XV Parówek / The Sleep Sessions — Split C40 tape

For over a decade now Polish experimental musician Bartek Kalinka – better known by his project’s name of XV Parówek – has been bombarding the world with sounds both strange and special, not only through his own project, but also through his label, which has seen releases from the likes of Crank Sturgeon, Richard Ramirez, Torturing Nurse and If, Bwana – among many others. There’s a special sort of intuitive, heart-felt beauty about this label. Its usually great releases most often come wrapped in art which is by no traditional sense beautiful or even pretty, but the minimal and brutally, honestly heart-felt approach combined with the romantically ugly packaging are really quite impressive, and have already converted many a non-believer to a devout Parówekian – this reviewer included.

This untitled split sees Kalinka teaming up with David Kowalski, who releases under the name of The Sleep Sessions. Together they fill a C-40 of the ugliest, most heart-felt sounds you’ve heard in a good while. The approach that is evident in the art on XV Parówek, the label, is as evident in Kalinka’s own music – which is neither what anyone would call pretty, but which has the same raw, straight-from-the-heart brutality to it that can leave no noise fan untouched. As Parówek’s side kicks off, brittle, boiling bubble crunches start to crackle forth,  the death rattle of mid-frequency wall, crawling slowly and coughing sickly – slightly reminiscent of his synth work as on his Implied Flare work on the split with Torturing Nurse, but decidedly dirtier. Eventually, Parówek gets out the heavy duty, flicks a grenade among the whole thing, and has the whole thing derail beautifully. Parówek evidently is not one to layer, but rather one to juxtapose, switching up sounds and textures rather than piling them up. This is a bold thing to do, but Parówek evidently has the skills to pull it off (as was also evident on the aforementioned Implied Flare material) – the textures are gorgeous and swallow you up whole, chew you up, spit you it – and leave you the next devout Parówekian.

On the flip side of the tape, The Sleep Sessions kicks a total ruckus, presenting a brand of harsh noise that is not particularly original but certainly very enjoyable. Screeching noise blasts by you at full speed and beats you completely senseless – just the way harsh noise should. There’s three tracks here, as the J-card notes, but the entire side rolls on pretty much uninterrupted and the whole thing seems more like a single, 20-minute composition. There’s little to find fault with here – it’s loud, dirty and energetic, and, quite frankly, this is just the type of harsh noise that takes my fancy, with its pure, undiluted relentlessness and obsessive screeching. Compared with the Parówek-side, it’s slightly less elegant, lacking the subtle build and vast array of textures. However, it is, in itself, simply great – and the minor remark says maybe, or probably, more about XV Parówek than about The Sleep Sessions.

All in all, this split is another excellent addition to the XV Parówek catalogue, and it offers excellent material both to traditional harsh heads and to those noise fans who can also appreciate more subtle electronic experiments. Seeing as this is limited to only forty copies, I’d recommend anyone to get try and get their grubby hands on this tape while they still can.