Geri Halliwell on Crack…
and Mushrooms, Pregnant With Bees
Knifing’s, melancholy optimism, Tori Amos and bees.
Jim the Slovak steps into electronic artist Loz Koleszko’s twisted little world.
and Mushrooms, Pregnant With Bees
Knifing’s, melancholy optimism, Tori Amos and bees.
Jim the Slovak steps into electronic artist Loz Koleszko’s twisted little world.
Sitting in the graveyard emptiness of the Rat and Parrot in Bath, Loz Koleszko slumps back into his seat and muses on one of his favourite subjects. ‘Well, I’m quite fond of being knifed. Have you ever been stabbed before?’, he purrs with an air of quiet enthusiasm. ‘It was becoming something of a problem actually but I’ve sought help. It’s a 12-step thing. Knife wounds anonymous. How about yourself? You look like more of a drowning kind of guy to me.’ This could be interesting.
Koleszko has come a long way, beginning his musical career in the Derby andNottingham region, emerging first as a key member of Derby based band Reserpine Blue. Constant gigging resulted in growing support, eventually culminating in talks with Indie label Fortuna Pop. The band hopes were dashed however, when the deal failed to materialise and tensions within the band increased. Eventually they split and Koleszko disappeared, ending nearly all communication with his close friends.
Very little is known of Koleszko’s movements through that period until his emergence in Bristol two years ago. He supposedly worked the graveyard shift as a cleaner at a local Accident and Emergency department ‘cleaning up blood and vomit’ according to Reserpine Blue keyboard player Tom Ainsley. This perhaps contributed to his slightly worrying obsession with hospitals and medical paraphernalia. At some point in 2000, Koleszko is said to have had a substantial stint in hospital himself due to a long-standing stomach complaint. There was, however much speculation that the causes of his hospitalisation were down to the state of his mental rather than physical health.
Koleszko materialised again in September 2001 to undertake a Music Technology degree in Bristol with a vow never to let anyone listen to his music again.
By March 2002, he had been signed to new local label 1 Man Army Records and had a debut EP release on the cards. Fact 1: Loz Koleszko often contradicts himself.
That debut release has emerged as ‘The Monkeys Danced Like Cuboids’ an EP full of colourful rhythmic journeys and a floating yet uneasy ambience. The beauty of his sonic orchestrations is ripped apart by his twisted beat programming, satisfying even the most insatiable beat-junkie. The EP takes you through a host of emotions sounding melancholic yet optimistic, lifting you up from the progressively building beat of ‘Piblokto’, hammering you back down with beats and digital noise and then relieving you with the grand musical sigh that is the sampled porn and piano end track ‘The T Stands For The’.
Koleszko now speaks fondly of ‘Monkeys’ and for the first time in his career seems content with the way his work and life is heading. Sipping on his pint, he considers the role of label 1 Man Army Records. ‘Promoting good music, that’s all. There’s a lot of shit around masquerading as art, but it means nothing. It has no point. You get nothing from it and you have to give nothing to listen to it. Music, especially electronic music, seems to have lost its sense of humour. It isn’t fun to listen to anymore, it has no personality. Hopefully 1 Man Army will put that back into music.’
Speaking to Koleszko, I get the feeling that this may be possible yet when I inform him of my enjoyment at the EP launch night back in February, he simply grins. I ask him to describe his live set in no more than ten words, he accepts the challenge. ‘Like Geri Halliwell on crack... and mushrooms... pregnant with bees.’
Recent live shows have seen a fan-base slowly grow, with a local buzz now revolving around ‘Epoch’, 1 Man Army Record’s live night. The Koleszko live experience violates brooding atmospherics, digital distortions and angular post-techno with a childlike twisted humour. As complex beats destroy his cartoonish melodies, preachers wax lyrical about Satanists and children swear and curse. Crowds are inexplicably drawn into his dirty little psyche. After insisting a young female who has just entered the room obviously finds me irresistible, the conversation turns to what influences him in his production. ‘Falling down stairs, Public Enemy and pianos.’ he replies stroking his chin in his typical goading way. As with everything he does it’s hard to tell whether he is serious or simply having a massive joke at our expense.
His current musical tastes are explained in the same tongue-in-cheek fashion, ‘Right now the CD’s at the top of the pile are Flooglebinder, The Moog Cookbook Plays The Classic Rock Hits, the Zongamin album, Justified by Justin Timberlake and The Golden Age of the Grotesque by Marilyn Manson’. No matter how ludicrous this list sounds, you can’t help but believe him and find it strangely intriguing.
‘I’ll tell who is amazing,’ he interrupts my next question, ‘Tori Amos. She is fantastic. Her songs are beautiful, she is beautiful. There’s nothing bad I could say about her. Live, she just loses it, she’s in her own little world and nothing else seems to exist to her at that moment. She’s great. I should probably stop talking about her now because otherwise we may be here for a very long time.’
So what’s next for ‘the new face of electronica’? ‘Well, I can’t really do much until I finish my degree. I’m living in Bath at the moment but hopefully I’ll get to London after uni. Then it’ll be lots of gigging... and schmoozing... and world domination. It’s the only place to go if you really want to get anywhere in music. I’ve got some big plans.’
It is here that he perks up, getting quite animated when explaining how his new material is going, a sly grin spreads across his face. ‘I’ve done an album of ambient stuff which is almost finished. Hopefully it will be released soon; it just needs mixing and a finalised track list. I’m also working on a cover of ‘Killer’ by Seal, which I would like to do something with, if he’s happy about it anyway. As for a follow up to the EP (Monkeys), I’ve probably got a couple of albums worth of material together since, but it’s all over the place... in terms of sound anyway. I’m just waiting for a common denominator to emerge and thread it all together.’
Koleszko’s next line of proposed work comes as less of a surprise, ‘I’d also like to do the soundtrack to a porn film, so if there are any porn peddlers reading this get in touch. You know it makes sense.’
At this point Koleszko begins to look uneasy and looks over at the bar before slowly edging off his seat. ‘Before you leave could you sell yourself to the readers in eight words?’ I ask. He thinks for a second before he replies ‘Loz Koleszko for sale. Unwanted gift, ten pounds.’ With that he swaggers off, no thanks, no goodbye, nothing, that’s it, I guess this interview is over. Koleszko is a fresh personality on the electronica scene, a mood swing antisocial, who has a sense of humour and is, despite popular opinion, willing to talk to anyone and everyone. But only on his own terms, always on his own terms.
This interview was taken from Dead Penguins Magazine.
http://deadpenguins.co.uk/tuneloz.htm
Koleszko has come a long way, beginning his musical career in the Derby andNottingham region, emerging first as a key member of Derby based band Reserpine Blue. Constant gigging resulted in growing support, eventually culminating in talks with Indie label Fortuna Pop. The band hopes were dashed however, when the deal failed to materialise and tensions within the band increased. Eventually they split and Koleszko disappeared, ending nearly all communication with his close friends.
Very little is known of Koleszko’s movements through that period until his emergence in Bristol two years ago. He supposedly worked the graveyard shift as a cleaner at a local Accident and Emergency department ‘cleaning up blood and vomit’ according to Reserpine Blue keyboard player Tom Ainsley. This perhaps contributed to his slightly worrying obsession with hospitals and medical paraphernalia. At some point in 2000, Koleszko is said to have had a substantial stint in hospital himself due to a long-standing stomach complaint. There was, however much speculation that the causes of his hospitalisation were down to the state of his mental rather than physical health.
Koleszko materialised again in September 2001 to undertake a Music Technology degree in Bristol with a vow never to let anyone listen to his music again.
By March 2002, he had been signed to new local label 1 Man Army Records and had a debut EP release on the cards. Fact 1: Loz Koleszko often contradicts himself.
That debut release has emerged as ‘The Monkeys Danced Like Cuboids’ an EP full of colourful rhythmic journeys and a floating yet uneasy ambience. The beauty of his sonic orchestrations is ripped apart by his twisted beat programming, satisfying even the most insatiable beat-junkie. The EP takes you through a host of emotions sounding melancholic yet optimistic, lifting you up from the progressively building beat of ‘Piblokto’, hammering you back down with beats and digital noise and then relieving you with the grand musical sigh that is the sampled porn and piano end track ‘The T Stands For The’.
Koleszko now speaks fondly of ‘Monkeys’ and for the first time in his career seems content with the way his work and life is heading. Sipping on his pint, he considers the role of label 1 Man Army Records. ‘Promoting good music, that’s all. There’s a lot of shit around masquerading as art, but it means nothing. It has no point. You get nothing from it and you have to give nothing to listen to it. Music, especially electronic music, seems to have lost its sense of humour. It isn’t fun to listen to anymore, it has no personality. Hopefully 1 Man Army will put that back into music.’
Speaking to Koleszko, I get the feeling that this may be possible yet when I inform him of my enjoyment at the EP launch night back in February, he simply grins. I ask him to describe his live set in no more than ten words, he accepts the challenge. ‘Like Geri Halliwell on crack... and mushrooms... pregnant with bees.’
Recent live shows have seen a fan-base slowly grow, with a local buzz now revolving around ‘Epoch’, 1 Man Army Record’s live night. The Koleszko live experience violates brooding atmospherics, digital distortions and angular post-techno with a childlike twisted humour. As complex beats destroy his cartoonish melodies, preachers wax lyrical about Satanists and children swear and curse. Crowds are inexplicably drawn into his dirty little psyche. After insisting a young female who has just entered the room obviously finds me irresistible, the conversation turns to what influences him in his production. ‘Falling down stairs, Public Enemy and pianos.’ he replies stroking his chin in his typical goading way. As with everything he does it’s hard to tell whether he is serious or simply having a massive joke at our expense.
His current musical tastes are explained in the same tongue-in-cheek fashion, ‘Right now the CD’s at the top of the pile are Flooglebinder, The Moog Cookbook Plays The Classic Rock Hits, the Zongamin album, Justified by Justin Timberlake and The Golden Age of the Grotesque by Marilyn Manson’. No matter how ludicrous this list sounds, you can’t help but believe him and find it strangely intriguing.
‘I’ll tell who is amazing,’ he interrupts my next question, ‘Tori Amos. She is fantastic. Her songs are beautiful, she is beautiful. There’s nothing bad I could say about her. Live, she just loses it, she’s in her own little world and nothing else seems to exist to her at that moment. She’s great. I should probably stop talking about her now because otherwise we may be here for a very long time.’
So what’s next for ‘the new face of electronica’? ‘Well, I can’t really do much until I finish my degree. I’m living in Bath at the moment but hopefully I’ll get to London after uni. Then it’ll be lots of gigging... and schmoozing... and world domination. It’s the only place to go if you really want to get anywhere in music. I’ve got some big plans.’
It is here that he perks up, getting quite animated when explaining how his new material is going, a sly grin spreads across his face. ‘I’ve done an album of ambient stuff which is almost finished. Hopefully it will be released soon; it just needs mixing and a finalised track list. I’m also working on a cover of ‘Killer’ by Seal, which I would like to do something with, if he’s happy about it anyway. As for a follow up to the EP (Monkeys), I’ve probably got a couple of albums worth of material together since, but it’s all over the place... in terms of sound anyway. I’m just waiting for a common denominator to emerge and thread it all together.’
Koleszko’s next line of proposed work comes as less of a surprise, ‘I’d also like to do the soundtrack to a porn film, so if there are any porn peddlers reading this get in touch. You know it makes sense.’
At this point Koleszko begins to look uneasy and looks over at the bar before slowly edging off his seat. ‘Before you leave could you sell yourself to the readers in eight words?’ I ask. He thinks for a second before he replies ‘Loz Koleszko for sale. Unwanted gift, ten pounds.’ With that he swaggers off, no thanks, no goodbye, nothing, that’s it, I guess this interview is over. Koleszko is a fresh personality on the electronica scene, a mood swing antisocial, who has a sense of humour and is, despite popular opinion, willing to talk to anyone and everyone. But only on his own terms, always on his own terms.
This interview was taken from Dead Penguins Magazine.
http://deadpenguins.co.uk/tuneloz.htm
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