- This year the Polish city of Łódź witnessed the launch of a new underground festival: Domoffon. The programming catered to lovers of punk, techno and rap, with the action spread over a 20-hour period at OFF Piotrkowska, a former cotton factory that's now a hub for fashion shops, clubs and art spaces.
The first music I saw was The Fall, one of the festival's headlining acts. Mark E. Smith performed drunk and dressed in a suit while his wife, Elena Poulou, played keys with a handbag casually hanging from her shoulder. Their show was intentionally reckless—you could almost feel the contempt emanating from the stage.
Next, I ventured into the OFF Gallery, which was heavy with smoke in anticipation of Syny. The Polish rap duo have been making waves recently, fusing local, low-brow hip-hop with DJ Screw-style Memphis rap. Veteran producer 1988 threw down beats for Piernikowski, who spat rhymes while bounding across the stage.
After that I took a break for a burger and a beer, which were easy to find thanks to the abundance of restaurants and cafes surrounding the venue. Once replenished, I returned to OFF Gallery to see Polish conceptual artist Wojciech Bąkowski, whose music is a weird mix of vaporwave and spoken word. He only needed a microphone and a mixer to convey his sad and isolated sound. On a vast screen behind him, lyrics appeared in white against a red background.
Before Bąkowski was done I nipped out to see Kazula, a local hero and former member of the duo Viadrina. His solo set of house and techno got the dance floor moving, and nicely set the stage for the night's other attraction, Helena Hauff. From the off the Golden Pudel resident was surrounded by dancers who pushed into the area around the DJ booth—after a few seconds it looked like a Boiler Room session. Her two-hour set included music from London EBM duo Broken Arrows and Gesloten Cirkel's "Vader," and swerved through what could have been Minimal Wave records and vintage Detroit electro. Despite the sweaty conditions, she kept her cool and took us on a truly stellar trip with a wide smile on her face.
The last act I saw was Jacek Sienkiewicz. The Warsaw-based techno artist started his lengthy performance with a live set full of clicks and spacious atmospheres, possibly made up of field recordings he'd gathered in the Polish mountains with Max Loderbauer for their album Ridges. Although the Varsovian’s live performance was meticulous, I found his DJ set afterwards a little tedious and static. Despite this modest finale, Domoffon holds promise to become an influential event showcasing adventurous Polish artists.