Kinsky, Copula Mundi. SPV Poland/Requiem Records 104 | 2015. Premiere: 1993. Re-edition: 2015. Medium: Compact Disc
The Kinsky band, which was created in 1992, existed only for six years and recorded only one album, but, perhaps thanks to this, it has become the legend of underground rock music in Poland. Its music is most frequently described as a combination of noise rock, industrial rock and avant-garde rock. The band consisted of four musicians, philosophy students of the University of Warsaw, using the pseudonym von Paulus. In December 1993, the band's Copula Mundi album was released by the Polish branch of the German SPV company.
The album was re-issued by Requiem Records, known to High Fidelity readers from Rudnik's box. Grzegorz Sawa-Borysławski remastered the material and the graphic design has been changed completely. The album has the form of a small book (a little smaller than a 7" single), featuring archival photographs, the history of the band and a reproduction of press articles. The whole album has a unique character—it is one of the most interesting releases of this type, not only in Poland. This impression is reinforced by the expensively made cover, with the band logo cut through it. The album was released in a limited number of 500 copies.
SOUND
It is not easy to write a review of an album which was badly recorded and contains music that ostentatiously breaks with sophisticated studio techniques. Fortunately, looking at punk music from the perspective of sound quality has become easier since re-editions of Sex Pistols' albums were released in Japan on the best kind of CDs ever invented so far—the expensive Platinum SHM-CD.
When seen in this way, the re-edition of the Kinsky's album is very, very good. The dynamics is not very high and there is no point in talking about resolution. However, the album still gives us a kick, it has the drive, rhythm and power. The treble is not featured, but sound suppression has been avoided. We can hear very nice selective bass from time to time and quite low, full sound of the drum pedal. It is very hard to adjust suitable tonal balance for such music and I am impressed by what the person responsible for remastering managed to do here. The album as a whole, i.e. the music, design and sound deserve to be applauded.
PS
At the end of 2015, Kinsky was reactivated and released a single entitled 92.96.15.
Sound quality: 5/10
Remaster: 10/10
