Arrrrrrre... youuuuuu... rrrreadddyyyyy? ["YEAH!"] Alberorovesciato is BACK! [The crowd goes wild.]* * *
I don't write memoirs very often or anything but that's an excerpt from my latest piece of autobiographical fiction I'm working on titled "That Time I Heard Alberorovesciato had a New Tape Out." You may think that I embellished a little (I didn't) but that's why I'm covering my ass with the "autobiographical fiction" tag. I know I don't want Oprah on my back again; that's the last thing I need right now.
So why am I opening a review of a band I really respect with such an idiotic intro? I don't know, maybe cause I'm too stupefied to have any better ideas. I asked the question, you answer it.
After a great disc on Singing Knives, the Berlin boys from Italy are finally following up their previous Stunned cassette (one of my favs from '09.) And here it is: absolute freedom in a compact audio format.
First of all, if you have not heard these guys buy/download/youtube whatever you can. They're brilliant. With a vast ark of instruments, pots, pans, objects, etc. in front of them, the duo commune with and occasionally attack the objects with sticks, mallets, giant tree branches (no shit) and whatever else they feel like. And that right there is the essence of the tape. They do whatever it is that feel like and, this is the important part, it rules. This is the product of completely liberated artisans and impeccable talent and taste. The duo is as complex and percussion-focused as ever but this tape finds them occasionally reaching for a melodic instrument. They still play it like an idiophone generally but that small melodic presence adds a fascinating coloring (and contrast to) the raw surroundings.
I think I maybe mentioned this when I reviewed their other tape, but this stuff is so difficult (impossible?!) to properly write about because Alberorovesciato is getting at some form of communication way beyond a learned language. They run the gamut of naturally occurring sound; their music is a continual (non-scientific) exploration of what texture "material x" creates when "technique Y" is used to draw sound from it. All sorts of scrapes, rattles, and melodic chiming are at work amongst pings and crashes of metal and hollow thuds of drums.
Recorded immaculately, the album sounds wonderfully clear and warm on these pro-dubbed tapes. The mic picks up all the nooks and crannies of their sounds while also capturing the feel of the room. I haven't been lucky enough to see these guys play yet but I don't feel gypped having only heard their releases. Their energy always seems to fully translate, and if it doesn't, well, my noggin will be blown when I hear the real thing. I feel witness to an amazing creation-in-action, listening to these guys unravel whatever puzzles they set out for themselves into perfect sonic tapestries that follow no rules. This music breathes. It's unmistakably and purely alive; and I'm not sure of a better way to compliment it. Hear this.
The tape is sold-out at source but there's bound to be some of the 111 copies still available. You have your quest, now go forth and find Skorpio.
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