Podłoga Is Making Everyone Else Look Bad
How two Polish musicians are quietly rewriting the rules of DIY music by asking nothing, giving everything, and still making you feel it all.
As someone with anxiety, the phrase “calm music for nervous people” hit me like a warm blanket. I didn’t even know I needed it until Podłoga offered it quietly, unceremoniously, with nothing more than a Spotify link and a note that said, in so many words, “Here. This might help.” And honestly? It did. The only problem is… they’re kind of making everyone else look bad.
While most artists are chasing the algorithm, building content calendars, and pushing merch like late-capitalist hustlers, Podłoga, a duo from Kraków named after the Polish word for “floor”, just quietly makes deeply felt music and lets it drift into the world. No catch. No push. Just sound. And it works.
Their latest EP, Spokojna muzyka dla nerwowych ludzi (“Calm Music for Nervous People”), is a four-track exhale in the form of guitar, static, and ambient texture. It’s emotionally present but never demanding. You can lean into it or let it lean against you. Either way, it stays with you. The title alone resonated with me, but I wondered where it came from.
“What we record is what we feel.”
“This is what best matched the music,” Tomek told me. “We create music as a result of a moment. It gets outside of us and then we look at it and put together words that describe it.”
Michal added, “The title of the EP came to us naturally, and not by expectation. When the list of tracks that came together slowly was being constructed. The bond of these 4 tracks was the emotions and feelings that overwhelmed us after listening to this music many times and probably how it exists in the difficult times of today. We also liked the perversity of the fact that people who are seemingly calm/closed/quiet in their heads usually play certain nervous sounds. Each of us seeks everyday solace somewhere else, maybe these 4 songs are for everyone.”
Podłoga has always seemed to exist for its own sake: not for followers, not for hype, not for applause. That sincerity is what makes them so magnetic. It made me wonder how much they even think about the listener when putting together a release.
“What we record is what we feel,” Tomek said. “Emotions in musical form. When putting together a release we think about two listeners—each other. If it makes sense to us it is good to go. Then one of the most exciting parts comes—when our music resonates with other people in a bunch of surprisingly different ways.”
Michal put it this way: “Our creative process, which does not start with the thought of creating something for someone, is a series of thoughts, emotions, transformations into free streams of rhythms and melodies. Interpenetrating. The subsequent stages transmit this inert glued music in the track that we shape together, trying to share our emotions. It may sound selfish, but during the creative process I never think about the listener, I want to do it sincerely.”
“Music is pure emotion, is true and never lets down. Releasing it makes living worthwhile.”
That sincerity is embedded in their history. Their earliest recordings date back to 2006, when they released Tear Gas, a noisy, experimental mini-album that sounded like it had been recorded on the edge of a dream. The band has evolved since then, but the method hasn’t changed much.
“DIY means still the same thing,” Tomek said. “It is just 20 years of changes in ourselves and technology that sets Tear Gas and latest records apart. We do everything on our own.”
Michal agreed: “From the very beginning PODŁOGA—nothing has changed. We are still responsible for everything ourselves, we play all the instruments ourselves, we record, produce, publish, make graphics, etc. It may not be a popular and convenient solution. But it gives us creative freedom to evaluate, and to explore our creative spirit in many areas. Through our work, it reaches listeners in the most sincere possible form.”
Still, they’re not completely indifferent to how people receive it. They just don’t expect anything back. Which made me wonder, if they’re not chasing attention, what makes it all feel worthwhile?
“Music is a constant, most important part of our lives,” Tomek said. “Music is pure emotion, is true and never lets down. Releasing it makes living worthwhile.”
“In people’s lives, important events do not happen in days, years, hours—but in 1 minute.”
Michal offered this: “I have always created Podłoga in order to be free, an emotionally imbued being, to be able to be among people. I have always been fascinated by how our songs can move between people, regardless of their age, gender, place on earth—and anyone who wants to listen can find something for themselves. It is totally fascinating, we always have great respect for people who spend a moment listening to our music in this rushing world.”
Even the way they finish songs feels intuitive, not strategic.
“I just let it go in the moment I feel I do not have anything more in me to contribute to the track,” Tomek said. “But it is never done mentally. There is always a feeling it could go some interesting other way.”
Michal described the release moment as almost spiritual. “We create music without any pressure, without any framework or orders. The moment we feel that we are ready, we can free ourselves in a fully natural, friendly way. Although it is different from the songs. Sometimes we have to use many attempts, corrections, by saying stop. And sometimes we know right away. But it is definitely a moment, not a process.”
Then he added something that felt like a perfect thesis statement for Podłoga as a whole. “About such events, moments, we once recorded an EP 10 minutes—which tells about the fact that in people’s lives important events related to life do not happen in days, years, hours but in 1 minute. We recorded 10 songs—each one after 1 minute, telling about different moments in life. I also take the moment when we release songs.”
That’s Podłoga. A band that lives in the moment, lets it go, and trusts that if someone needs it, they’ll find it.