A new label for me, as well as a new band. Rope Worm is the label’s name, they are from Poland, and they’ve been releasing CDs and a CDR since 2023. All quite fresh. The first two releases were rereleases, but after that, they started putting out original and new material. Catalogue number #6 is for Mazut, a Polish group that has been featured in Vital Weekly several times before (1015, 1117, and 1186). Although the promo sheet mentions a short hiatus, I believe this is the reason it took 404 vital issues to return. Their previous releases are before my time at Vital, and Frans has reviewed all the previous ones. And all of those were on different labels than Rope Worm, and from what I understood, all were more rhythmic than this one.
Mazut is a duo consisting of Michał Turowski and Paweł Starzec, who have been together since 2015. 80s electronics heavily influence them, and this album diverges from their previous work by being more relaxed, downbeat, and sound-oriented, rather than rhythm-focused. Though there are a few very danceable tracks on this one. Listen, for example, to “You try to make people upset, but nobody gives a fuck”, “Jetzt geht mir ein Licht auf” or “Force and Form”.
Most of the other tracks are pretty minimal and retro. There is a lot of sampling and retriggering, which was something new in the 80’s synth sound, and Mazut uses it a lot on “Dirt Collector”. Too much? I can’t tell you. It was part of the sound back then, and with it, one can create a great retro feel, but … Here comes the but: I was a metalhead in the ’80s, and that sampling thing just wasn’t for me. Sure, I’ve grown to appreciate it, and with everything I’m writing right now, it says something about me, not about Mazut. I just can’t tell if it’s ‘too’ much. It’s something you have to find out yourself by trying.
So if you like 80’s electronics and vintage sound design, give it a chance. It might very well surprise you.
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