| We Play! Records | 2010

JUNE – ChoP vol.1 (Zen Lu & Grzegorz Bojanek)
tracklist:
1. Unknown Journey
Recorded live @Ping Pong Space (Guangzhou, 9 June 2009)
2.Better Life
Recorded live @Videotage (Hong Kong, 12 June 2009)
3.Life is Noise
Recorded live @Zachęta National Gallery of Art (Warsaw, 18 June 2010)

After exactly one year Zen Lu and Grzegorz Bojanek joined their forces again to perform a unique live-act during the Warsaw Electronic Festival Main Event. The famous Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw became the scene for the short (only about 30 minutes) but dense improvised performance. Both Zen Lu and Grzegorz Bojanek used quite new sounds they composed during the past year and different electronic instruments to create ambient, experimental and in the end noise sound experience. This performance was the first during the Polish ChoP Tour 2010. other concerts were organized in Kraków, Czestochowa and Sopot.

Mastering by Krzysztof Orluk (track 1 & 2) and Grzegorz Bojanek (track 3)
Designed by Wang Xiaoxu @N2 Multimedia Art Lab
Supported by Fundecja Sztuka i Technologia and N2 Multimedia Art Lab
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Back in 2008 I thought that my trip to China was impossible. But suddenly, after releasing more ChoP albums I realized that the project was growing and becoming stronger. So in the beginning of 2009 I started thinking that my dream would come true and finally after reading several books about China, watching hundreds of Kung-Fu films, I would visit the Middle Kingdom.

Thanks to the huge help of Zen Lu and Jarek Grzesica, who strongly supports ChoP, I managed to fly to China in June 2009. First I was a bit afraid of the eastern culture, but just after a few days I realized that although China is a busy country, it is possible to have a rest, talk to friends and drink some green tea there.

Some of the 2009 ChoP Tour concerts were better, some worse (you cannot be the best all the time ). I really liked Wuhan with its great river Yangtze, and delicious BBQ. The concert in VOX club was also very good for the tour members. But what I liked the best was our last concert in Hong Kong. We were sitting relaxed with Zen and just playing some light guitar sounds and electronic soundscapes not realizing that a year later they would become the part of the Isaac Julien’s “Ten Thousand Waves” installation.

My last day in China was a nostalgic trip with Zen Lu to the Big Budda mountain. This was an inspiring journey. When you are in Kong Kong you are very tired, but just after leaving the city you miss it very much. (text/ Grzegorz Bojanek)
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Between 2007 and 2010, over three years, I collaborated with Grzegorz Bojanek on ten live performances as the initiator of the ChoP project. Our most recent one took place on June 18, 2010, at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Poland.

We never liked to discuss the improvisation too much before a performance; silence is sometimes a more effective form of communication. From the recordings of these ten shows, we selected three to compile into a live album. This marks ChoP’s first live release, which includes the recording that Isaac Julien chose as the soundtrack for “Ten Thousand Waves” .

When editing this live album, I carefully distinguished my own sounds from the rest. As I did so, my fading memories began to resurface—with the emotions and scenes of those moments flooding back one by one. These memories and recordings have become an integral part of my life.

And life itself is noise. (text/ Zen Lu)