Skalpel – Konfusion

Absolutely stunning, haunting, immersive and overall magic piece of modern music. Strongly suggested for any Amon Tobin, Backini, Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra, Lemon Jelly, Pink Floyd (even) and many, many similiar pearls of modern downtempo, lo-fi and breaks genre. "Konfusion" made in 2005 by Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudło allows you to feel dusty, smokey, dark touch of newly freed Polish jazz of 50's and 60', rearranged in complex and groovy tracks adequate for our modern sublimed tastes. Perfectly mixed and mastered, "Konfusion" takes listener for intimate ride from first to last track, constantly stirring our imagination and immersing us in dark, moody city full of old cars, shady persons, street lanterns and modernist buildings. Well, if you could imagine that Skalpel group is like slightly anachronistic, modernist architecture duet, then their "Konfusion" is masterpiece of brutalist trend: not for everyone tastes, hauntingly strange, yet insanely beautiful and attractive for ones that can see it's beauty. Album like out of place diamond breaking day's monotony. Great for intimate, moody evening listening and night drives trough the city. My personal top ten favourite album of all time.

Being in the mood for future and nu-jazz, I throw on Skalpel into my rotations. Igor Pudlo and Marcin Cichy are the crate diggers out of Wrocław, Poland. Juxtaposing lifted jazz memories from old Polish records (circa 1960-70) along the broken beats sourced from the same material, Skalpel lays out a path much often traveled, but rarely with a precision of a GPS-like time shift. The music flows naturally while holding on to its history rooted hooks and jabs. The instrumental loungy sound borders funky trip-hop, but is undeniably jazz infused with samples of Hammond, saxophones, and laid back drum strolls. Konfusion is Skalpel's second album on Ninja Tune, following along the heels of their 2004 full length debut, self titled Skalpel. I really like this quote from label's page : "Very much one for jazzers, beat heads and strong cigarette smokers, Konfusion is an album to soundtrack your espresso breaks and to play so that you don't have to read Jean Paul Sartre." The sixties and seventies were pretty tough on the Polish folk. With the Communist party of the Soviet Union instituted over the government in a post WWII country, free expression, especially American influenced jazz music, was somewhat of an underground movement. Skalpel performs a tremendous service to the audiophiles around the world by resurrecting dusty sound of artistic freedom. Recommended if you like Jaga Jazzist, Bonobo, Amon Tobin, Unkle, and DJ Vadim. Break this one out for another spin if you missed it on the first cycle.

I might be in the minority here, but I found this to be a decidedly lacklustre affair.

The idea is definitely there; resting somewhere in between The Cinematic Orchestra and DJ Shadow. But there is a complete lack of originality and musicianship in Konfusion that sticks out like a sore thumb. The samples and loops are unimaginative and poorly executed, and none of the pieces seem to move in any tangible direction.

The only thing I can say in defence of Skalpel's efforts is that your appreciation of the album may well depend on which lens you choose to view it through. If we accept that this is an attempt at jazz meets hip-hop, then you could be left with two very different appraisals. From the jazz angle, it is lazy, unpolished, and lacking in direction. From the hip-hop angle, however, it sures the production values usually associated with the genre by several miles. Hip-hop (in it's commercial form, at least) is a very lazy genre from a musical point of view. Samples and loops are often cheap, and are commonly derived entirely from previously existing material. Dr. Dre made millions off his 'Next Episode' single, and the entire backing track was knocked off from David McCallum's 'The Edge'.

Although this concession might shed some light on Skalpel's apparent success, from a un-biased, genre-free perspective, this is a lazy effort worth nothing more than a casual glance. And if you don't believe me, have a listen to The Cinematic Orchestra's first album, Motion. The method is exactly the same; samples, live instrumentation, jazz meets hip-hop sensibility.. But the creativity and musicianship on that album leaves Skalpel's efforts for dead.

A fantastic second release by Skalpel. Sounding a bit darker & rougher than their debut album "Skalpel", Konfusion is a treasure of moody beats. If you're into jazz, getting this one's a no-brainer!