- Breezy portside dub inspired by the Polish city of Szczecin.
- Located much closer to Berlin than to Poland's capital Warsaw, Szczecin is a unique city. It was part of Germany right up until the end of World War II. As the biggest city in Poland's so-called Recovered Territories after 1945, it lured people from all over the country and, as a port city—although not located by the sea, as anyone from Szczecin will tell you—it enjoyed a little more liberty than the rest of communist Poland. This mix created a one-of-a-kind underground music scene that flourished in its fullest in the early '90s.
Dynasonic is a new(ish) band formed by seasoned musicians from this scene. Mateusz Rychlicki also drums in Kristen, a group that specializes in meditative and minimalist post-rock. Bassist Adam Sołtysik founded Pogodno, one of the most important alternative bands from the city, while Marcin Rosiński is the owner of experimental tape label Dym Recordings and moonlights as the drone artist Wrong Dials.
Dynasonic call their music "dubwave." They take the genre's groove and sense of space and then build on it with something completely different—heavy, yet airy. Minimalist, but full of nuance. The band cautiously carve tracks that bend time. Clocking in at a little more than half an hour, this self-titled EP has the intensity and range of an all-night rave, especially "EPDM," which starts with a straightforward, irresistible techno beat and noisy, industrial electronics. The other three are more subtle and slow-paced, with field recordings of Szczecin seamlessly woven into the sonic fabric. Birds, sirens, the flow of the Odra river, howls of wind, business of a shipyard and port—it’s all there, making the music more lively, fuller and more complex.
Rychlicki’s drumming is a bright point of the EP. Using a limited drum set—snare, kick and two cymbals—he has a quiet virtuosity similar to Greg Saunier of Deerhoof. This nonchalant brilliance contrasts the simple but solid basslines. All the space in between is occupied by Rosiński, who uses reverb, oscillators and echoes to give this otherwise heavy music air and breath or, conversely, stack it with sounds like in the second half of "POLDI" to almost claustrophobic effect. Dynasonic take dub and transform it into something of their own—nocturnal, captivating, industrial and organic. It's hypnotizing and creative, the style and sound fully rooted in their hometown cityscape and urban atmosphere.
Tracklist01. Delight
02. Dubn
03. Poldi
04. EPDM