Karol Schwarz's debut compact All Stars can be called a revelation of the Polish alternative - and without any sweaty, journalistic excitement.

In a way, "Greatest Hits" is an album that I asked our Polish alternative scene for in silent prayers. With a lot of sense of humor - but tasteful and quick-witted; You don't feel like when you listen to a drunken student telling you a joke about bowel movements that you have heard from several other people. The music obviously draws from the achievements of post and math-rock of the last fifteen years - but with its own, distinctive feel and sound. It doesn't even bother that one doesn’t need divination skills to imagine the band members’ CD shelves or mp3 directories - unlike, for example, Emade. And here you can hear Tortoise, Can from a later period (albums "Landed" or "Saw delight"), Americana, albums from Thrill Jockey ... I do this counting out of my journalistic duty. Karol Schwarz is not epigones - it is an efficient, cohesive band with a specific vision of their music. They can play a number with silly lyrics like "Mustache" - but it turns into a fantastic, dreamy composition, with lovely guitar space in the background and with soft "broken Casio" clicks in the foreground. You practically do not listen to the words - the song is soaring, it has harmoniousness, flow, aura and nobility - which is impossible to find in the musical backgrounds of Zara stores that offer Futro or Silver Rocket. The best moment on the album, however, is "Simply straight" - a track in which Schwarz climbs to the highest level of spatial, soft, dub flight. A worldwide thing - and the band is probably aware of it, since they sing one verse in English and the other in Polish. What's more, Karol Schwarz Allstars are able to transform German folk music or Nine Inch Nails into their own coherent musical language - showing that they are far from cheap eclecticism. Karol Schwarz, with his fantastic, warm, low sound, and delightfully obvious patents on playing, is a band that knows how to play.

Apparently, "Greatest Hits" is a collection of the best songs from five self-released albums - the biggest advantage of this CD is that you don't feel it at all. "Greatest Hits" is a fantastically coherent thing - you do not feel any clashes, cutscenes, tactics of stuffing as much material as possible here. This is another proof of the musical adulthood of the band. To sum up - compress all your inspirations into one consistent whole, create a recognizable sound and create good and tasteful compositions - this is great art for a Polish alternative band. Karol Schwarz have a great future ahead of them. And everything would be really good, if not for the terrible drawing on the cover of the album. Let's hope that the next one will have a better graphic design - I have no doubts that it will be released. As well as the fact that in some time Karol Schwarz Allstars in the Polish alternative will be a phenomenon like the unforgettable Something Like Elvis; by the way, their last album, "Cigarette Smoke Phantom", is, when writing about "Greatest Hits", the best reference point when it comes to class and expressiveness of the material.

_{Jakub Żulczyk o2.pl}