Bolka

Within the Bratislava scene, Bolka (Matúš Kobolka) is something of a cult figure. His early split release (2012) with Jonáš Gruska on Gruska's label Lom showed a musician combining electroacoustic tradition (or "microtonal glitches") with a sense of bizarre humour. The seemingly shapeless ebb and flow of his compositions made surprising sense; his concerts featured a Wii game controller and homemade software instruments. There was both the knowledge of a sonology graduate from The Hague and the playfulness of a theatre enthusiast. His orange cap became an offline meme. This year's Smutné stropy (LOM), however, takes it a few levels further. Bolka's full-length debut feels like an explosion in a toy store. Piled over each other are autotune trap, emotional songs, fragments of Slovak folk music, radio smash hits and club bangers. It's all wrapped up in a kind of anti-sound design that transcends and subverts the digital hyperrealism of the seminal label Orange Milk in favour of a messy, decidedly Eastern European sound. Bolka proudly dismantles notions of what is proper, functional and tasteful, and makes you dance, laugh and meditate, often at the same time.