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The Art of Duration and Resonance |
REVIEWS
Eric, Machinemusic.org
Italian Industrial Drone Music: The Art of Duration and Resonance
The Art of Duration and Resonance is Philippe Blache’s self-published celebration of a small, yet highly prolific, Italian industrial drone music scene that traces its roots back to the abrasive industrial noise of Maurizio Bianchi and beyond.
In this book, Blache accords considerable importance to the symbiosis between chaos and order but only as a means to shed light on the sound sculptures Bianchi and other contemporary Italian artists defiantly insist on erecting. Blache’s preoccupations extend beyond music and into the realm of philosophy.
But The Art of Duration and Resonance is not about Deleuze and Guattari’s “chaosmos” or post-structural metaphysics. The strength of this book is in the author’s uncompromising desire to document the rich contributions of five musicians – Maurizio Bianchi, Guiseppe Verticchio, Luca Bergero, Matteo Uggeri, and Andrea Marutti.
Maurizio Bianchi (M.B)
Bianchi, the author tells us, has resolved “the conflict between concrete/abstract, consonance/dissonance, [and] acoustic/electronic facets of musical experimentalism.” It is tempting to challenge that assertion although there is no doubt that Bianchi, qualitatively and quantitatively, stands as one of the pillars of noise and drone music. Is he a post-modern or post-industrial artist? “I’m a pre-modern non artist with some pre-industrial attitudes,” says Bianchi. And his music is a form of “radiotherapeutic apocalypse.”
Maurizio Bianchi – emmhna
Maurizio Bianchi – niddah
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Giuseppe Verticchio (NIMH)
The Art of Duration and Resonance then offers a succinct, yet insightful, introduction to the “dark visceral environmental electronic” sound of Verticchio (NIMH). Blache notes that NIMH “offers new challenges that mediate the mind and the body in a unique sensorial [and] metaphysical experience.” This is a music that effectively combines field research and ethnographic-like approaches with sound synthesis and manipulations.
NIMH – the unkept secret
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Luca Bergero (FHIEVEL)
Luca Bergero (FHIEVEL), in an interview with Blache, insists on the importance to “consider common objects like potential music instruments. New possibilities are in this way available and in some cases the results are very important, from an aesthetic point of view or for a relational side in the music-therapy field.” Unfortunately, Blache does not further explore the music-therapy angle with FHIEVEL. But he succeeds nonetheless at introducing the reader to an artist whose contributions are both poetically cerebral and dense with sculptural qualities.
FHIEVEL – pipe
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Matteo Uggeri (HUE / SPARKLE IN GREY)
The second to last chapter of the book deals with the work of Matteo Uggeri (HUE). The latter has released numerous recordings under different names and via multiple collaborations but Blache skillfully disentangles all of this. Uggeri’s music holds therapeutic qualities that are worth considering. Blache notes that listening to Uggeri’s works allows one to decode “what is veiled, muted and profoundly hidden in some parts of human existence.” See for yourself.
Alessandro Calbucci & Matteo Uggeri – there
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Andrea Marutti (AMON / NEVER KNOWN)
Blache’s book on Italian industrial drone music closes with a discussion of Andrea Marutti’s work. Marutti, aside from releasing albums under the AMON and NEVER KNOWN pseudonyms, is also known as the founder of the Milan-based label AFE Records. His music his dense yet sufficiently open to allow one to drift through the soundscapes he carves out of stretched-out drones and mutable sound textures.
Andrea Marutti – the pulsating silence
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The Art of Duration and Resonance is composed of five chapters that serve to introduce and celebrate an equal number of independent artists. Like most of the music it describes, Blache’s book is the product of do-it-yourself practices. This is a self-published work made available through print-on-demand services. This, unfortunately, hurts the book at times. Yet Blache’s efforts to bypass mainstream publishing channels are deserving of support.
Most importantly, Blache’s enthusiasm for Italian industrial drone music is truly contagious and this should suffice to convince you to dig further and step into the “chaosmos.”
http://machinemusic.org/2010/02/09/italian-industrial-drone-music-the-art-of-duration-and-resonance/
