Michal Wolski is a musician, journalist and radio host who’s musical work can be found on his own label Minicromusic Rec. The purpose behind his label is to release soulful music; we were fortunate to get a mix with his interpretation of what this means… It’s a genuine meditative trip!
It’s been about six years since you launched your label Minicromusic Rec. How has things been going for the label during this time?
Yes, it’s quite a lot of time already… It was really wonderful to work with so many musicians on their music — and to spread some of my ideas as well. It’s always a big challenge to take that risk of saying: “Yes, this is the music I would like to share with the audience, this is the quality I would like to support”. Maybe today I would even do some things in a bit different way, but after all, after all of these years I am happy that I was able to support music I love and musicians on their way. So, according to your question — that was a really big adventure. I would make it all again…
Tell us about your philosophy behind your label; what kind of artists, sounds are you aiming to portray?
The main philosophy behind Minicromusic Rec. is to release a soulful music. It’s all about uniqueness, about a story. I am interested especially in a deep/dub oriented techno. I feel that there is still many doors which are waiting to be opened… Let’s see what will happen.
What has been the most important release on Minicromusic so far?
In fact, each release is important for me — every one of them is telling a story which was unique for me at their time. Is it possible to find them still fresh after all of these years? — it all depends on what listeners are looking for. If I would try to find these most special parts of the Minicromusic Rec. catalogue I would pick the “Conglomerate” VA series. This project allows me to show techno music in it’s variety and richness. Since today there are two parts. “Conglomerate 1” was dedicated to dub techno. I wanted to share with the audience different approaches to this rich and complex genre. The second part is dedicated to deep techno – to it’s more contemplative and body-oriented aspects. Work on this kind of compilations is always a great adventure, especially that both of them are quite big: C1 brings music composed by 7 musicians, C2 — 12. Quite a challenge…
You also perform as a radio host on different channels. There are listeners obviously, but would you say that radio is as relevant today as it was in the past?
Internet has changed the way how we spread and consume different content — no matter if we talk about music, movies of news. That’s why there is also a specific, new time for medium such as radio. It’s not easy time, definitely a challenging one, but also very interesting. There are two things which still makes radio magic and unique — human voice and a story. As long as people standing behind a radio program or station will have something interesting to say, as long we will be able to listen to them.
As a producer you might have a combination of a personal and functional component to your work, how important is the balance between these two factors?
This balance you’re asking me for is crucial — it’s all about balance, about finding the point where music is rich and alive on many levels.
Do you procrastinate a lot?
I always do my best to finish task as they should be finished according to the plan… but I know this sweet taste of procrastination. I find sometimes myself procrastinating when there is a list full of tasks or when these are really big. At that moment, when I realize that I do everything except THIS, I simply try to finish one task after another, without dividing them for “important” or “less important”. I have found that method working for me… but sometimes it’s not a piece of cake.
Do you have any new releases, gigs or shows we should be on the lookout for in the near future?
Yes, there is a lot of gigs ahead, also some festivals. Some new releases are almost ready too but it’s a bit too early to tell more about them. I am still working. I hope that you will find these works interesting and worth listening to.
Tell us about the track selection in the mix you did for The Monument Podcast.
My key idea was to create a meditative trip — that was the main direction. As always, track list was changing moment by moment, many times, but finally I have found what I was looking for: deep, focused adventure. I hope you will find here something special for you…
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