TOC & PAULINA OWCZAREK - PSYCHEDELIC JELLY

Toc loves encounters. And saxophonists.
Alongside saxophonist Paulina Owczarek, the trio crafts a music composed of desynchronized layers, a mille-feuille of raw energy where rhythms are both suggested and suggestive. By exploring autonomous temporalities, the musicians naturally converge, with the saxophone finding its place seamlessly within Toc’s improvised kraut maelstrom, where one might even glimpse a few psychedelic jellyfish, a flapjack octopus, or a harp sponge.
Regularly crossing paths between Poland and France, the four artists take every opportunity to deepen their rapport, like on that December Saturday in 2023, when they recorded their first LP live in front of an audience.

Toc is an improvised music trio that thrives on energy, repetition, power, and electric sound. Their music, difficult to categorize, gravitates towards free-rock, krautrock, a certain avant-jazz, and noise.

Toc never plays the same thing twice, as suggested by the title of one of their albums (“Will Never Play These Songs Again” 2018). They can’t help but reinvent themselves every time, always experimenting with new quirks that emerge from their recent tours.

Despite not giving up on being part of the broader music industry, the three musicians continuously reinvent their hypnotic free-pop, enhancing their intoxicating and radiant rhythms with a touch of haunting kraut jazzcore, producing ephemeral yet highly addictive hits.

As their name might suggest, the members of Toc are somewhat obsessive, even compulsive. Their frenetic and ritualized behaviors, though not contagious, guide the listener through a space-time in effervescence before bringing them back to solid ground in a somewhat altered state.

After forays into the acoustic far North (“The Theory Of Constraints” 2024, “Qeqertarsuatsiaat” 2015) and the swampy bayou (“Air Bump” 2016), with a few notable guests (such as Dave Rempis on “Closed For Safety Reasons” 2021), enriched by numerous concerts, experiments, side projects, and collaborations, Toc regularly returns with fervor to its electric and urban roots.

Unclassifiable and engaging, Toc has been challenging minds since 2008.

Paulina Owczarek – saxophonist and improviser, graduated from the Academy of Music in Krakow. She plays the alto and baritone sax. Interested mainly in free improvisation, she also performs contemporary chamber music, having premiered numerous new works for saxophone in Poland.

She is an active member of improvised and experimental music scene, curating and taking part in Krakow free improv projects (such as Institute Of Intuition, Muzykoterapia) and international festivals of contemporary and improvised music (Ad Libitum, Sacrum Profanum, Berlin Jazz Festival, Hurta Cordel, Musica Electronica Nova, Ostrava Days, Lublin Jazz Festival, AudioArt, Sound Exchange, Krakow Jazz Autumn, Mirror Mirror, Discordian Community Riot, No Woman No Art, Unsound, Soundance, Saalfelden Jazz Festival).

The founder and conductor of Krakow Improvisers Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to conducted improvisation. Currently she is also involved in groups such as Morświn, Cranky Ego, WOO, Quadrilateral Exchange, Human.error, Dust Mite Paradise, Figa, Open House, Ute von Bingen and Sambar.

She has been a member of Stare Taśmy, OCHO, London Improvisers Orchestra and Satoko Fuji Orchestra; she has worked with theatres and has improvised with poets, dancers and painters.