Dazed 24

After the very late opening night (or rather early morning), yesterday got off to a very slow start. I didn't wake up until around 9 which is extremely rare for me. Even then I was feeling pretty washed out. Luckily there was nothing major on my to-do list for the day. I have realized that my time in Krakow will probably be more evening/night orientated, so I shouldn't beat myself up if I don't fit much into the days as well. After a late breakfast and journal writing I eventually stepped out to a local shopping centre to get a few things. The weather was overcast and cool. I was feeling a little delirious from lack of sleep which made the journey a little challenging, but that feeling wasn't altogether unpleasant.

I didn't take any photos yesterday - a first for my trip so far.

Late afternoon I had a nap to try and restore my energy levels for the evening's performances.

Last night's shows were at the same venue, Manggha, so I knew how to get there and how long it would take. I felt a lot more at ease than when I had arrived the previous night - partly because the surroundings were now familiar and partly because my sleep deprived state has made me really chilled out (which is a good thing).

All three artists last night played instruments that were then treated and distorted to create unique sounds whereas Sunday had been more sample and synth based.

When I chose not to go to the last night of Unsound London I missed out on seeing Stara Rzeka (Poland) so I was glad to have the opportunity last night. He made heavy use of loop pedals to turn his guitar and vocal sounds into incredible textures that grew and erupted. The program dubbed his style as "magical brutalism" which was apt.

Nate Young (USA) was next and from the sample on his artist profile I hadn't rated him highly on my "to see" list. I decided to sit at the edge of the floor space instead of standing for this one. It's hard to describe his performance. I know I've probably made everything sound like noise, but that's a really big element of most of these artists. This one created big heavy dirty noise sounds and then morphed them and shaped them. I found it unexpectedly hypnotic and was really glad I'd chosen to sit. When he started I was sitting against the wall while most people were standing in front of me and through most of the performance I had my eyes shut. At one stage I opened my eyes to see many of the people in front of me had chosen to sit too and appeared to be in a similar meditative state.

Last was B/B/S which I think was a collaboration of separate artists. There was a guitar, bass guitar and drummer/percussionist. Their performance consisted of what appeared to be one long piece that rose and fell, twisted and turned. They started by using bows to sound cymbals, guitars, everything which created wistful sounds and the performance ended in the same way. In between there was some great rhythms from the drummer and layers of sound and noise from the other players. Some amazing earth shattering bass too - the kind that makes you feel like you just had a full body massage.

Three great performances that I really enjoyed. I was exhausted by the end though. I hope I'm going to make it though this week!

Note: I was unable to put links to the profiles for these artists today. I think the Unsound website might be down. If you're interested in learning of hearing any of the artists visit the www.unsound.pl/en website, click on the Unsound Krakow link at the top of the page and then click on the Artists link.