• “Balwan [live ’16]” original live performance video. Thanks to nasionorecords.
“Fantastic Trance Rock from Poland / the USA”
From their album “Live at SpaceFest! 2016” released in September, 2017.
As regular readers will know, I’m not usually a fan of live music on record (partly due to the resentment of paying twice for the same songs and partly due to the work almost always being inferior to the studio productions), but when it’s wholly conceived and uniquely only made available in that way my stance softens, as is the case here.
SpaceFest!, a yearly 2 day festival, is organized by Nasiono Association in cooperation with Laznia Centre for Contemporary Arts, Klub Żak and with the support of the City of Gdansk. I quote from the website:
Pure Phase Ensemble is an international, shoegaze-psych collective, created especially for the event. Each year different musicians (both those on the threshold of their musical breakthrough and artists with more considerable experience) are invited to join the group, depending on the artistic vision of the leader. The main idea behind the 4-day workshop is to create an international instrumental collective that will compose the music material to be presented to the public at SpaceFest! Each year, this unique performance is recorded live and subsequently released as an album. The 6th edition of PPE was fronted by Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
The musicians taking part in edition 6 were: Anton Newcombe (of Brian Jonestown Massacre on guitars, vocals, mellotron), Emil Nikolaisen (of Serena-Maneesh on guitar), Karol Schwarz (of 7faz & Karol Schwarz All Stars on guitar), Olga Mysłowska (of Polpo Motel on vocals, keyboards), Maciej Karmiński (of Jesień on drums), Marcin Lewandowski (of Judy’s Funeral, Castlings & SOON on bass), Jakub Żwirełło (of Oslo Kill City & Szezlong on guitar) and Kacper Graczyk (of Aiodine & Coding on synths).
As told in the short documentary below, the collective each see themselves as gears in a large orchestra. They described their four day 2016 studio sessions (Sunday 27 November – Thursday 1 December) as intense and phenomenal.
The proof is in the pudding of course, and their performance at Klub Żak on Saturday, 3rd December, 2016, as evidenced on the fantastic “Balwan”, backs that up. Their prominent place in the billing is merited, and their appearance keenly anticipated yearly. I see Will Carruthers (Spacemen3, Spectrum, Spiritualized) was the star guest of Pure Phase Ensemble 8 last December. Who will it be this time around I wonder? Be worth keeping an eye on them.
Heard on Pete Jackson’s October 2017 show on Dandelion Radio.
Get it at Bandcamp.
the last great record 