Enhanced Underpolen Netlabel Profile

Enhanced Underpolen Netlabel Profile Introduction

Welcome to Netlabel Profiles, the show that explores some of the best and most diverse music on the internet today. On this episode of Netlabel Profiles we visit a city and country that:

• This city is the fifth largest city in the country
• This city has history that dates back to the 9th century
• One of Europe’s main train lines from east to west passes through this city
• And this city has the second largest business center, and has it’s own world trade center
• Is a city where Bars and Pubs don’t have a last call. They close when the last customer leaves
• In this country, your “Name Day” is more important than your birthday
• This country is the center of Europe
• This country boasts 17 Noble Prize award winners
• Is the country of birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, the first person to state the earth was not the center of the solar system.

Where is this city? And what country is it in? That shall be revealed after a track from our featured Netlabel…

Underpolen Netlabel Profile

That was Recursive Breathing by Everywhere Kingdom on our featured netlabel: Underpolen, from Pozna?, Poland.

Another quick, interesting fact about Poznan: at one time it was the capital of Poland. In fact there have been several capitals of Poland, especially after World War I and World War II. Poznan, however, is still often referred to as The Capital City of Poznan.

Underpolen is a netlabel started by Jan Strach in 2003. I was in the early 2000’s that Jan first discovered that he could hook up a tape recorder to his computer and transfer the audio tapes he had been recording for years. When he made this discovery, he started transferring the recordings, adding names to the tracks, and grouping them together.

Early on, Jan made the conscious decision to preserve the raw, lo-fidelity nature of these recordings. Many of them are full of tape hiss, background noises, rough tuning of instruments, intonation and even recording level issues. But that didn’t make a difference. Preserving the performances as they happened mattered more.

The next logical step was to take these raw, unedited recordings and make them available online. And that was the beginning of Underpolen: a netlabel dedicated to lo-fi, raw recordings. And, while times have changed, and the recording equipment has improved, Underpolen remains true to these roots.

Underpolen now has approximately 50 (possibly more) recordings made by Strach available, grouped under 10 different project names, seven of which are his solo projects, and three are band projects.

Jan cites several people / labels as having been influential in his work. Among them: A.J. Kaufman, Rzonkill and Weakie Discs, Too Scared To Drive, Proyect? Moone Jazzers, Nava Spatiala, The Fucked Up Beat, Noooise Yeti and Aguas Tonicas. (Note: links and references to these projects and artists will be part of the printed transcript for this episode of Netlabel Profiles.)

Now let’s listen to some more of the work of several of Jan Strach’s projects from Underpolen on Netlabel Profiles.

• A.J Kaufmann: https://ajkaufmann.bandcamp.com/
• Weakie Discs: https://weakiediscs.bandcamp.com/
• Too Scared To Drive: https://soundcloud.com/too_scared_to_drive
• Proyect? Moone Jazzers: https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Proyect%3F+Moone+Jazzers%22
• Nava Spatiala: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nava-Spatiala
• The Fucked Up Beat: http://thefuckedupbeat.bandcamp.com/
• Noooise Yeti: https://www.facebook.com/noooiseyeti
• Aguas Tonicas: https://www.facebook.com/aguastonicas

Underpolen Netlabel Profile Closing

Thanks for joining us for Netlabel Profiles featuring the Underpolen netlabel. If you enjoyed the music on this show, be sure to check out Underpolen at https://underpolen.bandcamp.com/

This show is released under a Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-Commercial Share Alike license. All of the music from Underpolen played on this show is released under a Creative Commons license.

Be sure to check out the enhanced version of this show on The CerebralRift (http://cerebralrift.org). The posting on The CerebralRift includes:

• Additional selections from the Underpolen catalog
• Links to all the music played on this show
• Links to the references used in preparing the profile of Underpolen
• Links to the Underpolen website, and social media sites
• A printed transcript of this profile
• And an exclusive printed interview with Underpolen’s Jan Starch.

Thanks for joining us for Netlabel Profiles. This is your host SndChaser signing off, and wishing you the best of free listening!

Underpolen Profile References

• Where is Poznan? Read 10 Facts About Poznan in Poland: http://www.1stopjamboree.com/en/news/where-is-poznan-read-10-facts-about-poznan-in-poland
• Poznan Things to Do: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Poland/Wojewodztwo_Wielkopolskie/Poznan-478530/Things_To_Do-Poznan-TG-C-1.html
• 20 Interesting Facts about Poland: http://www.1stcontact.com/blog/social/20-interesting-facts-poland/
• Careers in Poland: http://www.careersinpoland.com/city/poznan
• Wikipedia: Poznan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozna%C5%84

Underpolen Contact Info

Label Underpolen Netlabel

Contact Name  Jan Strach

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Underpolen/313028018891991

BandCamp http://underpolen.bandcamp.com/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/Underpolen

IA http://www.archive.org/details/underpolen

Underpolen Interview

1. Please introduce yourself…

I am Jan Strach, an office worker and a family man by day, a musician and pursuer of all things creative by night. Enthusiast of all kinds of arts, obscure / atypical / confounding things, scratched, dusty, found objects of functions unknown.

2. How did you decide that you wanted to run a netlabel? (Did anyone or anything inspire you to do this?)

When I started Underpolen I have not yet heard of the term Netlabel, in fact I am not sure if they existed back then. I just wanted to create an online entity that would serve as an umbrella term to all my music released by all my solo projects and bands I was in. Later on, it became obvious that the netlabel side of things would be the most defining trait of Underpolen.

3. Why did you decide to release your works under a Creative Commons license?

Well I want my music to be heard, but at the same time to be dependent on me and no other company. So this is a fitting compromise. Everything is released on a “pay-what-you-want” basis or for free, and it does not hurt that my stuff gets picked up from time to time by various aggregators and human enthusiasts sifting through new CC licensed releases.

4. How much time do you spend on running your netlabel?

I check up on everything at least once a day. I try to post updates to the facebook page 3-4 times a week with some extra material, interesting tidbits, info about what we are working on.

5. Have there been any projects (ie netlabel related, but not necessarily about a release, like maybe you set up a concert / festival / etc.) that are especially memorable to you?

Not yet, but I’m down for anything!

6. Is there a long-term goal for your label?

To preach the DIY gospel and inspire folk to make their own stuff; to keep providing the people of the Earth with quality home-made music, and hopefully gain new fans and enthusiasts of the kind of art that we supply!

7. Are you involved in anything else other than producing music? (IE, videos, CD’s, wallpapers, t-shirts, etc.)

I make covers, posters, logos for all my musical releases, as well as music videos. I like solar photography, PETSCII and land art. Outside of that, I make computer games in an ancient piece of software called Klik ‘n’ Play. I have published a few short text pieces as a part of my Out Of Strach project and I am working on my first novel. As soon as interest arises, T-shirts are doable as well.

8. Any cool stories about projects / releases? (IE, they got used in someone else’s movie / video, or something similar.)

Well the album “D?on” by my project Akcja Zorganizowanej Przeci?tno?ci, was released on casette tapes in a limited edition, hand-assembled by the great Rzonkil and published on his tremendous Weakie Discs label.

Also AZP was played on WFMU once.

A french internet radio played a few tunes by our Don’t Look At Me I Am Deformed and they even talked about it but I could not understand a word!

Once, a guy credited a tune by our Everywhere Kingdom that he used in a Video. I was excited because it was an epic piece of music. It turned out he used like 2 seconds of it, because there was a single tone of keyboard in the beginning which he must have deemed fitting.

9. What is your take on the future of music? (IE, do you think streaming will be more important than downloads, do you think the major labels will go bankrupt, do you think more people are turning to netlabels than traditional music sources, etc.)

I think with more and more music available at any time and anywhere, physical copies will become more significant, but not as objects containing music, more like an artifact so that any true fan can showcase them on their shelf to demonstrate their exquisite taste. Of course, in order to encourage fans, the bands have to try harder with their hard copies. Gone are the times of a simple tracklist and a two-fold flimsy inlay, we have to give the fans something special – a poster, a zine, a comic book. Or a treasure map!

I do not really care about what happens to major labels, thanks to the internet I can almost completely shut them off and they are not really a part of my world anymore. There will always be corporations and there will always be people running away from them to look for their own cozy crannies and niches.

10. Any upcoming projects / releases / events you would like to mention?

In the nearest future you can expect a new Jan Strach long play, that’s for sure, and most probably things by Secrets of The 45, a surprise from Projekt Luty, possibly things by Deftechnixks and Everywhere Kingdom and D.L.A.M.I.A.D. There will also be more music videos, as always in our very particular style.

Underpolen Netlabel Profile Playlist

Artist / Project Title

Akcja Zorganizowanej Przeci?tno?ci: Ty Nie Jeste? D?on

Akcja Zorganizowanej Przeci?tno?ci: Robbie Williams Uratowa? Mi ?ycie

Akcja Zorganizowanej Przeci?tno?ci: S?odkie Ale (Instrumental)

Akcja Zorganizowanej Przeci?tno?ci: Wsz?dzie Mam Swoich Ziomali

Everywhere Kingdom: Recursive Breathing

Everywhere Kingdom: Judas Goat Carries Its Guilt Around In A Basket

Everywhere Kingdom: Never A Sinner Not Like This

Everywhere Kingdom: My Letter Lost Its Way In The Mountains

Everywhere Kingdom: Zemgale Pride

Everywhere Kingdom: Pink Mallard Theme

Everywhere Kingdom: Warm Weather Fathom

Everywhere Kingdom: Towel Owl

Everywhere Kingdom: Dub Dub’s Tree Tricks

Nhumbhrukh: Przebija?

poj.wlkp: Dwa

poj.wlkp: Pokój W Deszczu

poj.wlkp: Usypianie Ptaków

poj.wlkp: Terschelling

poj.wlkp: Ma?y Bia?y Mi?

poj.wlkp: Pó?sen

poj.wlkp: G?os

poj.wlkp: Drzwi

poj.wlkp: Chemia

poj.wlkp: W Deszczu

poj.wlkp: Owce

Projekt Luty: Jarski Ptak

Projekt Luty: Znikaj?cy Autostopowicz

Projekt Luty: Jak Kroczy Drop

Projekt Luty: Weselmy Si?

Projekt Luty: Kto Kto Kto

Projekt Luty: Ruroci?g

Projekt Luty: Nibych?op na P?ocie

Projekt Luty: Krokus

Projekt Luty: Niet?umacz (inst)

Projekt Luty: Musia?