Cyril Kaplan & Xadrex | křest + Lichnovský

On the last Friday in May, Kampus Hybernská will tune into the wavelengths of crazy pop and deep singer-songwriter music with the Lichnovský project. Together with regular guests Lenka Zbořilová (Pivoňka/Ivy Z) and Michal Zlatkovský (Ministerstvo popu, Stárnoucí mileniálové), the musician—part of the community label Bad Names and a member of Radio 1— Zdeněk Lichnovský, will present songs from his new release this year, Pustim Mitski a zavřu se doma, as well as from his debut album Ideálně napořád. Following the band’s performance, Cyril Kaplan (Vložte kočku, Mutanti hledaj východisko) will also perform live drums for the first time since the album’s February release. In the second half of the evening, Kaplan will have the campus walls reverberating with his solo set featuring drums, vocals, and electronics. As part of the concert, he will launch and perform live from his new album of drum miniatures, This Is My Space. Kaplan will also play tracks from his previous EP, This Is What Dancefl00r I5 4, which stylistically straddles the line between post-disco, indie rock, and contemporary electronic music. He will also welcome to the stage his collaborator from the Arab acid/fusion project Xadrex, lutenist, percussionist, and singer Husam Abed.
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Cyril Kaplan & Xadrex

Cyril Kaplan, a musician and producer best known as one of the faces of the electro-rock band Vložte kočku or for his drumming with the high-energy band Mutanti hledaj východisko, will present a selection of his solo work at Kampus Hybernská. Setup: drums, microphone, effects pedals, synthesizers, and LEDs. Set: broken beats, deep vocals, catchy basslines, and a techno kick drum.

“The kick drum on the beat is something like the centerpiece of today’s music. We can drift away from it, play with the accent, and at times we’re miles away from it. But its gravitational pull, its magnetism, always draws us back to it. And that’s the moment we love,” Kaplan describes the essence of his approach to music-making. “In music, we want to hear what we know, but we want to hear it a little differently, a little anew. But be careful—not too much,” the drummer continues. Kaplan will launch his latest album, This Is My Space, at Kampus Hybernská. On the new recording, you’ll hear only the drum kit. Kaplan recorded the album as part of the soundtrack for the film Principado. “It was one of the hardest recordings of my life. I usually record drums over something. If not over music, then at least over a metronome, so the drum tracks can be further processed and layered with other instruments. This time, I hit record, put on my headphones, and there was nothing in them. I just started playing and played for an hour. I benefited greatly from the years I spent with the legendary Dr. Konopný Quartet led by performer Radomil Uhlíř. “I didn’t realize I had that deep inside me—what Radomil used to call ‘free playing,’” Kaplan explains the concept behind his latest album. After playing a few tracks from This Is My Space, Kaplan will expand the sound with additional elements—vocals and electronics—to perform his older songs. The evening will also feature one or two tracks from his original band, Vložte kočku, and, last but not least, a mini-set of songs from the Xadrex project, which blends indie electronica with world music influences. The Xadrex songs will be performed by the full Xadrex lineup; alongside Kaplan, who plays drums and sings, there will be the aforementioned singer and multi-instrumentalist Husam Abed.

Lichnovský

Zdeněk Lichnovský loves writing quirky songs and loves even more collaborating with friends on them, both live and in the studio. All of this is made possible by the Bad Names collective (read: label). So far, Lichnovský has released two albums (and one additional single) through them. His music can be straightforward to the extreme, even deeply pop, but it’s never limited by genres, rules, or conventions. His rhythm section partner Cyril Kaplan has astutely identified both crazy pop and deep songwriting in all of this. And that’s nice. Lichnovský’s debut album, Ideálně napořád, was released in 2024, and despite its genre-spanning diversity, it resonates most strongly with an electronic club sound, as it was the result of a collaborative production with Martin Nouza (nevertouch) at his cottage. In contrast, this year’s release, Pustim Mitski a zavřu se doma, pays homage to the raw sound of a home piano, screaming guitars, exaggerated bass riffs, and Cyril Kaplan’s wonderfully free-spirited drums. Live, the quartet condenses everything into a narrative format of dialogue between the voices of Lenka Zbořilová and Zdeněk Lichnovský, accompanied by the noisy rhythms of Michal Zlatkovský (bass guitar) and Cyril Kaplan (drums).