FOQL

FOQL is the project of Justyna Banaszczyk, a Polish artist who crafts heavy, elegant and hypnotic music that stands somewhere between minimal synth, darker and more industrialised fringes of techno and coldwave/post-punk influences. Detaching herself from the occasional boredom of techno, she also employs the best elements of the genre to shape her own unique sound – one that is as danceable as it is sonically adventurous and atmospheric. Wavy synths and analog rhythmic patterns float into dense atmospheric soundscapes or become immersed in lo-fi noise shards or melancholic soundscapes. The minimal synth sensibility is even more pronounced in her project Marburg. Her recent LP Lower Your Expectations released on Always Human Tapes forefronts these sensibilities. Her association with such labels as Enfant Terrible, Pointless Geometry and New York Haunted also illustrates the vast scope of her activities. Hers is undoubtedly one of the most exciting names coming from Poland’s darker underground spheres. Justyna also maintains the Trzecia Fala online community and is part of the Oramics project, which aims to empower women in the electronic music scene.

STM 234 showcases the colorful nature of Polish underground music with works spanning from 1984 to 2017. Genre-wise it ranges from coldwave to leftfield hip-hop to contemporary academic music (e.g. the dreamy radiophonic introductory piece by Eugeniusz Rudnik). Thus we hear artists as diverse as kosmische/dream folk magicians Księżyc or weird italo/rap fusion masters Amiga. Such eclecticism illustrates the often overlooked beauty and richness of the Polish experimental scene in its past and present form. The overall mood of the mix is intense, dynamic, constantly shifting and skillfully guiding the listener across a vast spectrum of aesthetics and atmospheres. In a similar way to her own music, the tracks Justyna cherry-picked for this compilation operate in the abstract area between genres. Due to its futuristic elegance, occasional sharp-edge twists and colorful sound palette, the mix reminds Wyndham Lewis’ painting Workshop.

In the records

On October 28, 2017 FOQL will perform at the legendary XI20 in Vilnius, our own Paulius and Tadas will also join behind the decks.