The “Man with a Golden Ear” award ceremony will take place on 26th October at Wytwórnia Club. This is the culmination of every edition of the Soundedit Festival. So far, thirty-eight outstanding Polish and foreign music producers have received the award. During the 11th Festival, it will be given to: Mick Harvey, Jan Borysewicz, Stanisław Soyka. Two world-famous celebrities join this group: Steve Albini and Craig Leon.
The “Man with a Golden Ear” statuette was designed by graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź Artur Malewski, according to an idea by Maciej Werk, who wanted a “meeting of James Bond and Salvador Dali”. Winners of the “Man with a Golden Ear” award (click here).
This excellent group is joined by two producers who are considered to be true and unruly celebrities in the industry. During the awards ceremony, Steve Albini will receive the “Man with a Golden Ear” for “Timeless Achievements in Music Production”. Craig Leon will receive an award for “Visionary and Pioneering Solutions in Music Production” and will also play the after party on Saturday, 26th October. Both of them will meet with the festival audience. The full workshops schedule can be found here.
Steve Albini – Born in Pasadena in sunny California, an American with Italian roots. Musician, music journalist and sound engineer. His adventure with music began when he started playing bass guitar during his recovery from a broken leg. In high school he took lessons on this instrument and started to be interested in punk rock. Years later, he still emphasises his love for guitars saying that: “good noise is like an orgasm.” He was “infected” with the love for punk rock by his friend. He grew up with the music of such bands as The Stooges, The Ramones and Kraftwerk.
Albini’s best known album is Nirvana’s “In Utero”. It was the last studio album of the band, whose history ended with the tragic death of Kurt Cobain. Nirvana’s himself wanted to work with Steve, who was involved in the creation of several of his favourite albums. Albini was not a fan of Nirvana’s work, but he agreed to cooperate.
Craig Leon – grew up in Florida, where he studied piano playing, composition and musicology privately. He collaborated with local bands, recording as a keyboardist and arranger of R&B and rock albums in various studios, including the Criteria studio in Miami. Leon moved to Manhattan in the early 1970s, where he accepted the position of A&R at Sire Records under the direction of Gottehrer and his partner Seymour Stein. While there, he was responsible for the discovery and early development of Ramones, Talking Heads, Suicide and many other artists. He produced Ramones’ first album and also focused on supporting “risky” European recordings that no one else would publish in the US.
Craig also produced Blondie’s return to the stage – “No Exit” (1999) and worked on albums “Curse of Blondie” (2003), Mark Owen (from Take That), Jean Luc de Meyer, Front242, The Chills, as well as The Fall, Jesus Jones, New Fads, Eugenius and Shonen Knife. It is noteworthy that in 1999 Craig became the only producer in the history of the British charts to release a no. 1 pop single, Blondie – “Maria” and a completely different, classic no. 1 album, Izzy – “Libera Me” in the same year.
The main events of this year’s edition of the Soundedit Festival will take place at Wytwórnia club on 24-27 October 2019. On 24th October (Thursday), local bands Moskwa and Blitzkrieg will play at the Festival. On 25th October (Friday), we will see Nitzer Ebb and DAF will play at Wytwórnia on October 25th (Friday). On October 26th (Saturday), as part of the 11th edition of the Soundedit Festival Misia Furtak, Mick Harvey and Stanisław Soyka will perform. On the same night, the “Man with the Golden Ear” award ceremony will take place. In the morning on October 27th (Sunday), there will be the “Carrot Morning” educational activity block for children, the Recyklofons will play, and there will be a screening of “Jacek and Placek” Participation in the morning is free of charge. In the evening on the same day, the festival audience will meet with Jan Borysewicz, then Lady Pank will play songs from the film “Jacek and Placek”.
Tickets and passes can be purchased at the Wytwórnia Club ticket office (ul. Łąkowa 29, tel.: +42 639 55 55, bilety@wytwornia.pl and in Empik, Media Markt, Saturn stores, and at bilety24.pl and ticketmaster.pl.
I Am The Sound! – I am the sound. I am a tone. I am the music. Welcome to the 11th Soundedit, welcome to Łódź!
Photo: press materials of the organiser