Krakow

There are two bands called Krakow: 1) Krakow is a Metal / Experimental / Ambient band from Bergen. The band consists of Kjartan Grønhaug, René Misje, Frode Kilvik and Ask Ty Ulvhedin Arctander and has existed since the fall of 2005. The members of Krakow is very active in the music scene in Bergen. Besides being a member of the Krakow, guitar player Kjartan Grønhaug plays bass Havarikommisjonen and Frode Kilvik is the bassist in the blackmetal band Vithr. Ask Ty Arctander also plays drums in Kampfar and Mondvolland. Krakow debuted in 2007 with the self-produced EP Dusty Roads, then came the self-produced EP Coronated King in 2008 and the debut album Monolith was released in 2009. Monolith was released on the band's own label White Elephant Recordings, with distribution in Norway by Indie Distribution. Monolith is also distributed in Belgium and the Netherlands via Freebird Records, and in the U.S. through Allthatisheavy.com. In conjunction with the Above and Beyond Festival 2011 Krakow released the 7" split Drifter / Molten Planet with Resonaut from Trondheim. The band released the single Firefly digitally in the winter of 2011. Krakow is also contributing on the Enslaved tribute album Önd - A Tribute To Enslaved. This will be out of Pictonian Records in the fall of 2012. Krakow has recorded a version of the song Center of Enslaved album Vertebrae. Krakow's newest album, diin, was completed in December 2011, planned for release in August 2012. Krakow has done about 100 gigs throughout southern Norway and large parts of Europe. From the 5´th of November to the 20´th of December 2008, Krakow supported Enslaved and Audrey Horne as part of the Vertebrae European Tour 2008. Krakow toured Europe again from the 27´th May to the 9´th of June 2011, this time for Vreid, Kampfar and Secrets of the Moon as part of The Black Path Tour 2011. Musically Krakow committed to stretching musical boundaries and challenge the listener. The music is moody, dark, yet beautiful and varies between being fast and aggressive, to be heavy and hypnotic. Styles mentioned is doom, metal, post-rock, ambient and psychedelic. Bands Krakow often get compared with are Ulver, Motorpsycho, Enslaved, Hawkwind and Neurosis. 2)Krakow started in 1999 in the apartment of Piet de Pessemier. He was forced to play softly not to wake the neighbors and this way of composing suited him perfectly. Pretty soon Gert Cools and Wim Grosemans joined him and provided the necessary musical backbone with bass and drums. As a trio they steadily kept on working on songs and soon they figured the sound lacked a female voice. A problem quickly solved, when Niné Chipolletti joined the band. With her fragile voice she manages to move the audience over and over again. Soon the first concerts were booked. The continuously improving compositions and their most important trademarks, simplicity? and vocal harmony always seemed to convince the audience. Their title-less debut EP sold very well after concerts and was consequently soon sold out. Nevertheless Krakow decided not to press any extra copies, because they had noticed a certain change in their way of playing. Even more fragile and sensitive. After a series of concerts Wim decided in 2004 to leave Krakow, due to personal reasons. Bart Ivens was to replace him. Bart was already a fan for a long time and had been playing with Gert in another band called Burtis Asla. Since one of the original members was already being replaced, Piet saw the time fit to look for a second guitar player as well.Wim Smets, who creates the samples and soundscapes in the band Willo the Wisp, seemed to be the right man for the job and his sound proved to be the perfect match for Krakow. Even as a fivesome Krakow strictly sticks to its own rules of simplicity and restraint, even if the last one is sometimes disturbed by a huge wall of sound. Nevertheless Krakow always holds on to its basic rule: ?Always play slowly Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.