Myslovitz is a Polish alternative rock band, whose music incorporates eleme… Read Full Bio ↴Myslovitz is a Polish alternative rock band, whose music incorporates elements of college rock, shoegazing, and - arguably - Britpop (Artur Rojek used to admit Suede as an influence), with a dose of melancholy. Although often dubbed "the Polish Radiohead" by critics, their music is actually more reminiscent of Coldplay and Travis or early Radiohead. From 2003, EMI Records has been attempting to establish them internationally, with considerable support from MTV Europe. As of 2005, Myslovitz are rated as the most popular Polish act abroad. The band take their name from their industrial hometown of Mysłowice in Upper Silesia (Southern Poland).

Guitarist and vocalist Artur Rojek (born 1972) started the band in 1992 as "The Freshmen", taking the initial name from the movie The Freshman starring Marlon Brando - which indicates a fascination with cinema that would become a characteristic feature throughout the band's career. The early phase was characterised by a somewhat debonair punk attitude, as Rojek admits: "I started Myslovitz in 1992. I was twenty then and I had no idea how to make good music. Surely, I was a big fan of a few British groups (Ride, The Stone Roses, My Bloody Valentine, The Housemartins) but I couldn't play the guitar at all. After several months of rehearsals [...] I decided that I should cover the holes in my musical education by [...] chaos (the bigger the better)." [1].

Even so, they soon caught the media's attention, winning several important competitions for young musicians; this enabled them to make their first professional recordings in the studio of Radio Lodz. In 1994, Myslovitz were signed by MJM Music Polska and recorded their self-titled debut album with British producer Ian Harris, who had previously worked for, amongst others, Joy Division, New Order, and The Exploited. Upon its release in 1995, the album received euphoric reviews and was declared "Debut of the Year" by several music magazines. Some critics compared it to Oasis, who were at the peak of their popularity at that time.

In 1996, Myslovitz were joined by a third guitarist and keyboarder, Przemek Myszor, and released the second album Sun Machine on Sony Music Polska. The album spawned two somewhat beatlesque airplay hits - Z twarzą Marilyn Monroe ("With the Face of Marilyn Monroe") and Peggy Brown, the latter being a cover version of a fellow Mysłowice rock band, with lyrics originally by the Irish "national bard" Turlough O'Carolan (in a translation by the Polish lyricist and translator Ernest Bryll).

The following year, the third album Z rozmyślań przy śniadaniu ("From meditiations over breakfast") was released, displaying a tendency towards a more "polished" sound and more introspective lyrics. Also, Myslovitz's now typical fascination with cinema began to take centre stage with numerous allusions and hints in the lyrics and track titles, and a certain "cinematic" atmosphere in the music itself.

The band's interest in cinema also showed in their contributions to soundtracks. In 1998, they recorded the unconventional track To nie był film ("That was no film") for the Polish movie Młode wilki ½ ("Young Wolves ½"). The lyrics referred to a wave of violent crimes committed by juvenile delinquents, which was controversially discussed in Polish mass media in the mid-1990's. The explicit depiction of violence in the lyrics and the accompanying video clip (which later won a Fryderyk award as "Video of the Year") caused further controversy and led Polish broadcasting networks to boycott both the song and the clip.

Also in 1998, Myslovitz had their first appearances abroad with gigs in Sweden, Germany, and the United States.

The final breakthrough for the band came in 1999 with their fourth album entitled Miłość w czasach popkultury ("Love in The Time of Pop Culture"), which went platinum (i.e. 150,000 copies sold) soon and has by now achieved "double platinum" status in Poland. The single Długość dzwięku samotności ("The Length of the Solitude Sound") became the biggest hit for the band so far.

In 2000 Myslovitz again contributed to soundtracks, writing and recording the song Polowanie na wielblada ("Camel Hunting") for the movie Duże zwierzę ("The Big Animal") by the legendary Polish actor and director Jerzy Stuhr, and the single plus another two (previosly unreleased) tracks to director Waldemar Szarek's movie "That's Us" (To my). In 2003 Myslovitz continued their cooperation with Stuhr, creating not only the title song for his movie "Tomorrow's Weather", but also appearing in walk-on roles - as neophyte monks.

In 2002, the follow-up to Miłość..., entitled Korova Milky Bar appeared; the title being an allusion to Stanley Kubrick's classic screen version of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange. Strikingly, the melancholic elements took over almost completely, with both music and (sometimes sarcastic) lyrics creating an almost depressive overall mood. Nonethelss, the album sold even more copies than its predecessor had in the same time, with the singles Acidland and Sprzedawcy marzeń ("Dreamsellers") repeating the success of Długość... three years earlier.

The reason for the new material's popularity, as some critics surmised, was that its atmosphere closely conformed to a presumed resignative-recessive mood within Polish society at large - which guitarist Przemek Myszor seemed to confirm in an interview for the Montreal Mirror: "For us, the Korova Milky Bar [from Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'] is a place where something different may happen to your mind. It's a place like today’s Poland. You know, Poland is a place where very strange things happen to your mind. It's a country full of crisis and everything around you is very sad, very dark, very fucked. There is an economic crisis here. People don't have money, politics are fucked. The lyrics on our record are sad because of this. We sing a lot about being in a strange state of mind" [2].

With Korova Milky Bar, Myslovitz appeared at several festivals throughout Europe, including the big, traditional German festival for Alternative acts (Bizarre) and the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival. Also, they supported Iggy Pop and the Simple Minds on their European tours that year. Also, they received an MTV Europe Music Awards in Barcelona for Best Polish Act, having been nominated twice in previous years.

In November 2002 Myslovitz signed a new contract with EMI's Polish outlet Pomaton. The first album to be released on the new label was an English-language re-recording of Korova Milky Bar, which war released in 27 countries (including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain, Russia, Turkey and South Africa). In addition to the Korova... material, this version also included English versions of older tracks. Długość dzwięku samotności now became a single as The Sound of Solitude (an earlier English version had somewhat awkwardly but more correctly entitled The Length of The Solitude Sound had been a Polish b-side). A video clip for this song was directed Janusz Kaminski, the Polish Hollywood cinematographer who had won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, and had declined an offer from Martin Scorsese in order to work with Myslovitz. Kaminski declares himself a "fan" of Myslovitz, saying "I only work for Spielberg and Myslovitz [...] Money is not a factor in this. What one doesn't do for one's idols!" [3] The clip got frequent plays on MTV Europe and the album received positive reviews in the European music press, particularly in Germany. However, radio airplay was sporadic and largely limited to Alternative programmes (such as John Peel in the UK), as a consequence, Myslovitz so far failed to enter the upper reaches of the charts outside Poland.

Also in 2003, Myslovitz performed with Travis and Skin (of Skunk Anansie fame) on The Road to Edinburgh, where they received another MTV Europe Music Award for Best Polish Act.

The same year, Sony Music domestically released an obligatory end-of-contract compilation album, entitled The Best of. The lead single Kraków was an older song re-recorded with 1970s Polish folk rock stars Marek Grechuta and Anawa.

In the summer of 2004 Myslovitz were touring Europe again, starting with a concert for the German public radio and television broadcaster WDR on the eve of EU enlargement. Apart from headlining smaller venues and playing festival slots (including the largest Swiss open air event in St. Gallen, they again opened for Iggy Pop & The Stooges on their European dates, as well as for The Corrs in the UK and mainland Europe.

In December 2004, EMI released Myslovitz's most recent album entitled Skalary, mieczyki, neonki ("Angelfish, swordtails, neon tetras") - an out-of-schedule release with outtakes from the Korova Milky Bar recording sessions; longish, psychedelic-experimental and mostly instrumental soundscapes with an utterly melancholic mood to them. On Skalary..., Myslovitz appear about as close to the Radiohead reference as they are likely to get; there are also some tangible similarities with Pink Floyd.

At the time, the band had finished recording of their new album "Happiness is easy", which is planned to appear on 12 May 2006. The album will include 13 new songs and the first single promoting it is "Mieć czy być" ("To have or to be"), inspired by the book of the same title by Erich Fromm.

Myslovitz's success arguably contributed to a revitalisation of the Polish alternative rock scene in the late 1990's and early 2000's, which spawned bands such as eM, Kombajn do zbierania kur po wioskach, and Lili Marlene.

Zle mi sie sni
Myslovitz Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Jeden jest bóg miliony barier
Zwycięstwo nauki tłumienie pragnień

Mam już wszystkiego dość
Mam już wszystkiego dość
Kolejna misja szukania życia

I znowu nie mogę zasnąć

Nie mogę gdy
Gdy ciągle złe mi się śni
Gdy ciągle złe mi się śni

Jeden świat tysiące ścian
Święta wojna bez kultura mas

Mam już wszystkiego dość
Mam już wszystkiego dość
Pieprzona misja szukania życia

I znowu nie mogę zasnąć
Nie mogę gdy
Gdy ciągle złe mi się śni
Gdy ciągle złe mi się śni

I budzę się w nocy i biorę prysznic
Rozbity w kawałki z oglądania telewizji
I boję się bardzo boje się ludzi
Gdy wychodzę na ulice a oni tacy dziwni
Grubo ubrani i bez uśmiechu
Patrzą nerwowo w prawo i w lewo
Oni także się boją i patrzą na mnie
Oni boją się mnie a ja ich
Oni boją się mnie
A ja ich
Oni boją się mnie

A ja ich

Oni boją się mnie
Oni boją się mnie

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Myslovitz's song "Złe mi się śni" (translated as "I Have Bad Dreams") convey a sense of frustration, dissatisfaction, and fear in the face of societal barriers and the pressures of conforming to expectations. The song reflects a struggle with the overwhelming weight of life's challenges and the relentless pursuit of happiness and purpose.

The opening lines express the idea that despite the existence of a single God, there are countless barriers and obstacles in the world. The victory of knowledge is juxtaposed with the suppression of desires, suggesting a conflict between intellectual growth and personal fulfillment.

Throughout the song, the repetition of the phrase "I've had enough" emphasizes a sense of weariness and exhaustion from the continuous mission of searching for meaning and fulfillment in life. The lyrics also depict the inability to sleep due to the constant intrusion of bad dreams, which represents the lingering anxieties and worries that haunt the singer's mind.

The second verse introduces the concept of a divided world with numerous walls. It mentions the paradoxical notion of a holy war without cultural understanding or empathy, highlighting the destructive consequences of conflicts driven by ignorance and intolerance.

The latter part of the song describes the feeling of detachment and alienation. The singer wakes up at night, takes a shower to cleanse themselves, feeling shattered from watching television. The fear of people is emphasized, as the streets are filled with strange and unfriendly individuals, dressed peculiarly and devoid of smiles. The singer admits their own fear of others while observing the same fear within those they encounter. This acknowledgement of shared apprehension highlights the underlying theme of isolation and the difficulty of human connection.

The repetition of the final lines reinforces the notion that both the singer and the people they encounter are afraid of one another. This fear reflects a deeper fear of the unknown and the challenges presented by a complex and divided world.

Overall, "Złe mi się śni" delves into the struggles of navigating societal barriers, the quest for personal fulfillment, and the fear and isolation that can arise from such challenges.

Line by Line Meaning

Jeden jest bóg miliony barier
There is only one god but countless obstacles

Zwycięstwo nauki tłumienie pragnień
The triumph of knowledge suppressing desires

Mam już wszystkiego dość
I'm already fed up with everything

Kolejna misja szukania życia
Another mission of searching for life

I znowu nie mogę zasnąć
And again, I can't fall asleep

Nie mogę gdy
I can't when

Gdy ciągle złe mi się śni
When I continually have bad dreams

Jeden świat tysiące ścian
One world, thousands of walls

Święta wojna bez kultura mas
Holy war without cultural masses

Pieprzona misja szukania życia
Damned mission of searching for life

I budzę się w nocy i biorę prysznic
And I wake up in the night and take a shower