𝕋𝕨𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕕𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝
Operating at the cutting edge of modern jazz music, sneaky jesus deserves immense credit for crafting a thrillingly diverse album that keeps you guessing.
Favorite track: Hipotetyczny Taras.
Includes unlimited streaming of For Chaching Taphed
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edition of 400
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Limited edition Digipak CD with fold out cover panel and clear CD tray.
Includes unlimited streaming of For Chaching Taphed
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
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Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
We've been collaborating with Polish artists for almost as long as the label has been running. Polish musicians create some of the most imaginative, creative, thought-provoking and fun art. We're proud to work with these amazing minds.
We've bundled together all 3 LPs that we have remaining in stock from the Polish artists that we have released over the years. Gaijin Blues, sneaky jesus and MLDVA & Cinar Timur.
If you haven't got any of these LPs and want a snapshot of the incredible minds that we have worked with, this is a great moment to grab a bargain!
Includes unlimited streaming of For Chaching Taphed
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
edition of 10
8 remaining
Purchasable with gift card
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Ultra limited edition coloured vinyl pressed in yellow and green.
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
100 copies only for Bandcamp. Not available anywhere else in the World. Each copy is handmade and unique. Printed inner sleeve with collage design.
Includes unlimited streaming of For Chaching Taphed
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
"The album is absolutely brilliant …. I loooove it. Proper futuristic organic chaotic Jazz trip !!!" Laurent Garnier
"A lot of over-hyped improv / jazz projects out there at the moment and sneaky jesus are genuinely excellent and out on their own. The whole set warrants a deep listen from start to finish and watch out for two great guest features from flautist Mariya Mavko and Jakub Kurek bringing some mad fuzz licks to the boisterous closer. Brilliant album." – Quinton Scott, Strut Records
Polish jazz rebels sneaky jesus are back with their second studio album For Chaching Taphed. The highly imaginative quartet out of Wroclaw comprising Maciej Forreiter (Guitar), Matylda Gerber (Saxophones), Ben Łasiewicki (Bass) and Filip Baczyński (Drums) have won fans around the world for their restless, quirky brand of jazz which takes in breakbeats, twisting chord progressions and improvisation as well as a wealth of musical influences.
The band have been touring their asses off ever since they surprised the world with their debut album For Joseph Riddle in 2021. From out of nowhere their debut LP of 500 copies sold out in a month and they quickly went on to sell close to 1,000 CDs of the album. Fast-forward to 2023 and the band are sharing stages with artists such as Ill Considered and Theon Cross.
For Chaching Taphed was created in complete isolation. The group locked itself in a barn at the Museum of Agricultural Technology in Piotrowice Świdnickie. It worked on its sophomore output surrounded by machinery, trucks and carriages. These new compositions mirror the abstract conversations which the group frequently has just for fun. Contrary to For Joseph Riddle, this album is simple and does not rely on ongoing grooves. This enabled the group to be much more experimental. The band was joined by friends Flautist Mariya Mavko on Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) and her playing is sampled in Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace). Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) closes the album featuring Jakub Kurek on trumpet. His fiery solo is one of the most intense moments of the album.
Spacer Po Nadodrzu (A walk around Nadodrze) opens the album and is inspired by one of the districts of Wrocław. It is a sonic story depicting a walk through Nadodrze late at night. A steady bass rhythm imitates a careful pace and the responding sax line is a spooky theme that might pop to oneʼs head in a moment of uncertainty.
The album’s first single Krztusiec (Whooping Cough) finds the group diving head first into their most recent influences. The track starts with drum improvisation, rolling into a solid hip-hop backbeat provided by Ben Łasiewicki on Bass and Drummer Filip Baczyński. Sax and Guitar weave steady but dissonant lines, written by Maciej Forreiter after many hours spent listening to the Ethiopian jazz greats. The track takes off right after that. Matylda Gerber delivers a fiery Sax solo, while the group picks up the tempo and quickens the groove. The essence is the middle section, a dubby collective improvisation. Forreiter, Gerber and Baczyński take turns playing both classic dub phrases and fierce avant grade lines. Łasiewicki keeps everybody in check with a steady bassline. The energy slows down until Baczyński’s drum solo, which explores phrasing detached from the rest of the tune.
Second single Chiński Sprzedawca Smażonych Kasztanów (Chinese roasted chestnut seller) is a fusion of breakbeats, energized songo rhythms and motifs inspired by South African melodies. Presenting the group with spacious and rhythmic horn lines, guitarist Maciej Forreiter wrote a chord progression while Beniamin Łasiewicki and Filip Baczyński took care of the rhythm section. This first part of the track suddenly drops out and explodes into the dramatic main motif which includes double sax and fierce guitar playing in harmony, plus the rhythm section playing more and more jungle-esque. Powerful guitar and sax solos feature before we return to the main theme with a completely different rhythmic backdrop.
W Klatce z Bykiem (In a cage with a Bull), starts like a race. The music plays with an incredible nerve and when the theme is right on edge it suddenly stops. It is followed by an animalistic growl on the saxophone and a doom metal-esque bash of downtuned, distorted guitars and heavy drums. In this heavy fashion it slowly approaches the finishing line hitting one final metallic clang.
Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) features wonderful flute playing of Mariya Mavko (Kadabra Dyskety Kusaje). Her work in the opening motif evokes sounds of Polish and Ukrainian folklore. This brief mellow moment serves as a contrast to the usual frantic sounds of sneaky jesus. It is an appreciation of the polish jazz music of the past, intrinsically-linked to folklore. The band took this idea and reworked it into their own unique style.
Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace) is built on top of a lengthy vamp in an unusual 7/8 time-signature. The bass anchors the quartet in a simple line, while the rest of the quartet share an emotional conversation. This track is the most open of the whole project and it ends accordingly. The final burst is a call back to the basics of spiritual jazz and the whole band shows every emotion simultaneously and gracefully fades out.
Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) is For Chaching Taphed’s conclusion and is a non stop assault of heavy horn lines, punk rhythms and noise. The band is joined by the extraordinary trumpeter Jakub Kurek from EABS, who blends in perfectly with sax and guitar. His exchange of solos with Maciej Forreiter is a combination of classic jazz phrasing and discordant clatter. In the same fierce manner the whole group works within the motif, switching up accents and breaks.
In the short space of two years, sneaky jesus has gone from ambitious upstart looking to break out from its home city playing spit and sawdust venues, to touring Europe as well as prestigious Jazz clubs such as Jassmine in Warsaw. In the process, it has delivered two full-length albums that don’t stay in lane or pander to established jazz sub-genres as so many groups do. Some artists make the same record twice or even more than that, but not sneaky jesus. For Chaching Taphed shows the band as restless, experimental, fun, irreverent but purposeful as never before.
credits
released October 5, 2023
Written by sneaky jesus. See individual credits for details
sneaky jesus - Wrocław (Poland) based quartet, playing out of the box music. Band mixes the sounds of breakbeat, polish
jazz, dub, hardcore punk, psych rock and hip hop with a loose approach and plenty of improvisation.
New album "For Chaching Taphed" available for preorder.
Matylda Gerber - Saxophones
Maciej Forreiter - Guitar
Beniamin Łasiewicki - Bass
Filip Baczyński - Drums...more
supported by 34 fans who also own “For Chaching Taphed”
yes yes yes!!! After transcendant Erozje by Błoto... here you are boys... so so eclectic, now able to reach even the youngest generation, I love U boys as always!!!!
... kikanina
supported by 34 fans who also own “For Chaching Taphed”
The first track is a bit of an outlier, perhaps connecting back to earlier albums where jazz foundations lead the way, before going all out berserk with the beats, beats, and beats. Bass and electronics are now the mainstays over the hip-hop influenced rhythms. But the horns are still layered back in with style. I initially passed this over, but the Szlam / Ścieki tracks blew my socks off and in desperation for more, I was led back to this. I can't wait to see where Błoto go next. rvss.eel
