We have been in touch with Dana Dramowicz from the burgeoning Polish dubstep/bass label Concrete Cut almost from the label’s inception. Purveyors of electronic sounds oscillating around the 130-140bpm mark, Concrete Cut has released almost ten records in less than a year. Operating from Warsaw, the label has spearheaded the Polish bass/dance boom of the last year. Celebrating its first anniversary the label released a free to download remix EP HDD: The remixes.
What was the momentum that lead you to set up Concrete Cut?
At the time we started Concrete Cut, we never dreamed that one year later we’d be nine releases into the thing, and so involved in the emerging Polish club scene. The reason we started was simple - our friend (Liquid Molly) had some great dubstep tunes, and we figured we’d give him a hand getting it out to the public. We had no idea what we were doing, but we didn’t care and just had fun with it. We didn’t start thinking about actually expanding our label with other artists until much later.
Liquid Molly-Flying Octopus by Liquid Molly
Can you tell us something about your background?
Mateusz and I both have musical backgrounds, and we both get restless easily - that’s why our musical histories can seem pretty funny to some people. I have a history with classical music (violin) and Mateusz grew up rocking out on guitar. In fact we met when we started playing together in a post-rock band called New Century Classics, though we left them a few years later to pursue our newly found love of dubstep, techno, and a desire to make music as a duo. Now we both DJ and produce music together as Shoju, which we hope to start performing a live act soon.
We hear a certain thoroughness of production on every Concrete Cut release. You define your sound via BPM - how would you describe the kind of music you want to release ?
We never went about “defining” a Concrete Cut sound (if anything we were only describing it) - everything evolves day-by-day and really quite naturally. As you can hear by our first Liquid Molly releases, we were totally into dubstep back then, but as we started to discover all this amazing Polish talent around us, experimenting with all types of bass and electronic music, we couldn’t wait to release them too. We try to hold a very high standard with our releases, as I believe this is key to cultivating a strong music scene. In the past there was way too much of friends patting each other on the back for making music that was “good… for a Polish track”. This kind of thinking gets you nowhere - our aim is to force Polish producers to think globally, up their game, and to consider themselves competition for international artists. They just have to believe it’s possible - and I think we’ve proven that it totally is. As for BPM - I’m sure that will change, and our sound will expand and evolve.
Tom Encore
Tom Encore - Spellbound (ptr1 remix) by Concrete Cut
I am so excited about how the scene has evolved, even in just the last year. Polish producers are getting respect around the world, and I’m pretty sure Poland is one of the most exciting creative forces in emerging club music internationally right now (I might be deluding myself a tad… haha). But most of all, it seems that Polish producers and DJs are starting to get real respect in their own country. It might seem hard to believe that it was ever a problem, but many regular Polish folks are very quick to judge (unreasonably harshly) local talent and I think it will be a big step forward when Poland learns to embrace Poland, on the same level they embrace foreign artists.
THINK & HOAX - MIXED SIGNALS by Concrete Cut
Can you namesdrop other Polish producers and/or labels whose work you respect ?
There are two labels in Poland that I really respect, one is New Moon, releasing Polish artists Think (also on Concrete Cut) and Hatti Vatti with remixes and collabos with the likes of Jack Sparrow and Indigo. U Know Me Records, part of the seminal JuNouMi collective, have in the last year started releasing hip-hop informed, abstract sounds of all sorts with artists such as Teielte, Lower Entrance, and Kixnare. These labels probably get more respect than we do because they release vinyl and we are only lowly digital people :) All of the promoters who have risked tons of cash (and frequently lost tons of cash) to invite all the amazing DJs and artists to play in Poland deserve equal props too, for creating an atmosphere where our style of music is starting to get real recognition and appreciation by regular folks. It’s a really important step.
PTR1
ptr1 - Above the Structures EP sampler by Concrete Cut
Would you say there is something specific about Polish producers as compared to the rest of the world in terms of sound, composition, harmony, mood, etc?
I wouldn’t say there is any specific “Polish sound”, though there is certainly a type of bassy, house sound that the scene of Supra1, Zeppy Zep, Sentel, and The Phantom have created. I think one thing that sets Polish artists apart these days is how evidently confident they are getting, and they make no apologies for their experimentations. I love that.
Sentel
SENTEL - WIDOW by Concrete Cut
With the PL urban/uk funky/dubstep scene and also the stuff you release, is Polish dance oriented electronics riding high?
Our future plans tend to change day by day as our moods dictate. Our favourite pastime is coming up with crazy ideas, so who knows what will happen. I’d love to release at least one vinyl this year, but I can’t say from who right now. We have a lot of really amazing music coming up, from both artists we have already released, and new up-and-coming producers (such as Deam who featured on our anniversary EP). And I really can’t wait for the world to hear it!
