Maciej Paszkiewicz est originaire de Pologne. Plus connu sous le nom d'Undermathic, il cumule les talents de batteur, pianiste et guitariste, et apparaît comme l'un des projets les plus singuliers de la maison Tympanik. En deux ans l'homme a sorti deux superbes albums, Return To Childhood (ici) et 10:10PM (ici), interrogeant sans cesse l'équilibre entre pulvérisation rythmique et sensibilité éclatante. Ce troisième opus a ceci de particulier qu'il regroupe ce qui a précédé ces albums, 13 titres que Undermathic a composé entre 1999 et 2006, qui ne devaient jamais voir le jour, et qui finalement forment Deleted (1999-2006). L'inverse aurait été hautement regrettable.

 Lorsque nous lui avons demandé un titre pour notre compil' When Light's Drillin' The Haze (ici), Maciej a accepté en précisant qu'il ne créait pas d'IDM/indus, et que d'ailleurs il n'aimait pas ça. Aussi sa musique se prête très mal aux catégorisations. Si Return.. et 10:10PM développaient des aspects parfois abruptes et écorchés, on réalise que ses premiers travaux sont emprunt de douceur, d'une poésie ténue, filée de sentiments vaporeux. La stratification complexe des couches instrumentales, propre au musicien, vous aspire dans des continuum mélodiques dont on ne voit la fin. Souvent downtempo, le travail du rythme jouit d'une exécution millimétrée, d'une production impeccable. La densité des flux, la sensation de beat gazéifié et l'atterrante beauté de ces mélodies changeantes assiègent et maîtrisent l'auditeur. La sophistication et cette fougue à peine contenue peuvent évoquer les oeuvres de Ginormous. Telle une sorte d'électronica concrète et hors du temps, la musique que composait Undermathic dans les années 00's procure des perceptions à la fois chaotiques, planantes et extatiques. Les lacérations métalliques crissent à ne plus en finir, les cordes s'égrènent, inaccessibles, et, telles des lucioles, les synthtones volettent et font briller l'espace. S'il était sorti aujourd'hui ou il y a quinze ans, cet album aurait très probablement eu les mêmes effets. L'utilisation mesurée de matériel analogique est du meilleur goût et  il émerge à l'occasion des tonalités propres à l'électronique des 90's (le génial I'm Waiting).

Mais avant la volupté, Deleted s'ouvre sur la rumeur autiste des bruits d'une usine, Mechanical Steering ou un va-et-vient oppressant soulevé par l'inquiétant reflux des nappes. Pour ma part, l'album ne démarre vraiment que deux titres après, à partir de Popmusic. Là tout s'enchaine, et quand vient l'ardente apogée de l'album, on est happé à un point hallucinant. Tel un Big City Nights épuré, ralenti et céleste, Parallel est un morceau qui va au-delà du sublime. Alors que les drums semblent galoper sur du velours, un prisme distille des gouttes lumineuses, tachant un voile d'ambient noir de nostalgie... Puis les perles se succèdent, sans temps mort. Drugi Breg, Film, Moyen Age, l'incroyable Sagarmatha et Far From You éclaboussent l'album de leurs divins antagonismes.

 
Il est fascinant de découvrir le passif d'un musicien. Lorsque celui-ci s'avère aussi hors du commun, on en vient à se demander pourquoi ces pépites dormaient en solitaire depuis une dizaine d'années sur un disque dur polonais. On peut maintenant exprimer toute notre gratitude envers Undermathic pour les avoir réalisées, à Paul Nielsen pour sortir ce splendide album en téléchargement gratuit.

On the tenth of October last year (quite literally 10/10/10) and almost exactly one year after his debut album Return To Childhood Tympanik Audio released 10:10PM, Polish electronic composer Maciej Paszkiewicz’s second full length as Undermathic. His debut album was widely reviewed and rightly praised for its intensity and towering layers of dense and earthy sound, but one of the criticisms leveled at Return to Childhood was that in spite of the brilliance of the production, the musical composition was sometimes lacking, many tracks following a basic and rather repetitive verse/chorus/verse/chorus structure that lacked progression.

10:10PM doesn’t just address this issue, it stamps it into a fine paste and buries it in the ground, which then claws its way back up from beneath the silt and soil to emerge, blinking, into the dazzling, multi-coloured glow of “Big City Lights,” blasting away the melodic cul-de-sacs to reveal glittering city skylines, streets bustling with pedestrians, streaming traffic, the distant sounds of building construction/destruction muffled by the wind channeled between dirty high-rise buildings. Tanner Volz and Britt Parrott’s video for the track documents precisely the kind of visuals the album evokes all on its own: slow motion shots of downtown buildings passing by, views through the windows of restaurants, bars, shops and office blocks, the faceless masses of a sprawling urban conurbation streaming past through markets, nightclub exteriors, any random street… brilliantly capturing the sense of anonymity and isolation one can feel in such spaces.

“Big City Lights” is a killer opener and probably the finest track on 10:10PM but everything on this release is fueled by a similar panoramic claustrophobia and there’s a new take on Undermathic’s swirling, soupy composition in every track. “Quantum Theory,” for example, announces itself with a repeated, grandiose synth horn that’s a veritable call to arms, then unleashes shimmering synth keys, dry, bassy vocal pads and chalky percussion to kaleidoscopic effect, and “I Remember” expertly mixes the kind of warm, flowing ambient washes one would expect to hear on a Global Communication album with early System 7 post-rock guitar riffs to surprisingly compelling effect.

In fact the classic Undermathic verse/chorus structure does make an appearance once or twice here, notably in the moments of shimmering ambiance counterpointed by the thunk/clunk of intricate beatwork on “Searcher” or the gleaming arpeggios alternated with scraping clangs/clanks on “Alternative Timeline,” but as demonstrated by the formers’ vocal pads and arpeggiated keys or the sweeping strings of the latter, there’s always progression and new elements thrown in from beginning to end, creating a far less abstract experience than on his previous full length. 10:10PM is packed with classically composed melodies rather than programmatic constructs and loops that all contributes to the highly visual nature of the work.

In spite of all this urban intensity, Undermathic knows when to offer the listener the chance to take a breather, affording time and space to regroup, as on “Saiph” as fizzling crackle, low end rumble, the distant screech of tyres on tarmac, more construction clanging and an underpinning wave of soothing strings provide as much calm as the environs of 10:10PM‘s city-scapes will allow before the rhythmic engines and machinery of the title track turn over.

Even in the very latter stages of the album, Undermathic is still reinventing and mutating his sound and the narrative structure of the album kicks into an even higher gear. The almost Wip3out-styled rolling synths of computronic “Level III” propel the listener on a high speed race out of the city through the dusty chimes, harps and sea spray of “7 Years” down to the wave-drenched shores of the “Sea,” the calling of seagulls the last thing one hears at the end of this great escape.

An absolutely archetypal release for Tympanik Audio, 10:10pm oozes confidence and conviction, delivering in spades everything a good, accessible electronic record should with such aplomb it’s actually hard to criticize in any constructive way because it literally doesn’t put a foot wrong for the duration. Undermathic has crafted something in 10:10PM that is naturally compelling, intense and narrative without being demanding or exhausting, the ever-changing pacing and mood handled with such style and subtlety that it is barely noticeable, making this one of the most straight-through listening experiences in the label’s history.

It feels a bit peculiar. Didn’t I write about an album titled 10:10pm  before? This feeling reminds me of that moment in the night, when you wake up at a seemingly random time, yet the alarm clock always beams in red, 10:10pm. Undermathic did in fact record the same titled album before he was signed to Tympanik, but it was a self-released album, at times lacking the self confidence and pride that an independent label can provide. From the composition and production perspective, the sophomore release by this Poland native Maciej Paszkiewicz, offers the listener a transparent view into the world of multiple dimensions and spectrum of sound. Complex textures and sonic treatments blanket the surface sprinkled with rhythm and intricate percussion, until the central theme seeps through and carries you away with its cinematic undertones, and you hear the seagulls by the beach, and forget that you are merely on a commuter train with a screaming baby in the seat behind you. With the album’s “massive washes of ambiance and infection beatwork mixed with brooding melodies and heavy synth lines,” the second album by Undermathic for the label is a lot more mature than his previous, Return To Childhood (2009). I will definitely continue keeping my eye on the music from Undermathic, as this artist continues to develop his inevitable brilliant future.

Polish electronic producer Maciej Paszklewicz first emerged under the Undermathic alias back in 2009 with his impressive debut album ‘Return To Childhood’ on Tympanik Audio, and just over a year later this follow-up ’10:10PM’ sees him continuing to craft lush, brooding soundscapes that fuse dark ambience with the distant pulse of contorted rhythms. In many senses, the eleven tracks gathered here see Paszklewicz bringing an increasingly smooth edge to his productions, and while there’s still the odd crunching abrasive element to be found here, ’10:10PM’ feels distinctly more flowing and driven by synth atmospheres than its predecessor. As the title suggests, there’s also a distinctly nocturnal feel to all of the tracks here, making this a collection best listened to late at night through headphones. Opening track ‘Big City Nights’ offers up what’s perhaps this album’s most extrovert and crunching moment as steel-plated hiphop rhythms wander against brooding orchestration and twinkling electronic effects, offering up a taste of the same sorts of martial, post-’Mezzanine’ influences in play on ‘Return To Childhood’.

‘Quantum Theory’ meanwhile sends things gliding out into seven minutes of crystalline synth ambience, as fluttering techno snares and rich washes of twinkling synthetic orchestration build a sense of widescreen prog-ambience that feels curiously closer to the likes of early eighties Tangerine Dream, vast bass synth notes and all. Elsewhere, ‘Alternative Timelines’ traverses a similar prog-ambient informed path, but manages to turn the levels of doomy foreboding up a few notches, as eerie ringing tones and delicate minor key arrangements slowly wind themselves up around a crunching backdrop of slow industrial rhythms and majestically ominous synth orchestration, while the eight minute long ‘I Remember’ sees oceanic washes of ambient pads unfurling like smoke beneath intricate buzzing rhythms and what sounds like treated guitar chords, evil synths beginning to worm their way into the mix at points before things uncoil back out into a blissfully planktonic crawl. An excellent second album from Undermathic that, alongside Dirk Geiger’s recent ‘Autumn Fields’ collection, highlights the more ambient and contemplative side of the Tympanik Audio label roster.

Chris Downton

Secondo album, ad un anno esatto dall'ammirevole debut "Return To Childhood", per il solo-project polacco, recente scoperta dell'ottima Tympanik, autentico faro del fiorente panorama IDM col suo gettito continuo di uscite di qualità e spessore. Con - se possibile - ancor più raffinatezza melodica, più intensità ed un beatwork saggiamente meno abrasivo rispetto alla ruvidità di fondo che marchiava il debut, il bravo Maciej Paszkiewicz compie un ulteriore significativo passo verso la piena maturità, rifinendo al meglio - fra le splendide melodie che dipingono i vari quadri sonori - intrecci sinfonici di enorme pregio, spesso costruiti sfruttando archi dai toni drammatici e partiture toccanti. Il Nostro regala all'ascoltatore momenti di rara bellezza strumentale e di grande carisma come l'inquietante, meccanico ed onirico incedere di "Alternative Timelines", la raffinatezza di "Quantum Theory" coi suoi magici passaggi sospesi e la maestosa drammaticità di "Saiph" e della conclusiva "Sea", col supporto di una produzione estremamente calzante e curata sin nei minimi dettagli. Undermathic si rivela quindi una graditissima conferma, compiendo un importante passo in avanti in vista di quel capolavoro che, già ai tempi dell'esordio, è sembrato essere nelle potenzialità venture del musicista polacco: sperando che ciò coincida già col prossimo, fatidico terzo album, non possiamo esimerci dal consigliare vivamente l'opera in esame, ennesimo gioiello targato Tympanik e sbocco creativo verso nuove forme di elettronica intelligente ed emozionante nelle sue preganti dimensioni melodiche.

Roberto Alessandro Filippozzi

For me this is a hotly awaited follow up to debut ‘Return To Childhood’; opening with the massive, driving ‘Big City Nights’ that takes you on a journey invoking images that the title suggests. Like a passenger on a journey looking through the back window of a car the listener is drawn in as a watcher of humanity as they soar past neon lights and crowds of people going about their business.
What I truly appreciate with Undermathic are the huge soundtrack like structures that have a depth and range that takes many an artist years to get to grips with; however on ’10:10’ this appears to come to this act, still within its infancy as a project, with consummate ease.
Tracks seamlessly flow into tracks and the concept is not lost throughout this latest affair; indeed its immediately recognised as one long story and if you will, one long song broken up into eleven parts, or so it appears.
There are some genuine contemplative moments on this new release such as ‘I Remember’, but its not alone in capturing emotions with its introduction of lead guitars to add to the truly epic qualities that much of this album wears on its sleeve; there is an underlying emotion that transcends much of the album and in turn this reeks of quality from the moment you hit play until the waves filter away as ‘Sea’ ends your journey, from your starting point where you headed out on a long nights drive away from a busy metropolis.
9.5/10

It seems like the Tympanik label has gone on a releasing spree, as I have many more CDs from to review this time around than any other label. One thing you can be sure of, whatever they release is going to be interesting in some way or another, and such is the case with Polish composer Maciej Paszkiewicz's Undermathic project. This is expansive cinematic ambient electronic/orchestral music with dense rhythms and a broad sound palette. Right from the opening track, 'Big City Nights,' you know you're in for a treat. There is quite a bit going on in its dense layering, that it make take a few listenings to fully grasp the subtleties. It is dark, modern noirish and delicious, foreshadowing what's to come.

There is a futuristic Blade Runner-esque ambience running through some of the tracks'¦an urban Sci-Fi environment without many of the clichés you might expect. As Vangelis realized with his Blade Runner score, the sound is huge and sprawling, yet intimate. There is so much attention to detail that one can't but help marvel at the composer's compositional and studio skills. The rhythms are inventive, compelling and well-used; the melodic content intricate and never overly repetitive; the instrumentation elaborate but never cluttered. It is dramatic to the max, and captivates your attention even when it seems as though there is little going on.

The sequencing, where used, is marvelous. You barely even notice that parts are sequenced, they so natural and blended within the structure of the tracks. The sonic palette of Undermathic is unbelievable too. Obviously a lot of money was invested in sound software, and it shows. This is beyond orchestral; this is something else! Composers like Steve Roach, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Hans Zimmer could learn a thing or two from Undermathic. No theme is beaten to death or wears out its welcome on '10:10PM' Everything is continually evolving and transforming. The integration and the flow from one piece to the next is virtually seamless. It's dramatic and emotionally stirring, and even romantic in places. Game designers and film producers would do well to seek out Undermathic as the music so conducive to visual enhancement and story.

I am in awe of this album, impressed all over again with every listening. I hear no flaws, and there is not one iota I would change or do differently. This is THE album of 2010. You would really be doing yourself a disservice not to own it.

Review by: Steve Mecca

Travel through any busy metropolis and, while you may be fortunate enough to find moments of relative calm, for the most part it's difficult to escape the noise , information overload and even a sense of menace.
Despite attempts to accommodate human needs, these man-made cityscapes are often cold, harsh places. As centres of production and movement, the effect of the oversaturated technological culture is frequently disturbing.
Poland's Maciej Pasziewicz knows all this and with his second album he gives us a soundtrack that may not entirely console us but shows that something epic and vital can be crafted from this environment.
He has produced an ambient work firmly rooted in 21st century which takes us on a journey deep into the heart of the city yet offers enough breathing space to keep the human spirit alive.
The epic scale of the opening track sets the tone. This is music manufactured to invade the senses. After pressing 'play', the first instinct is to raise the volume and submit to its power. Big City Nights is the first of eleven tracks which blend seamlessly into each other for a symphonic-like work that should be listened to in its entirety to get the full effect.
Each track is unique yet part of the whole. Quantum Theory and the title track stand out for the sheer density of their synthesised beats yet even these still include melodic and accessible passages. The message seems to be that even in apparent chaos there can be harmony.   
A track like Searcher for instance begins with a relative soft organic pulse with suggestions of choral passages before loud pounding rhythms take over. The dissonance is always set alongside a search for something calmer and more balanced.
The sound of Undermathic has strong elements of dark ambient without drowning the listener in melancholia.
Pasziewicz's first album Return To Childhood in 2009, offered hints that he was capable of such heights yet 10:10pm is an altogether a more mature and satisfying piece of work.
There is nothing which tries to be deliberately abrasive or discordant. The backdrop may be a eerie Lynchian industrial drone but this only helps make the melodic passages glow more brightly.
The album ends somewhat incongruously with Sea, the gentle sound of waves giving a hint that another world is possible beyond the urban bleakness.
10:10pm is a work of art. Released on 10/10/10, it seems wholly appropriate that it should merit a 10 star rating.

Though Undermathic hews to the dark electronic side of the spectrum in a manner to be expected of a Tympanik Audio artist, Maciej Paszkiewicz also proves himself to be a composer who's a cut above the rest. That's certainly apparent on 10:10PM, his follow-up to 2009's Return To Childhood, especially when the Poland-based producer allows the melodic sophistication of his music to come to the fore. Though there's an ample amount of grit and grime under the tracks' fingernails, it doesn't overshadow the compositional artistry on display throughout the hour-long album.

While the recording doesn't separate itself into heavier and softer halves, the opening half does seem a tad more relentless in its intensity and the second half does appear to let a bit more light in. The album's heavy-hitting side is spotlighted during the opening tracks, including the ominous opener “Big City Nights,” which sculpts a dread-filled ambiance when dramatic string figures rise amidst stormy noise squalls and percussive bell strikes. The subsequent “It Is Me” plunges even deeper into the nightmarish undertow when the full force of its mournful song is unleashed in the form of viral synth flurries and hammering percussion. The aggressive rhythms powering “Searcher” likewise hit hard, even though the intensity lets up during a mid-song interlude. An omnipresent sense of threat permeates much of the material, such that “Alternative Timelines” and “Saiph,” for example, begin to sound like death knells when their elements gather into relentless, crushing masses of strings, electronics, and percussion.
But t here's also a powerfully affecting dimension to Paszkiewicz's music too, as borne out by the orchestral string figures that give the title track and the closing “Sea” such emotional gravitas. That side of Undermathic's music is also thoroughly spotlighted during “7 Years” in the elegant piano and string melodies that Paszkiewicz drapes across the tracks' urban metropolis. The Undermathic sound is, to say the least, evocative. As massive quantities of brooding synthesizer melodies and metallic beat patterns stampede through a given track, one pictures rain-drenched city streets riddled with crime and corruption and normal citizens' lives disrupted by anarchy and chaos.

One year after the debut-CD “Return To Childhood” we get a new opus composed by Maciej Paszkiewicz. The least I can say is that this young and talented Polish musician has seriously involved in his global production work. After a promising debut we now get a fully accomplished and alluring release. “10:10PM” opens quite smooth with the very evasive “Big City Nights”. This debut track is however quite pleasant through the rhythmic parts joining in. The progression of the tracks is an interesting item here. Undermathic slowly joins darker fields where the composer injects extra industrial and electro sounds. “Quantum Theory” remarkably shows this evolution while “Searcher” coming next (and this is only the 4th cut) brings the album to an absolute highlight. We can hear a dynamic and great rhythmic part with a rather wafting sound structure. A next and absolute climax is joined on “10:10PM”. The title track is pure electronic intelligence. I was deeply impressed by the sounds and elaboration from this cut. The song is also characterized by a fascinating progression while cinematographic sounding strings are like bringing the final touch to this masterpiece! After such a climax it’s not always that easy to keep up the fascination, but Undermathic has a few more cool cuts in stock and “Level III” is one of them. I once more got totally addicted to the heavenly sounds running through the composition. Maclej Paszkiewicz he confirms all his skills in sound research and as a studio producer. Another essential piece is “Sea”. This is the last track from the album and Undermathic ends in a similar way as the opening piece. This track brings us back to pure electro evasion. To release a 2nd album isn’t always easy, but Undermathic successfully achieved in its job. A quite remarkable production, which perfectly fits to the musical aim of Tympanik Audio!
(DP:8)DP.