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CD
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REFINED 003CD
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For the third chapter of Refined Productions Aleksandra Grünholz aka We Will Fail delivers her third full length album entitled Dancing on her recently-launched label with Jakub Mikolajczyk, head of MonotypeRec label and MonotypePressings. Here she tells the story: "Taking a break from rationality, my first thoughts about the theme of this album were about the night, when our sight is limited and thoughts are corrupted by fatigue. I don't dance anymore, I don't party, I don't let myself go. Some time ago that part of life slipped away from me. This album is like entering into a place you shouldn't be in. A lot of rave inspired sounds were used: dreamy pads, arpeggios, simple melodic structures; but this album is not easy and simple. As head of a graphic design studio in Warsaw, last year was very hard for me, the amount of work started to overwhelm me; I started to feel stupid and possessed by the work, this is how the tracks "Very Urgent" and "Economic Maladies" were born. The track "Reason" is about losing rationality and how easy it is to do. "Put Your Hands Up In The Air" encompasses the rave. It's also a kind of question, can music itself tell a story? Very often in EDM or trance music there is a story; I like to call it catharsis. A moment, when the beat slows down and melody/pads become solo. I tried to extract this moment, without adding drops and aggressive rhythms. "So Who's The Man" is about regaining the power, slowly but consequently. This album is a about feeling bold, monstrous, and strong, like looking insolently into someone's eyes. You have to be patient with this one, because it builds up slowly. If you listen only for a fragment you miss the whole idea. "Beasts From The East" was inspired by the thought of being a small peace-loving person in a chaotic world that is dominated by stupidity. The track "2018" epitomizes the rave, but more complicated. Each of the layers are simplistic and could construct a dance track, but as there are so many sounds simultaneously, it can become disturbing in the perfect way. "Diving in Plastic" was fit for the last track; I didn't want the album to have a perfect conclusion, I wanted to leave the listener hanging and ready for more."
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LP
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REFINED 003LP
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LP version; includes download. For the third chapter of Refined Productions Aleksandra Grünholz aka We Will Fail delivers her third full length album entitled Dancing on her recently-launched label with Jakub Mikolajczyk, head of MonotypeRec label and MonotypePressings. Here she tells the story: "Taking a break from rationality, my first thoughts about the theme of this album were about the night, when our sight is limited and thoughts are corrupted by fatigue. I don't dance anymore, I don't party, I don't let myself go. Some time ago that part of life slipped away from me. This album is like entering into a place you shouldn't be in. A lot of rave inspired sounds were used: dreamy pads, arpeggios, simple melodic structures; but this album is not easy and simple. As head of a graphic design studio in Warsaw, last year was very hard for me, the amount of work started to overwhelm me; I started to feel stupid and possessed by the work, this is how the tracks "Very Urgent" and "Economic Maladies" were born. The track "Reason" is about losing rationality and how easy it is to do. "Put Your Hands Up In The Air" encompasses the rave. It's also a kind of question, can music itself tell a story? Very often in EDM or trance music there is a story; I like to call it catharsis. A moment, when the beat slows down and melody/pads become solo. I tried to extract this moment, without adding drops and aggressive rhythms. "So Who's The Man" is about regaining the power, slowly but consequently. This album is a about feeling bold, monstrous, and strong, like looking insolently into someone's eyes. You have to be patient with this one, because it builds up slowly. If you listen only for a fragment you miss the whole idea. "Beasts From The East" was inspired by the thought of being a small peace-loving person in a chaotic world that is dominated by stupidity. The track "2018" epitomizes the rave, but more complicated. Each of the layers are simplistic and could construct a dance track, but as there are so many sounds simultaneously, it can become disturbing in the perfect way. "Diving in Plastic" was fit for the last track; I didn't want the album to have a perfect conclusion, I wanted to leave the listener hanging and ready for more."
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12"
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REFINED 002EP
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We Will Fail follow Schadenfreude (REFINED 001EP), the first EP on Refined Productions, with Very Urgent. It will feature one original track and remixes from M.E.S.H., Peder Mannerfelt, and Kangding Ray. The label Refined Productions was launched by Aleksandra Grünholz, graphic designer and producer as We Will Fail, and Jakub Mikolajczyk, head of Monotype. The concept is to run a "slow label" to not get caught in the trends but to stop, watch, listen, feel and think, then listen again. Their goal is to reset the pace of electronic music output and create little gems.
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2CD
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MONO 104CD
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Arriving like the mysterious fully formed monoliths in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is Hand That Heals/Hand That Bites Warsaw, Poland-based artist Aleksandra Grünholz aka We Will Fail. Despite the fact this isn't her debut (that was 2014's Verstorung (MONO 074CD)), this double-barreled shotgun of an album rings with the boldest sense of arrival one could possibly imagine. With a unique sound that is neither electronic, noise, nor experimental but a unique off-cut of the three assembled into a style all her own, Grünholz's sound runs parallel to artists like Scott Walker, Autechre, Pharmakon, Daphne Oram, Pan Sonic, Grouper, Laurel Halo, Demdike Stare, Vessel, and beyond. Both dark and anxious, the seven Hand That Bites tracks are deeply rhythmic, pulsing, energetic, and brimming with the intensity of an artist who has clearly arrived at an important place. As Grünholz notes, "This part is ruder, more brutal, stronger, but at the same time more basic. The pulse, the harshness and the anxiety were really important to me. I know that some sounds are even dull. I left some parts dirty, raw. I wanted to show the strength that can seduce and mesmerize at the same time." The rhythms here have some associations with techno and club music, but for the artist this is music for listening rather than dancing. Like the work of Emptyset and other sonic explorers, techno elements embedded are merely part of the construction -- a sound reaching beyond any kind of norm. The companion eight tracks, an alternative version of the same story according to Grünholz, make up the Hand That Heals segment of the album. These tracks are lighter in touch, focused on atmosphere and experiments yet equally compelling and unique.
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2LP
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MONO 022LP
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Double LP version. Deluxe gatefold sleeve; Includes printed Inner sleeves. Arriving like the mysterious fully formed monoliths in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is Hand That Heals/Hand That Bites Warsaw, Poland-based artist Aleksandra Grünholz aka We Will Fail. Despite the fact this isn't her debut (that was 2014's Verstorung (MONO 074CD)), this double-barreled shotgun of an album rings with the boldest sense of arrival one could possibly imagine. With a unique sound that is neither electronic, noise, nor experimental but a unique off-cut of the three assembled into a style all her own, Grünholz's sound runs parallel to artists like Scott Walker, Autechre, Pharmakon, Daphne Oram, Pan Sonic, Grouper, Laurel Halo, Demdike Stare, Vessel, and beyond. Both dark and anxious, the seven Hand That Bites tracks are deeply rhythmic, pulsing, energetic, and brimming with the intensity of an artist who has clearly arrived at an important place. As Grünholz notes, "This part is ruder, more brutal, stronger, but at the same time more basic. The pulse, the harshness and the anxiety were really important to me. I know that some sounds are even dull. I left some parts dirty, raw. I wanted to show the strength that can seduce and mesmerize at the same time." The rhythms here have some associations with techno and club music, but for the artist this is music for listening rather than dancing. Like the work of Emptyset and other sonic explorers, techno elements embedded are merely part of the construction -- a sound reaching beyond any kind of norm. The companion eight tracks, an alternative version of the same story according to Grünholz, make up the Hand That Heals segment of the album. These tracks are lighter in touch, focused on atmosphere and experiments yet equally compelling and unique.
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12"
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REFINED 001EP
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The label Refined Productions was launched by Aleksandra Grünholz, graphic designer and producer as We Will Fail, and Jakub Mikolajczyk, head of MonotypeRec label and MonotypePressing. The concept is to run a "slow label", to not get caught in the trends but to stop, watch, listen, feel, and think, then listen again. We Will Fail's Schadenfreude includes two original tracks and two remixes from like-minded IDM experimentalists such as Ziúr and Eomac. Aleksandra's released two albums, Verstorung (MONO 074CD, 2014) and Hand That Heals/Hand That Bites (MONO 104CD/MONO 022LP, 2016). Includes printed inner sleeve; Includes download code.
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LP
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MONO 020LP
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We Will Fail is a project focused on the pleasure of wandering. Field recordings, tape samples, synthesizers and electronic drum kits are mixed together to find some peculiar quality, referring to techno aesthetics. A person responsible for this project is Aleksandra Grunholz -- a graphic designer, an amateur musician, and an audio performance artist. After releasing Verstörung, We Will Fail presents Verstörung 2.0, the album continuation. During some very intensive months after releasing her debut album, Aleksandra Grunholz found time to work on some new compositions that are more drowned in intensive rhythms. Some tracks from the first album also have changed a little bit. That's why the vinyl album Verstörung 2.0 is somehow similar to earlier works by We Will Fail, and on the other hand, offer new tunes and marvelous new cover art.
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CD
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MONO 074CD
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We Will Fail is a project focused on the pleasure of wandering. Field recordings, tape samples, synthesizers and electronic drum kits are mixed together to find some peculiar quality, referring to techno aesthetics. The person responsible for this project is Aleksandra Grünholz, a graphic designer, musician, and audio performance artist. She has cooperated with many visual artists and musicians, and co-created the artistic group OKO and musical duo Tirips (with Piotr Tkacz) "I have intended to create something that doesn't leave the listener indifferent, something that affects him," says Grünholz about this debut album. Verstörung is primarily the result of her collector's passion. For many years the artists has built a broad library of various sounds -- from those generated by musical equipment to samples found on old audio tapes, to field recordings. "The idea of how to use and combine this collection in a coherent and listenable wholeness began to clarify at some point. Last year I had the proper amount of time and started to work on the album," says the author. All of the material is a multilayered patchwork of sounds, bonded together by a mesmerizing rhythm. Album title Verstörung is meant to be a trail that leads further: "In this case, it's a title of a book by Thomas Bernhard, which addressing the topic of the impossibility of communication."
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