Ch-ch-ching – Dom EP – dance music for kill-joys
Published October, 2012
by Easterndaze
It’s hard to imagine a better initial encounter with a band than a half secret gig taking place on a beach late early summer’s night. At that time (21th May 2012, around midnight) Ch-ch-ching’s music created the sonic backdrop to an event focused on constructing Chinese lanterns and sending them to the sky. There was a large table full of synthetizers, cables and blinking screens manipulated by a dark figure cloaked in a hood (Paweł Trzciński, Ch-ch-ch itself), and on the other hand a bunch of strangers cheering to manage the lanterns. At first they were kept by children and adults in a jealous grip, then – finally set free – levitating slowly high into the night sky.
It’s easy to imagine that only a mere few were interested in the music at the time. Sounds were just an addition to a much more joyous and socializing activity. But those who weren’t paying much attention to the Ch-ch-ching back then, have now an excellent opportunity to make amends. Dom EP is almost like that night with the Chinese lanterns: hazy beats, muddy lo-fi scraps buried in the mix, lots of static noise and a heavy electro with some unpretentious vocals telling stories about anything in particular. And – of course – a slight touch of melancholy which grips the listener right from the surrealistic colours of the cover art. It’s really a handful blend of themes but on the other hand Dom EP is slightly disappointing: where is all that tropicalia announced in the press pack? Where are the catchy yet fragile melodies which one could expect from a term “song-writing”?
So don’t expect too much, it’s just a nice EP: a pile of dreamy rhythms for those who are frightened by an agressive attitude of Crystal Castles and for those who are getting shy during some parts of Swim by Dan Snaith (Caribou). Remember Peaking Lights? Exactly. Ch-ch-ching is a light version of the famous authors of 936. Electro but with a delicate touch of dub and sampledelia. There is a paradoxical tag – „dance music for kill-joys” – which seems to be accurate for an electro one-man band whose artistic venture varies from remixing Chaz Bundick (here), to creating his own vision of hip hop. What could we expect from an upcoming LP? Well, probably just the longer and richer reprise of this lo-fi electro nostalgia but who knows for sure? Maybe Ch-ch-ching is as unpredictable as the flight of Chinese lanterns back on 21th May?
by Filip Szałasek, curator of this great music blog.