First stars announced for 2013 Festival Club: Mike Patton & Tomahawk and Mikołaj Trzaska

This is the news that every fan of the outspoken Mike Patton has been waiting for. One of the most prolific musicians of our era is returning to Poland with Tomahawk, who will perform in Wroclaw on July 22 at Arsenal, the T-Mobile New Horizons Festival Club. This will be Tomahawk’s only concert in Poland. As part of the music scene at the Festival, we will also have a chance to hear the premiere of composer Mikołaj Trzaska’s project on film music called Mikołaj Trzaska Mówi Movie (Mikołaj Trzaska Movie Talks).

The musical star at this year’s 13th T-Mobile New Horizons is going to be Tomahawk, the supergroup led by Mike Patton, an extraordinarily active multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and music producer known mainly for his roles in the rock bands Faith No More and Fantômas. Filling out the group are guitarist Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard, Legendary Shack Shakers), drummer John Stanier (Battles, Helmet, The Mark of Cain) and, as of this year, bassist Trevor Dunn, who has also played with Patton in other groups (Mr. Bungle, Fantômas). Tomahawk’s repertoire will include both classic hard rock and more-refined sounds from the domain of progressive art rock (the group’s songs have been compared to the work of King Crimson). Metal meets post-rock, and the music of North American native peoples blends with experimental rock.

The concert in Wroclaw is part of Tomahawk’s European tour to promote their latest album,  Oddfellows, which fans of the group have been waiting for six years. When the album appeared in stores in January of this year, it was well received by both fans and critics alike.

Mike Patton was a vocalist in the seminal band Faith No More, founded the group Mr. Bungle, and he was the brains behind projects like Tomahawk, Fantômas, and Peeping Tom. He has performed with a large number of musicians and bands, including John Zorn, Sepultura, The Melvins, Björk, Christian Fennesz, The Young Gods and Serge Gainsbourg. He has also made several soundtracks, including for the 2008 film A Perfect Place. Patton was already a guest at the New Horizons Festival in 2010, when he and his group Mondo Cane played at Wyspa Słodowa, performing covers of Italian hits of the 1950s and 1960s.

On July 25, Arsenal will also play host to the premiere of Mikołaj Trzaska Movie Talks, Mikołaj Trzaska’s new international project on film music that was developed especially for the T-Mobile New Horizons Festival. The concert will include songs from the soundtracks to the outstanding films of Wojciech Smarzowski, as well as pieces that did not make it into his soundtracks. Trzaska will be joined on stage by an international group of musicians, including Mark Sanders and Olie Brice  (Riverloam Trio), Per-Ake Holmlander from the Resonance Ensemble and Johannes Bauer of the Peter Brotzmann Quartet. Trzaska is a composer, saxophonist and clarinetist who has worked on a regular basis with Smarzowski, and who has also created music for television shows and Polish documentaries.

Tomahawk and Mikołaj Trzaska are perfect examples of the rich music scene at this year’s T-Mobile New Horizons Festival. Leading artists from Poland and abroad perform at Arsenal every year, including CocoRosie, Peaches, Gonjasufi, Antipop Consortium, Jagga Jazzist, Susanne Sundfør, Skalpel, Gaba Kulka, Ballady i Romanse and Daniel Bloom.

Information about the Festival’s music scene is available at www.facebook.com/NoweHoryzontyArsenal, while information about the Festival can be found at www.nowehoryzonty.pl  and www.facebook.com/MFFNoweHoryzonty.