100 Unheralded Albums from 2010

Igor Boxx: BreslauIgor Boxx: Breslau (Ninja Tune, 12/14/10)

Igor Boxx: “Alarm”
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Polish electronic artist Igor Boxx, also known as Igor Pudlo, is one half of electro-jazz duo Skalpel.  Skalpel explored Polish jazz from the 1960s and ’70s while reconstructing it with modern aesthetics, and though Igor Boxx’s solo debut has sonic similarities, it’s a weighty concept album about the Soviet Red Army’s 1945 Siege of Breslau.

It’s a sort of a reflection on the consequences of war, including the tension that was felt in Breslau in the decades following WWII, with music that’s a head-nodding collage of woodwind melodies, percussive clangs, and atmospheric samples.  There are hooks and grooves, but it’s not nearly as lounge-y or dance-y as Skalpel’s material, and it’s an exciting new part of Igor’s career.

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