Frans De Waard,

Behind Barnacles is Matteo Uggeri, for whom this is a new project. You may know him from his work as Hue, Normality/Edge, Der Einzige or his collaborations with other people. Much of his work is about playing carefully around with microscopic detailed dissections of field recordings so as
Barnacles he wants something different. "Each of these four tracks is built using only 1 drone, 1 field recording, 1 sampled drumbeat. Then a lot of effects." Simple as that, and you get what it says on the box, indeed. One drone, one field recording, although perhaps not always as easy to recognize that ("a lot of effects" surely do a trick or two) and there is indeed a highly present drumbeat in all four of these pieces. Not your groove kind of rhythm to dance too, but an industrial bang on a can, the oil rig, a pile that goes with a steady, mid-tempo into the ground, but perhaps sampled from real drums, but again, much thanks to sound effects, sounds electronic. Everything around here is a bit darker here, like perhaps it is prescribed in the world of industrial music, as this is where I would place this particular set of droney, part noisy, part atmospheric tunes. The shortest piece is seven and half minutes, the longest close to ten, and at four pieces this is perhaps a bit of a short release, but for me it worked very well. There is a relatively easy concept, it is worked out four times in a very consistent way, and it's not too short and not too long. Repetition seems to be avoided, and that's a clever thing. Nice one. (FdW)

https://www.mixcloud.com/Vitalweekly/vital-weekly-1095/

Matteo Uggeri is one eclectic and multifaceted sound artist mostly known for his collaborative works as well as for being a key member of the post-rock chamber ensemble Sparkle in Grey. Always in search of new experimentations in the field of electronic music, Matteo is back to the audience with a complete new project called Barnacles, exploring new musical territories. Contrary to some of his past collaborative works which present resolutely intellectual drone ambiences, as well as his more punchy groovy-esque electronics under the moniker of Sparkle in Grey, this project admits a clear interest for nebulous, hypnotic and catchy ambient textures.

This first full length release is a beautifully designed and colorful ambient minimalist album which reveals an interesting electronic ballet for dreamy-like pulses and emotionally cinematic sound textures with discreet touches of echoing and processed field recordings. Compositions start as calm, floating soundscapes or sonic wallpapers to progressively reach a sort of psych-out maelstrom with dense layers and obsessional / gravitational rhythms.

The album presents a quite homogenous orchestration with one thematic continuity. One Single Sound is an inspiring, intriguing and dynamic electronic musical experience that will ravish a plurality of listeners, from conceptual avant-garde to ambient dreaminess as well as post-techno / IDM. The missing link between the stable, hypnotic and "pulse music" of Wolfgang Voidt's GAS, the kraut-ish minimalism of Cluster and post-modern "mood music."

http://igloomag.com/reviews/barnacles-one-single-sound-boring-machines

Stephen Fruitman, Avant Music News

Matteo Uggeri has evolved from an industrial entrepreneur to melodious soul (see his work with Sparkle in Grey), serial collaborationist and, most recently, nogstalgian with Fluid Audio release Grandpa. One Single Sound, released under the name Barnacles, is his recent bathyspheric vacation from categorization, a miniature art exhibit in digipak, clashing ambient amniocity with industrial rhythms, Freudian anxiety of influence (or Jonathan Lethemnian ecstasy of same) with luminous nineteenth-century biological illustrations by Ernst Haeckel and a grunt-work quote by his esteemed colleague, Charles Darwin. An album of pilfered sound and stolen beats, it floats at one moment in mermaidless waters before cavorting like the legs of a hanged man on dry land.

In context, “one single sound” sounds like a provocation, for this is hardly a lone, stand-alone drone – it is in fact four separate pieces, each named for a sentence fragment written in a letter from Darwin about his tedious field work of 1852 – “I hate a Barnacle, as no man ever did before, not even a Sailor, in a slow-sailing ship”. Sounds have been stolen (his word) from erstwhile collaborators including Giulio Aldinucci and guitarist Maurizio Abate, and an orchestra of accordions, a yoga class and “Uncle Ronnie´s screams”. All drums have been likewise hoisted.

As it proceeds, One Single Sound only confounds. A droning hum is infected by small talk until overtaken by a pleasingly metronomic drum-circle beat. As the symphony of accordions tunes up, one comes loose, and a baritone has a stroke. A snazzy mechanical beat judders. Cymbals crash like waves on a stony beach and scatter the sunbathers. The third track, mock Himalayan singing bowls and throat chant, gets jackbooted as whispers and ghosts leak out of the radiators. The finale, unfolding delicately as an ambient flower, turns out to be something even more diffuse, a play in several acts. Pistons drive the drum program to pandemonium, as if t´ain´t no sin, to take off your skin, and dance around in your bones.

Nonplussed and yet intrigued enough to go back again and again, this quasi-steampunkian installation of man-made machinery and the briny depths is certainly singular.

https://avantmusicnews.com/2017/09/12/amn-reviews-barnacles-one-single-sound-boring-machines/

Barnacles present a multitude of stylistic twists and turns on the infinitely surprising scope of “One Single Sound”. Layers of drones intermingle with the greatest of ease for Barnacles explores darkened terrains throughout the scope of the elongated pieces. By choosing such an approach Barnacles lets the songs evolve in a naturalistic way. The loose arrangement works out to their advantage for the songs gradually shift into full rhythmic beasts. Tempos have a tribal temperament to them for all becomes engrossing into swirling surreal drones.

Classical elements drift out of the album opener, the stately sound of “As No Man Ever Did Before”. Organs linger on in the distance adding to the overall flavor of the piece. About halfway through the piece everything begins to pick up speed as a rhythm emerges out of the sonic ether to give shape the sound. On “I Hate a Barnacle” the song descends into a chaotic din of sound. Various walls of sound and feedback add to the tension that defines the piece. Throughout the work the way the blasts of noise work as an additional emotional awareness of what is about to happen. By the very end the beats have overtaken everything else moving at a spry pace. Quite mellow is the languid pacing of “In a Slow-Sailing Ship” which emphasizes atmosphere above everything else. Panic-inducing in nature is the chaos of “Not Even a Sailor”.

With “One Single Sound” Barnacles effortlessly balances the serene with the celebratory.

http://www.beachsloth.com/barnacles-one-single-sound.html

Barnacles heißen die Rankenfußkrebse (Cirripedia) auf Englisch. Jeder hat wohl schon einmal die kegelförmigen kleinen Gehäuse dieser Krebstiere als Kruste auf Bootsrümpfen oder Muscheln gesehen. Die auch zu dieser Klasse der Crustacea gehörenden Entenmuscheln gelten in teilen Europas sogar als ausgesprochene kulinarische Delikatesse. Die sehr vielfältige Formen aufweisenden Rankenfußkrebse wurden sehr ausführlich von Charles Darwin untersucht, und als ein prominentes Beispiel für die Evolution in seinem Hauptwerk "Über die Entstehung der Arten" angeführt.

Barnacles wählte auch Matteo Uggeri (siehe Sparkle in Grey) aus Mailand als Namen für sein derzeit neuestes Soloprojekt. Ein Rankenfüßer ziert auch das Cover des 2017 erschienenen, im schmucken Mini-LP-Cover verpackten Erstlings "One Single Sound". Im Beiheft ist ein Ausschnitt aus einem Brief Darvins zu finden, in dem dieser anmerkt, dass er so langsam keine Cirripeden mehr sehen kann ("I hate a Barnacle as no man ever did before, not even a sailor in a slow-sailing ship."), was sich in den Titeln der vier ausladenden Nummern wiederfindet.

In musikalischer Hinsicht ist auf "One Single Sound" ein dichtes, schwebend-luftiges bis düster-dröhnendes Gemenge an Klang von sehr elektronischem Charakter zu finden, irgendwo in einer imaginären Schnittmenge von Elektroprog, (Dark-)Ambient und frei-experimentellem Klangbasteln. Allerlei "geborgte" Instrumentalklänge (die Urheber werden im Beiheft genannt), Sprachreste, Naturklänge, Umweltgeräusche, diverse perkussive Muster und allerlei Elektroniksounds werden zu einem klangvollen Ganzen verwoben, welches ziemlich voluminös und farbig durch die Gehörgänge gleitet. Uggeri selbst stellt dazu fest: "Bored of working for years on microsounds, crick & crocks, drones and field recordings, Matteo Uggeri launches a new project using field recordings, drones, crick and crocks, microsounds and ignorant beats."

"One Single Sound" ist eine durchaus eigenständige und beeindruckende kleine Scheibe, die Freunde progressiver Elektronik und rockender Klangcollagen einmal antesten sollten.

http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/album_17504.html#oben

Salto i preamboli dato che di Barnacles, nome dietro cui si nasconde Matteo Uggeri (già Sparkle In Grey), vi abbiamo detto di recente parlando dell’esordio in digitale su Arell, per quanto One Single Sound segni comunque a suo modo un debutto, sulla lunga distanza e nel formato fisico, a cura della veneta Boring Machines. Ciò su cui vale invece la pena soffermarsi è il concept che anima il progetto: il Barnacles in questione è un attento rapinatore e riciclatore di suoni che partendo da fonti numericamente limitate sa costruire tracce varie ed elaborate. Potete vederla come un’esaltazione dell’etica del riciclaggio, come un’interpretazione musicale del concetto di “nulla si crea e nulla si distrugge”, come la messa in pratica del modo di dire “far di necessità virtù” od altro ancora, resta il fatto che l’idea di partenza è assai fertile e per raggiungere il pieno compimento necessita solo di una realizzazione adeguata. È quello che avviene. Combinando un drone (di Giulio Aldinucci), un field recording (di Stefano De Ponti), un campione di batteria (più pochi altri elementi a colorare i vari pezzi) nascono quattro composizioni legate fra loro da un sempre presente elemento ritmico ma dotate ciascuna di un qualcosa che la distingue. I Hate A Barnacles è trance con un’insolita anima orchestrale, As No Man Ever Did Before sa essere sognante e straniante al tempo stesso, Not Even A Sailor  si divide fra ritualismo spettrale e avanguardia concreta, In A Slow-Sailing Ship è l’apoteosi ritmica fra dub e potente incidere meccanico e sono – è assai intrigante pensarlo – solo alcune delle forme costruibili con queste limitate fonti. Missione pienamente compiuta, dunque. Lo domanda ora è: chi saranno le prossime prede del crostaceo?

http://www.sodapop.it/phnx/barnacles-one-single-sound-boring-machines-2017/

Loud! - Radio Onde Friulane

ANGELO BADALAMENTI / DAVID LYNCH - A Real Indication (“Thought Gang”, Sacred Bones Records ‎– SBR-214, 2018)

FIRE! - I Guard Her to Rest. Declaring Silence (“The Hands” , Rune Grammofon ‎– RCD 2197, 2018)

JOHN DUNCAN - Dark (“Bitter Earth”, iDEAL Recordings ‎– iDEAL129, 2016)

ANDREA BELFI - Syncline (“Ore”, Float (2) ‎– FLOAT001, 2017)

BARNACLES - In a Slow-Sailing Ship (“One Single Sound”, Boring Machines ‎– BM077, 2017)

YVES TUMOR - Economy of Freedom (“Safe In The Hands Of Love”, Warp Records ‎– WARPCD293, 2018)

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - Oh baby (“American Dream”, DFA ‎– 88985456102, 2017)

SIGILLUM S - Through The Endless Streams Of Satellite Euphoria (“The Irresistible Art Of Space Colonization and Its Mutation Implications” ,Transmutation LTD ‎– VCP016CD, 2018)

MIKA VAINIO / FRANCK VIGROUX - Brume (“Ignis”, Cosmo Rhythmatic ‎– CR08, 2018)

ALVA NOTO - Uni Sub (“Unieqav”, Noton ‎– N-045, 2018)

UUUU - It’s Going All over the Floor ( “UUUU”,Editions Mego ‎– EMEGO 239, 2017)

ROBERT LIPPOK - Samtal Raster (“Applied Autonomy”, Raster ‎– R-M 181, 2018)

https://www.spreaker.com/user/ondefurlane/loud-22-novembre?fbclid=IwAR2ihD5rODdK9Kpx2c1aZ3_cbYtIA75byz85ZXaA-C89zNvX8KccDkOegDo

Dietro questo nome particolare (i barnacles sono i cirripedi, dei particolari crostacei) si cela Matteo Uggeri, instancabile agitatore noise che non ha mai smesso di far nascere nuovi progetti che si muovono in ambito più o meno improv-rock (Sparkle In Grey, Der Einzige e via elencando). One Single Sound (Uggeri precisa che Each of these four tracks is then built using only 1 drone, 1 field recording, 1 sampled drumbeat. Then a lot of effects) si caratterizza per un uso costante di ritmiche serrate e tappeti sonori cangianti: già la traccia di apertura, “I Hate A Barnacle”, chiarisce bene in che lidi siamo calati.

Sempre rimanendo in tema di ritmiche tese, non sono da meno le fibrillazioni electro-noise di “As No Man Ever Did Before” e l’afflato all’apparenza zen, nella realtà in costante tensione, della successiva “Not Even A Sailor”, che nella progressione armonica – ancora non so bene perché – mi ha ricordato certe tracce più epiche dei June Of 44.

In chiusura le brume cinematografiche di “In A Slow-Sailing Ship”, a sottolineare il viaggio tutto mentale e su acque melmose e agitate dal vento digitale del musicista lombardo, che rimane un esperto in fatto di atmosfere. Garantisce la fidata Boring Machines.

https://www.thenewnoise.it/prendere-appunti-2/

De Italiaanse elektronische muzikant Matteo Uggeri kom ik al jaren in vele projecten tegen. Hij start in 1996 als Der Einzige, waarmee hij industrial combineert met filmische muziek. Maar zijn interesse is breed, zodat hij zich ook gaat verdiepen in veldopnames, ambient en experimentele muziek, wat hij weer met Hue laat horen. Maar zijn muzikale honger blijft wat het industriële electro-ambient project Normality / Edge oplevert. Tevens is hij te horen in groepen als Meerkat, Norm en het ondefinieerbare rockproject Sparkle In Grey. Drones, rock en de genoemde stijlen, Uggeri omarmt veel. Het levert ook kwalitatief hoogwaardige muziek op. Los hiervan is hij ook in ontelbare projecten te gast of werkt hij samen met artiesten/bands als Bob Corn, My Dear Killer, Controlled Bleeding, Deison, Marizo Abate, Tex La Homa, De Fabriek, Ether, If Bwana, Telepherique en veel meer. Een veelzijdig artiest! Omdat hij ietwat genoeg heeft van het werken met microgeluiden, veldopnames, drones en clicks & cuts, gaat hij nu met zijn nieuwe project Barnacles aan de slag met microgeluiden, veldopnames, drones en clicks & cuts. Maar op One Single Sound krijg je daar wel tribale en lome technobeats bij en lardeert hij de muziek ook dikwijls met industrial, noises en filmische elementen. De vier langgerekte zijn rustig en uitgebalanceerd opgebouwd en nemen de luisteraar langzaam maar zeker in de houdgreep. Het vormt één coherent geheel, dat zowel uiterst spannend als wonderschoon is.

http://subjectivisten.nl/?p=7013

Those of you preferring your radiophonic tones submerged in the tranquil toned ripples of defrosting ice combs whilst of a mind to step outside the hustle n’ bustle and frenzying angst of the day’s toils and into a place somewhat bliss burnt might do well to hook up to a new thing from Barnacles heading out on cassette and CD via a joint head to head by Boring Machines and Non Piangere Dischi. Well I say defrosted but ‘ I hate a barnacle’ the opening salvo and lone preview track showcased here, manages to morph with seamless delight and arrest to emerge from its frost tipped shelling and delicately unfurl amid shimmer toning sprays of quiet euphoria much like I should hasten to add, akin to some kind of bitter sweetly head bowed epitaph like back drop symphonically saluting the starry cosmos as it draws its last breath before that is purring to the end groove kissed in radiant washes of kosmiche pulsars. Begging letters are being cobbled together as you read in order to secure a copy to call our own.

https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/barnacles/

Mark Barton, The Sunday Experience - 2

Many thanks to both Boring Machines and Non Piangere Dischi for allowing this exclusive stream of a forthcoming joint release by Barnacles. Over the course of two decades, Barnacles better known to kith n’ kin as Matteo Uggeri, has worked with the likes of Controlled Bleeding, Deison, OvO and Giuseppe Ielasi as well as being a member of Sparkle in Grey. Due to land in both CD and limited cassette formats this coming Friday, his latest solo adventure ‘one single sound’ finds him exploring what he describes in his own words as ‘using field recordings, drones, crick and crocks, microsounds and ignorant beats’. What might on first reading appear a little casual, maybe matter of fact and even to some as a tad negative bears remarkable results for what on description reading may hint at something minimalist, sparse and at the very least hard listening, is to the contrary fulsome, terra-forming and lush not to mention a very easy listen.

Four tracks occupy the groove on this extended release, as noted previously opening salvo ‘i hate a barnacle’ manages to morph with seamless delight and arrest to emerge from its frost tipped shelling and delicately unfurl amid shimmer toning sprays of quiet euphoria much like I should hasten to add, akin to some kind of bitter sweetly head bowed epitaph like back drop symphonically saluting the starry cosmos as it draws its last breath before that is purring to the end groove kissed in radiant washes of kosmiche pulsars. Very much recalling Matt Bower’s Wizards Tell Lies off shoot the Revenant Sea, ‘as no man ever did before’ emerges through the twilight fog like an ethereal ghost ship amid its hauntingly woozy glassy timbres and subdued symphonic frost opines a seafaring choir of lost souls bewitch to a curious lulling hymnal haze which to the onset of deeply set propulsive beats a crescendo shimmers into ecliptic view before vapour trailing off into the ether or as it happens seamlessly into ‘not even a sailor’.

Now it’s not for me to say that this could easily be the sonic backdrop to some river crossing aboard a boat steered by the mythical Charon carrying the dead from the hereafter to the thereafter, but it is, in every way as tense, as dark and damned as a turntable visitation by Father Murphy and rippled in all manner of ceremonial symbolism and primitive spiritualism. Leading matters towards the end groove, ‘in a slow sailing ship’ manages to occupy the finite line between the majestic and the macabre, the atmosphere stilled distractively in doom draped chamber motifs is likewise oddly dreamy whilst daubed and dinked in sparsely toned dub dosed techno motifs.  

https://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/barnacles-2/

Lino Brunetti, Buscadero

Dietro l’inedita sigla Barnacles troviamo celato un musicista che più volte abbiamo incontrato, sia come membro dei bravissimi Sparkle In Grey, che come collaboratore di altre anime a lui affini. Stiamo parlando di Matteo Uggeri, qui in veste, prima ancora che di one man band, di manipolatore elettronico. Nelle note di copertina di One Single Sound, infatti, si è peritato d’informarci che le fonti sonore di queste quattro tracce arrivano tutte da registrazioni realizzate da altri (i drones di Giulio Andreucci, le urla di zio Ronnie, dei field recordings di Stefano De Ponti, la chitarra di Maurizio Abate, l’ohm di una classe di yoga, dei sampler di batteria) poi manipolate e riconfigurate in composizioni del tutto nuove ed originali. Quella che alla fine esce dalle casse dei nostri stereo è una musica misterica e molto, molto evocativa. Non semplice musica elettronica, né ovvia drone music, bensì un qualcosa capace di agire in modo ben più profondo e conturbante. Queste quattro tracce hanno maggiori punti di contatto con l’universo hauntologico, con quello stato di coscienza in bilico tra dormiveglia e subconscio, tra sprazzi di memoria di avvenimenti mai accaduti e attività onirica. Il sound è cinematico, attraversato da estatiche melodie filamentose, voci e rumori d’ambiente che accrescono di sottile inquietudine l’esperienza d’ascolto. Il tutto si situerebbe su un piano di profonda astrazione, non ci fossero i beat che, a fasi alterne, accompagnano, quando non prendono addirittura il sopravvento, (sul)le partiture sonore, ancorando il tutto ad una maggiore solidità terrena. Musica bellissima, capace di agire sull’anima come le scie lasciate da un sogno di cui ricordiamo solo le sensazioni. Straordinario anche l’artwork, sempre opera di Uggeri.

https://backstreetsbuscadero.wordpress.com/2017/05/06/barnacles-one-single-sound/

Peppe Trotta, So What

Ottenere il massimo dall’essenziale, raccontare un’intera storia utilizzando un lessico ridotto al minimo. Una modulata persistenza, un frammento raccolto dall’ambiente e un campione ritmico è tutto ciò che a Matteo Uggeri occorre per plasmare ognuno dei capitoli del suo nuovo progetto Barnacles, tre unità che sommandosi ne generano una nuova aumentata.

Le quattro tracce del lavoro, i cui titoli compongono un estratto da una lettera inviata da Darwin a suo cugino William Darwin Fox, seguono una struttura simile secondo cui al lento emergere di un iniziale bordone si combina gradualmente una sequenza ritmica incalzante che si scioglie in finali liquidi, cerniere permeabili che danno vita ad un flusso senza soluzione di continuità malgrado l’eterogeneità dei singoli pezzi.

Una scelta chiara, un metodo univoco capace di generare atmosfere differenti alternando ruvidi crescendo intercettati da un battere marcato (“I Hate a Barnacle”) a flussi oscuri e cinematici segnati da una percussività vagamente ancestrale (“As No Man Ever Did Before”), vaporose e spettrali saturazioni attraversate da correnti convulse (“Not Even a Sailor”) a rarefatte e placide navigazioni a tratti cadenzate da un ipnotico incedere marziale (“In a Slow-Sailing Ship”).

Muovendosi attraverso territori a lui ben noti, Uggeri trova nuovi stimoli e soluzioni efficaci scaturenti dall’inaspettato valore aggiunto offerto dalla limitazione.

Less is more.

https://sowhatmusica.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/barnacles-one-single-sound/

Simon Lewis, Terrascope

Inspired by a letter written by Darwin, “One Single Sound” is split into four parts, each using a single drone, a single field recording and a single drumbeat as its source material. Creating textures and drones from these sources, Barnacle (Matteo Uggeri) has created a micro cosmic world of sound that rattles and creeps through time, the sampled drumbeats adding to movement to the swathe of drones and subtle textures to be found. Seemingly playful in their intent, the sudden appearance of a human voice in the first track makes you sit up and smile, the music ever changing as it flows onwards, the changes taking place in micro fashion making it hard to notice quite what has changed.

After the movement of “I Hate A Barnacle” there is a more ambient feel to “As No Man Ever Did Before”, a softer approach to the sound palette although some rattling percussive sounds soon add more movement to the piece.  Moving on, “Not Even A Sailor” slows things down again, casting the listener adrift on a becalmed ocean, chiming bells and rising drone creating a hazy backdrop before creaks and rattles enter the fray and the piece becomes more agitated, sampled voices/coughing adding mystery and narrative to the music, the percussive elements becoming more pronounced and the drones harsher.

Finally, “In A Slow Moving Ship” opens with atmospheric field recording that slowly submerge beneath a softly spoken drone, the music then adding those familiar creaks, rattles and percussive moments before drifting in to nothing.

With all four pieces carrying very similar elements of sound and structure, this is a collection that flows perfectly, each merging into the next to create a very listenable album.

http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Reviews/Reviews_September_17.htm#Adamennon

Giona A. Nazzaro, Il Manifesto

Patrick Bruneel, Luminous Dash

Barnacles is de nom de plume van de Italiaan Matteo Uggeri, sinds 2000 lid van het onnavolgbare Sparkle In Grey en sinds 1996 een gewaardeerd medewerker bij een uiteenlopend stel artiesten. We geven een onvolledige opsomming van bands en projecten waaraan de man meewerkte: Controlled Bleeding, M.B., Telepherique, Deison, Luca Sigurtà, If,Bwana, Giuseppe Ielasi, Andrea Serrapiglio, Bob Corn, Nicola Ratti, Mukjika Easel en OvO. Inderdaad, daar zitten behoorlijk wat artiesten bij die ietwat in de industrialsector thuis horen. Wat zeer fijn is aan zijn soloplaat One Single Sound is dat hij eigenlijk niet zoveel anders doet dan hij al jarenlang ten dienste van anderen doet. Alleen doet hij het nu allemaal zelf.

Hij vult niet meer aan, hij stelt zijn expertise niet meer ten dienst van, maar slaagt er in zijn eentje in behoorlijk te imponeren en het gros van de artiesten waarmee hij samenwerkte, een poepje te laten ruiken. Want zie, hij is al gans zijn carrière bezig met het leveren van microgeluiden, field recordings, kraakjes en klikjes, drones en afstandelijke beats. Wel, dat is nu precies wat hij ook doet op dit vier nummers tellende album. Al zijn de zogenaamde ‘ignorant beats’ prominenter aanwezig dan we aan de hand van zijn curriculum hadden verwacht. Niet dat we ons daar druk in maken. Mensen die hier op kunnen dansen, hebben een vreemd lijf alleszins. Daarvoor is het allemaal net een beetje te tegendraads.

Uggeri kan het niet laten om telkens weer stoorgeluiden in te zetten, die de beats en de continuïteit verstoren. Waar we ook niets op tegen hebben, want zo dwingt hij om echt te luisteren, en te genieten. Wat we van Barnacles vooral onthouden, is zijn zelfrelativering. Hij wil wel eens iets anders doen, maar dat lukt niet echt. Hij bedankt zijn psycholoog op het hoesje, en geeft bovendien grif toe dat hij alle drumgeluiden  (en andere samples) gewoon heeft gestolen, zonder bronvermelding. Of het moet de schreeuw van zijn oom Ronnie zijn. Hij bewijst wel dat hij al die anderen niet nodig heeft om een industrial aandoende trip in elkaar te knutselen, die soms een beetje als een collage klinkt, een imaginaire reis door een wereld waar verval en eenzaamheid baden in schoonheid.

http://luminousdash.com/portfolio-items/barnacles-one-single-sound/

Riccardo Bonati, Flux

Inspired by the letters of Charles Robert Darwin to William Darwin Fox.
“I am at work on the second vol. of the Cirripedia, of which creatures I am wonderfully tired: I hate a Barnacle as no man ever did before, not even a Sailor in a slow-sailing ship. My first vol. is out: the only part worth looking at is on the sexes of Ibla & Scalpellum; I hope by next summer to have done with my tedious work.”

Barnacles’ One single sound is a new beautiful project by Matteo Uggeri aka Sparkle in grey, based on field recordings, drones and tribalism, material found in these four long pieces. The product is well cared, and especially  noteworthy is the packaging… black, red and white, with carefully modified pictures of aliens animals (which really existed) taken from a handbook of Ernst Haeckel – beginning of 1900 (really interesting).

Are you looking for an alien mantra of abyss? This is for you. It looks like a mix among underwater sounds , Cthulhu’s myth and the tribal trance of people that link music to nature and to God… The barnacles, a sea animal of the abyss… here is the explanation…

http://fluxproject.altervista.org/en/barnacles-one-single-sound/

Tony F., NonPop

Mit "One Single Sound" hat MATTEO UGGERI just das Debut seines Projekts BARNACLES veröffentlicht. Neu im Musikgeschäft ist MATTEO UGGERI deswegen allerdings nicht, ist er doch seit Jahren schon u.a. mit der experimentellen Band SPARKLE IN GREY unterwegs, die schon mit Künstlern wie CONTROLLED BLEEDING oder MAURIZIO BIANCHI zusammengearbeitet hat.

Experimentell, das ist auch das Stichwort, das in einem gewissen Maß auf das Album "One Single Sound" zutrifft, da man sich irgendwo im Spannungsfeld von Electronica und Ambient wiederfindet, wobei immer eine deutliche Struktur in den vier Tracks zu finden ist – so experimentell ist es dann doch nicht. Der Sound basiert auf synthetischen Klängen und Flächen, Drones, dominanten Rhythmen und einer Vielzahl von bearbeiteten Samples und Field-Recordings.

Das mit 36 Minuten eher kurze Album startet mit "I Hate A Barnacle" einem sich aus einem brummenden Drone langsam aufbauenden Stück, dessen Spannung sich schließlich in energetischen, Tribal-artigen Rhythmen entlädt. Auch "As No Man Ever Did Before" funktioniert nach demselben Muster, setzt allerdings auf elektronische Rhythmen. Zudem erhöht sich der Druck fast permanent, so dass der Hörer gegen Ende schlicht überwältigt wird. "Not Even A Sailor" wirkt etwas zurückhaltender, was die Rhythmik angeht, und baut den Klangkosmos aus, indem verschiedene Schläge auf Metall – wie auf Rohre o.ä. – neben verschiedene Stimmfetzen gesetzt werden. Das letzte Stück "In A Slow-Sailing Ship" arbeitet wiederum mit leuchtenden Drones und einem maschinell, leichten Schlagen, sowie sanften Flächen, bevor am Ende noch einmal Tribal-ähnliche Rhythmen durchschimmern.

"One Single Sound" ist überzeugend produziert und fällt sehr gefällig aus, was auf der anderen Seite allerdings auch dazu führt, dass Ecken und Kanten oder auch eine "Story" fehlen und es damit eher schwierig ist, sich mit dem Werk in einer gewissen Tiefe zu identifizieren.

http://www.nonpop.de/

Marco Carcasi, Kathodic

Il progetto Barnacles, origina da uno sbuffo di noia di Matteo Uggeri, che dopo anni di sperimentazione (frammentata/stratificata di meditata complessità, fra microsuoni, accartocciamenti digitali, drones e registrazioni d'ambiente), vorrebbe un approccio più semplice e diretto.
Dunque, il minimo è ciò che serve, il minimo è ciò che si utilizza.
Un drone, un field recording, una traccia di batteria campionata, poi, filtri e effetti a volontà.
Quattro composizioni che si presentano, si accendono e poi declinano una dentro l'altra, ad intrecciar fili di memorie kraut/post punk (I Hate a Barnacle), piste da ballo solitarie in strobo ascensionale (As No Man Ever Did Before), zone di rituale minimalismo in plumbeo sferragliamento detritico (Not Even a Sailor), soleggiate screpolature ambientali e lo sforzo di un passo e un altro passo (In a Slow-Sailing Ship).
Ci auguriamo altri momenti di simile noia.

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