L.Stadt

If you’re anywhere in the vicinity of Toronto, you’ll know that the city has been taken over by a mob of musicians and music fans who, by this time, are hungover and extremely sleep-deprived. Such are the rituals of Canadian Music Week.
With more than 800 acts from all over the planet in the midst of a five-day gigging marathon, the greatest challenge (next to preserving liver function) is figuring out which acts to see. Here are a few more recommendations for the home stretch from now until Sunday night.

Among 9 one was:
L. Stadt: This Polish band is not only one of the more popular rock acts in Eastern Europe, but also one of the most-hyped for this month’s SXSW Festival in Texas. Think Led Zeppelin + late-era Beatles + Wilco. http://www.lstadt.com.

Alan Cross , Canadian Music Week - metronews

Polish vintage rockers mix in blues-rock with a hint of rockabilly. Jon Spencer meets Chuck Berry. - Paste Magazine

The next installment of the Discover The Undiscovered band roster features L.Stadt from Poland. The members of the band met in Strasbourg in 2003. Raised under the influence of rock music, these young men decided that you “can’t be a prophet in your own back yard”, so L.Stadt is going out playing beyond the borders of Poland. L.Stadt harmoniously fuses modern rock with old school. Their songs feature powerful electric guitar, the energetically pulsating rhythms of two drummers, and the vocals of Lukasz Lach, which seem to float straight out of scratched vinyl records of The Velvet Underground. . L.Stadt is at the forefront of the of rock music scene in Poland and has scooped up a multitude of awards within a span of a few years. FILTER was pleased to present L.Stadt at the Culture Collide festival in Echo Park and we look forward to hearing their upcoming record. - FILTER Magazine

We've introduced you to this Lodz-based quartet last year, by the time we first heard about them. This year, L.Stadt are back, now with their self-titled debut album.

L.Stadt comes together with a total of 13 tracks (including an hidden track). Among these, some of the songs they got us used to (March, Fagot Eyes, Wait, Gore and Velvet) and a bunch of new tracks, including our favourites Loosing, Macca, Londyn and 13 (the hidden track, a very interesting experimental episode).

Like before, these four lads are still difficult to put on a shelf. Their music, more than before, is a colourful sound pallet, drifting among the likes of the Brian Ferry, Leonard Cohen, The The, Velvet Underground, Robert Palmer, Beck and Damon Albarn's band, Blur.

Combining pop and soul scented melodies with more experimental rock tunes, guitar driven tracks with drums meet percussion side clashes, Prince look-a-like whispered sensite sexy chorus with strong and deep cavernous vocals, Lukasz Lach, Adam Lewartowski, Radek Bolewski and Andrzej Sieczkowski deliver within this L.Stadt one of the most mature debuts I've seen around. Influences and comparisons aside, this is a hell of a debut!!!!

This is a record that will have you playing it loud and repeatedly. Songs like Marsz, with its percussion-set tempo (this band plays with drums and percussion simultaneously) and the soulful chorus, the keyboard-driven melody swirls and Beck inspired backgrounds of Macca, the low-paced cinematic pop hymn Wait, the happy merry-go-rounds Londyn and Akademia and, last but not least, the sonorous exercise at track 13, will keep sounding inside your head after the first time you listen to them..... and in case you catch them live, then, it will even be worse....
- Music@PL.PT

What do you get when you combine Led Zeppelin with the Avett Brothers and Abbey Road-era Beatles?
Combining the rock wisdom of Robert Plant, the folky melodies of throwback indie and the psychedelic tunes of the Fab Four are Polish rockers L.Stadt, one of the most interesting and exciting buzz bands to come off the continent and to this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX.
The quartet, which was named the best rock band in Poland after releasing its debut album in 2008, plays modern chords with a decidedly old-school flavor. The trance notes and electronic beats of “Macca” combine with the alternately Janis Joplin-esque wailing and deep purring growl of vocalist Lukasz Lach – think Muse meets Leonard Cohen. Their single “Ciggies” has a decidedly bluesy, Zombies-influenced 60s edge while “Superstar” could be an homage to the gravelly and eccentric stylings of Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs. - LP33.tv

The Polish music scene has long needed something fresh, and not just a new band but a different perspective on music. Enter L.Stadt, who are difficult to pigeon-hole into a single existing category by labelling them just another, for example, rock band.


Their debut disc is a melange of various styles, from garage to rock via soul, pop and a whole spectrum of other combinations mixed with 60s, 70s and 80s influences. After all, it would not even be possible to create something predictable and run-of-the-mill with two percussionists in the outfit, and in Lódz, which is considered Poland’s breeding ground for underground musicians.
But, on to the details. The disc contains thirteen songs, five of which were heard by those lucky enough to get their hands on the promotional EP. Polish vocals appear in just one of the songs, “Londyn”, which recounts a supposedly true story from several years ago. The remaining numbers are strictly sung in English, and Lukasz Lach’s skilful delivery along with the backing choir at times remind us of bands from the West along the lines of Blur. On top of that, it is all contained in a creatively designed package.
To their advantage, L.Stadt do away with all the unnecessary tedium - none of the songs exceed four minutes in length. It’s an interesting approach which surely encourages repeated listens, each of which reveals new layers in the diverse soundscapes the band presents us. And here, we arrive at the essence of the record – literally all of the songs are different and each is driven by a unique tonality of the vocals, instruments and electronics, all subtly placed exactly where they should be and arranged in a way that avoids cheap clichés. The dusty production style endows the record with a sound reminiscent of old vinyl. This is all part of the concept by the band members themselves, who sought a label which would give them the freedom to realize their creative vision. And it worked. Their courage and patience paid off, and the freshness of their latest offering sends a tingle down the spine with excitement. This is most easily noticed with the chill-out vocals of “Gore”, the dark, swaying and softly-whispered “Go Now”, the falsetto and guitar driven “Macca”, and the duet between Lukasz and Iza Lach on “Superstar”. And the rest? It’s how it is with a truly great film. I won’t give away the ending because the pleasure lies in discovering it for oneself. In the case of L.Stadt, it is an unrelenting delight. The sceptics may groan that sounds like these have been common round the world for many years. And that’s true, but as L.Stadt were the first to bring this to the Polish market with such success, they must have that “something” which can catapult fringe sounds to the mainstream.
Aleksandra Fratczak
- Polish Radio 3

The next band up is a band from Poland that manages to catch me by surprise. The lead singer has got a hairstyle that’s a testament to the power of extra strength hairspray and the band is rocking the sunglasses at night look with an air that betrays very little irony. But when L Stadt turn on the amps and start rocking out, I realize that I’m having fun. Sometimes the tone of the band is blues based rock and roll with the guitar solos to go along with it, or sunshiney psychedelia like in “Ciggies” which the lead singer tells us is “a song about the cigarettes”. Other times it takes a turn into the darker waters of punk rock territory, or in some weird instances like song “Death Of A Surfer Girl” both surf and punk rock. It’s kind of an interesting choice of sound considering that Poland is a landlocked country, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun too and I can’t help letting go and dancing to the last song. We pick up an LP to listen to when we get home, but its older material and doesn’t feature many of the songs that we heard at the show – which is a little disappointing. - Music Vice