Michał Łapaj “Are You There”

Country: Poland
Genre(s): Electronica, Post Rock, Progressive Rock
Label: Mystic Production
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Release date: July 16, 2021 (CD, digital), September 3, 2021 (vinyl)
Tracklist

1. Pieces (2:44) 

2. Flying Blind (4:07) 

3. Shattered Memories (7:12) 

4. Shelter (4:57) 

5. Where Do We Run (10:13) 

6. Fleeting Skies (5:44) 

7. In Limbo (11:42) 

8. Unspoken (5:25) 

9. Surfacing (7:03) 

10. From Within (3:38) 

Total Time 62:45

Line-up
Michał Łapaj (Riverside) - keyboards

   With
Mick Moss (Antimatter) - vocals

Bela Komoszyńska (Sorry Boys) - vocals

Artur Szolc (Annalist, Inside Again) - drums

Description/Reviews:

The album consists of both instrumental pieces and songs. It contains a lot of spacey atmosphere, and fans of post-rock, ambient and electronic music will surely be able to find something for themselves. It is diverse and at the same time coherent, filled with emotions, melancholy and darkness. It tries to find answers to the question of what happens to us when we do not understand each other and we wander between what was said and what was left unspoken.

Media/Samples
Shattered Memories

Flying Blind 

Deezer

Spotify

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Lunatic Soul "Through Shaded Woods"

Country: Poland
Genre(s): Atmospheric Progressive Rock, Folk
Label: Kscope
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Release date: November 13, 2020
Tracklist: 
1. Navvie (4:03)
2. The Passage (8:57)
3. Through Shaded Woods (5:51)
4. Oblivion (5:03)
5. Summoning Dance (9:52)
6. The Fountain (6:04)

Total Time 39:50

Special Ltd Edition Bonus CD:
1. Vyraj (5:32)
2. Hylophobia (3:20)
3. Transition II (27:45)

Total Time 36:37

Line-up: 
Mariusz Duda (Riverside) - vocals, instruments

Description/Reviews: 

On album number seven Duda extends his musical explorations to include dark Scandinavian and Slavic folk referencing bands like Heilung or Wardruna. Through Shaded Woods is completely devoid of electronics and is the first album in Duda’s discography, on which he plays all instruments. 

Mariusz Duda appears to have put the personal darkness that inspired his previous albums behind him, as more optimistic elements shine through in his new music. The album becoming musically "brighter" as it progresses – from the atmospheric introduction of "Navvie" through to the title track, which leads the listener to a melodious, trance like "Oblivion", echoing the style of Dead Can Dance.

Media/Samples
The Passage
Navvie
Bandcamp

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Maciej Meller "Zenith"

Country: Poland
Genre(s): Progressive Rock
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Release date: September 18, 2020
Tracklist: 
1. Aside (8:44)
2. Knife (4:39)
3. Plan B (4:11)
4. Halfway (5:10)
5. Frozen (5:40)
6. Fox (6:40)
7. Trip (8:02)
8. Magic (1:52)

Total Time 44:58

Line-up: 
Maciej Meller (Riverside, Quidam) – guitars, mandolin
Krzysztof Borek – vocals
Robert Szydło – bass guitars
Łukasz Damrych – keyboards
Łukasz Sobolak – drums
   With
Szymon Paduszyński – backing vocals (3)

Media/Samples 
Bandcamp

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Riverside "Waste7and"

Country: Poland
Genre(s): Progressive Rock
Label: InsideOut (world), Mystic Production (Poland)
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Release date: September 28, 2018
Tracklist: 
1. The Day After
2. Acid Rain
3. Vale Of Tears
4. Guardian Angel
5. Lament
6. The Struggle For Survival
7. River Down Below
8. Wasteland
9. The Night Before

Line-up: 
Mariusz Duda - vocal, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, piccolo bass, banjo
Michał Łapaj - keyboards and Hammond Organ
Piotr Kozieradzki - drums
   With
Mateusz Owczarek - guitar solo

Media/Samples 
Vale Of Tears
Lament 
River Down Below

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Lunatic Soul "Under the Fragmented Sky"

Country: Poland
Genre(s): Atmospheric Progressive Rock, Electronica
Label: Kscope (KSCOPE612/987), Mystic Production
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Release date: May 25, 2018
Tracklist: 
1. He av en (4:05)
2. Trials (5:44)
3. Sorrow (1:30)
4. Under The Fragmented Sky (5:03)
5. Shadows (4:31)
6. Rinsing The Night (3:56)
7. The Art Of Repairing (7:54)
8. Untamed (3:24)

Total Time 36:07

Line-up: 
Mariusz Duda (Riverside) - vocals, instruments
  With
Wawrzyniec Dramowicz - drums (8)

Description/Reviews: 

Under The Fragmented Sky is Duda's sixth studio album as Lunatic Soul and follows the acclaimed Fractured (both were recorded at the same time whilst Mariusz was facing tragic events in his personal life).
Under the Fragmented Sky rebuilds Lunatic Soul as we know it, with dark and haunting atmospheres coming to the forefront. 

Media/Samples 
Teaser
Untamed

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Lunatic Soul "Fractured"

Country: Poland
Genre(s): Progressive Rock, Electronica
Label: Kscope (KSCOPE498/964/923)/Mystic Production
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Release date: October 6, 2017
Tracklist: 
1. Blood On The Tightrope (7:19)
2. Anymore (4:37)
3. Crumbling Teeth And The Owl Eyes (6:42)
4. Red Light Escape (5:43)
5. Fractured (4:36)
6. A Thousand Shards Of Heaven (12:17)
7. Battlefield (9:05)
8. Moving On (5:14)

Total Time 55:33

Line-up: 
Mariusz Duda (Riverside) - keyboards, bass and acoustic guitars, piccolo bass guitar, percussion, programming, lead and backing vocals
    With
Wawrzyniec Dramowicz - drums
Sinfonietta Consonus Orchestra, conducted by Michał Mierzejewski (3, 6)
Marcin Odyniec - saxophone (4, 6, 8)

Description/Reviews: 

Mariusz explains further "the main theme of "Fractured" is coming back to life after a personal tragedy. It's inspired by what happened in my life in 2016 and by everything that's happening around us and what's making us turn away from one another and divide into groups, for better and for worse. Musically it's the most original album I have ever made… it will be the most accessible and personal album in the Lunatic Soul discography."

As well as a conceptual development, Duda gained the self-confidence to allow himself greater creative freedom with the new material, experimenting more with electronics and rhythm and inspiration with influences from the likes of Massive Attack and Depeche Mode to Peter Gabriel and David Sylvian.

Media/Samples 
Progstreaming
Anymore
Fractured

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Riverside "Love, Fear And The Time Machine"

Country: Poland
Genre(s): Progressive Rock
Label: InsideOut
Format: CD, digital, vinyl
Release date: September 4, 2015
Tracklist: 
1. Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened By a Hat?)
2. Under the Pillow
3. #Addicted
4. Caterpillar and the Barbed Wire
5. Saturate Me
6. Afloat
7. Discard Your Fear
8. Towards the Blue Horizon
9. Time Travellers
10. Found (The Unexpected Flaw of Searching)

Line-up: 
Mariusz Duda - vocals, bass & acoustic guitar
Piotr Grudzinski - guitars
Michal Lapaj - keyboards
Piotr Kozieradzki - drums

Description/Reviews: 

Mariusz Duda checked in with the following comment about “Love, Fear and the Time Machine": “On the new album I wanted to combine the 70s and the 80s. The 80s were a decade of musical growing up for me. We don't sound as retro and 70s as before, we moved forward, we sort of demolished the previous foundations and build new ones. Despite the huge dose of melancholy and nostalgia, there is a new space, the songs are arranged with more flow and at the same time they have never been so concise and to the point before. The lyrics on "Love, Fear and the Time Machine" talk about a transformation. About making an important, perhaps life changing, decision everyone has to make at some point in their lives. What happens to us when we have to make it? On the one hand we're excited by the change, we feel free, liberated, and on the other we fear the unknown, we are afraid of what might happen to us. We go back in time and we go forward in time in our heads. And all that happens when we have to decide something important. The first of the songs on the album is called 'Lost', the last one, 'Found'. If we sometimes get lost in life, it is to go through something and be found again on the other side, to be reborn as someone better and more valuable. I would like this album to be one of those that one day simply becomes your best friend.”

Media/Samples 
Discard Your Fear
Found
Teaser

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Lunatic Soul "Walking on a Flashlight Beam"

Country: Poland
Sub Genre: Experimental,Progressive Rock
Label: Kscope (worldwide), Mystic Production (Poland)
Release date: October 13, 2014
Tracklist: 
1. Shutting Out The Sun (08:40)
2. Cold (06:58)
3. Gutter (08:42)
4. Stars Sellotaped (01:34)
5. The Fear Within (07:10)
6. Treehouse (05:31)
7. Pygmalion’s Ladder (12:02)
8. Sky Drawn in Crayon (04:58)
9. Walking on a Flashlight Beam (08:11)

Line-up: 
Mariusz Duda (Riverside) - vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, percussion
    With
Wawrzyniec Dramowicz - drums, percussion

Description/Reviews: 

The solo project of Mariusz Duda, the lead singer and creative force behind Riverside. The new release will comprise almost 64 minutes of brand new music.
Mariusz Duda: "These are very dark and intense compositions but very melodious too".

Media/Samples
Cold
Stream

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Riverside "Shrine of New Generation Slaves"

Country: Poland
Sub Genre: Progressive Rock, , Hard Rock
Label: Inside Out
Release date: January 18, 2013
Tracklist: 
1. New Generation Slave (4:17)
2. The Depth of Self – Delusion (7:39)
3. Celebrity Touch (6:48)
4. We Got Used To Us (4:12)
5. Feel Like Falling (5:17)
6. Deprived (8:26)
7. Escalator Shrine (12:41)
8. Coda (1:39)

Line-up: 
- Mariusz Duda / vocals, bass
- Piotr Grudzinski / guitars
- Michal Lapaj / keyboards
- Piotr Kozieradzki / drums

Description/Reviews: 

More than 50 minutes divided into 8 songs, which don’t just clearly reflect a further developed, modern take on the band’s charismatic trademark elements, but also effectively adds further vibes of the Classic Rock segment as well as jazzy art-rock bits to the ever-challenging mix that Riverside has always stood for, maybe just less standard metallic and also less complex, without meaning less progressive. Conceptually, it is an album as intense and introspective as ever before with Riverside, but there is also a strong and very obscure social component to things this time around, as Duda explains the record’s theme and title: “It’s based on the fact that we all hear almost everyday from friends and close people how unhappy they are, how they hate their jobs, how they don't have a time for this or that, how time flies and how they actually feel like slaves in their lives. I thought it was a good option to write about that kind of unhappiness and this “new generation slavery”, where people seem to be unable to take control over their own lives”.

Media/Samples 
Trailer

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