„Grzegorz Kwiatkowski is lead singer with Polish post-punk band Trupa Trupa, an outfit I saw for the first time in Bratislava last week. Yesterday, his documentary on ‘The Invisible Shoes of Stutthof Concentration Camp’ was broadcast on radio CBC. Trupa Trupa sits squarely in the dark poetic visions of Joy Division and Ist Ist – if you haven’t heard them then check them out on Spotify and Youtube. Their performance at Sharpe Festival last week was a true highlight.
„In 2015, the poet-musician Grzegorz Kwiatkowski made a strange discovery at the site of the former Stutthof concentration camp in Poland, something he calls “a carpet of abandoned shoes”. But these were more than shoes: they were both artifacts and symbols of the Holocaust, as well as a flashpoint of nationalist denialism and historical amnesia — especially in the current climate of authoritarianism, and the rising ghosts of neo-fascism.”
Podcast – www.cbc.ca/radio
Greg Kot z Chicago Tribune uznał występ Trupy Trupa za jeden z 12 najlepszych koncertów tegorocznej edycji festiwali SXSW!
„Trupa Trupa: Gdansk, Poland’s Trupa Trupa first made an impact in America last year at South by Southwest, and the quartet returned this year to debut songs from a forthcoming album on Sub Pop. The band dedicated its performance to Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz, an ally and friend who was recently murdered. “These are new radical, dark, anti-hate-speech songs,” singer Grzegorz Kwiatkowski said by way of introduction, as good a way as any to describe the band’s stark aesthetic. The lyrics were often snippets, phrases, designed to provoke rather than soothe, hint rather resolve: “I dream about no one, no way, no one,” “I’ve got nothing to hide, I will just disappear.” The minimalist constructions prized dynamics and drone over melody and often built hypnotic force.”
„Dziesięć lat temu trafiłem na koncert, który niczego w moim życiu nie zmienił. Miejscem zdarzenia był jakiś klub w Gdańsku (jego nazwa nic państwu nie powie). Nijaki i nieznaczący. Gwiazdy wieczoru: Trupa Trupa oraz Gówno. O Trupie i o jej muzyku, poecie Grzegorzu Kwiatkowskim, słyszałem już wcześniej. Na koncert poszedłem jednak ze względu na zespół Gówno, ponieważ tworzyli go moi koledzy – Adam Witkowski i Maciej Salamon. Grali w duecie, elektronicznie, albowiem sekcja rytmiczna występowała też w Trupie i trudno im było ogarnąć dwa sety w jeden wieczór.
Singiel Dream about zadebiutował na antenie radia NPR w programie All Songs Considered w ramach cyklu New Music Friday.
„Ilia Rogatchevski catches up with the Polish quartet’s front man to discuss Gdansk’s tumultuous history, the films of Werner Herzog and the importance of boredom to the creative process.
Trupa Trupa are an art rock band from Gdansk. Fusing elements of post-hardcore, no wave and psychedelia, the four-piece exude a restless energy that bears the hallmarks of Fugazi’s uncompromising punk ethos. Fronted by the poet Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, the band weave absurd lyrics through liquifying guitar riffs, angular bass lines and concise percussion. Repetition plays a key role in their work, as is evidenced by their playful band name, which roughly translates to a troupe of corpses.
Trupa Trupa podpisała kontrakt z wytwórnią Sub Pop Records, która wydała właśnie singiel „Dream about” i opublikowała video autorstwa Benjamina Fingera.
„Sub Pop has signed Trupa Trupa from Gdańsk, Poland for a worldwide deal, and will release new music from the group in 2019. While we await details of that release, the band have delivered an official video for “Dream About” a new song that features a honeyed falsetto that totters over a menacing bassline, and the frisson between them so hypnotic it renders the title phrase as an existential mantra, a lifeline.”
Więcej informacji na stronie www.subpop.com
Zdjęcia wykonane w trakcie rezydencji pisarskich w Grazu trafiły na “Biennale der steirischen Fotokunst”. Poniżej jedno z prezentowanych zdjęć i plakat biennale.
Więcej informacji na stronie www.grazerfotoworkshops.at
Piosenka “To Me” zespołu Trupa Trupa zagościła właśnie w audycji Iggy Popa na antenie BBC Radio 6 Music!
Podcast od 1:49:50 – www.bbc.co.uk
12 pisarzy m.in. Slavoj Žižek, David Weigel, Anne Boyer i Grzegorz Kwiatkowski odpowiedziało na pytanie amerykańskiej edycji magazynu Newsweek o najgorszą rzecz jaką napisali w minionym roku.
„Every writer knows the feeling: You wrote something so bad it plunges you into a fog of doubt and self-loathing. Maybe it was an ill-advised think piece, an article you botched, a career-ending tweet or a stand-up routine that mocks school shooting survivors (OK, that’s just Louis C.K.). As Thomas Mann once said, “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” And Thomas Mann, bless his soul, never had to deal with Twitter.