added.
One thing mentioned in the album’s press release holds true for the best in sample-based music:
…this is a record brimming with ideas, with atmosphere, with the kind of intelligent cut and paste that makes it an artform instead of a form of theft.The album comes with a bonus disc of remixes of tracks from the duo’s debut Ninja Tune release.