May 13, 2018

Sundaze 1819

Hello, oh dear some squealing piglet with a song about how it would like to be a chicken has won the Eurovision contest, those stupid goyim don't even get it when they are ridiculized, ah yes Jerusalem calling.... F1 does Barcelona this weekend Verstappen and Ricciardo get to battle it out again a few hundredths of a sec separating them qualifying 5th and sixth, pole position once again Lewis a shade in front of teammate Bottas, a slightly surprising tenth back Vettel. It should be noted that when qualifying on the tires they'll start the race on Hamilton was 4th, 3 tenth behind Ferrari could be plenty of close racing coming up tomorrow-and there's a slight chance of rain...

Plenty of great stuff today..make space

Today's artist is an Italian guitarist, producer, arranger, sound designer, and experimentalist, and plays in many bands. His musical career commenced during the late '70s, when he played guitar for various independent punk bands. By the mid-'80s, he'd co-founded the ongoing conceptual audio art project Sigillum S (with Paolo Bandera and Luca Digiorgio) that evolved into an internationally celebrated cult act  ....N'joy

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After attending the exclusive High School Scuola Europa and the State University of Milan at the Faculty of Law for three years, he starting to work for a company of electronic engineers who design advanced systems and installations of maximum safety for the Italian government. Eraldo Bernocchi started his career in the late 1970s as a guitarist in independent punk bands. In the mid 1980s, together with Paolo Bandera and Luca di Giorgio, Eraldo co-founded the conceptual audio project Sigillum-S, which grew into a highly acclaimed international cult act and remains the longest running project Bernocchi is involved with.

In the 90s, he and his wife, visual artist Petulia Mattioli, established Verba Corrige Productions, which became the base for a raft of notable audio visual projects and co-operations. During the 1990s and 2000s, he expanded his base of collaborators greatly, both within Italy and throughout the world. Some of these included Mick Harris (Harris releasing Bernocchi's SIMM debut on his own Possible Recs imprint and working with Black Engine as well as two collaborative albums under their names), Almamegretta, Balázs Pándi, Bill Laswell, Colin Edwin, DJ Disk, DJ Olive, Gaudi, Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, Harold Budd, Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Markus Stockhausen, Nils Petter Molvaer, Professor Shebab, Raiz, Robin Guthrie, Russell Mills, Sensational, Spectre, Thomas Fehlmann, Toshinori Kondo, and Zu (as Black Engine).

In addition to regular work scoring music for adverts and other multimedia projects, he has composed film music for Academy Award winner Gabriele Salvatores and produced numerous art installations with Petulia Mattioli, as well as other artists, including Russell Mills and Harold Budd. He is known for being invited to play and organize several special events for the Dalai Lama in Italy.

In 2008, Bernocchi and music Giacomo Bruzzo founded RareNoiseRecords, a label based in London which aims to showcase a wide range of cutting edge music. The label has since become an important conduit championing several forward thinking and original artists, as well as releasing a number of Eraldo’s own recordings, including ambient guitar duo Parched (with Davide Tiso from Ephel Duath fame), Somma with Nils Petter Molvaer, Bill Laswell, Raiz and Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari), Owls (again with Fornasari and Tony Wakeford), Metallic Taste of Blood (with Colin Edwin from Porcupine Tree, Balázs Pándi and Jamie Saft) and Obake, a doomtronic quartet with Jason Konhen/Bong Ra on bass, Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari and Balázs Pándi.

Notable projects

The project Sigillum S was created on 23 December 1985. It has had, since the beginning, the aim to be totally against the logic of the "band". It was conceived as an open structure in which people could work and research different subjects. Formed by Eraldo Bernocchi (guitars, electronic treatments, voice, and programmation) Paolo Bandera (electronic treatments, bass, and voice) and Luca Di Giorgio (keyboards), the project has always been a double faced creature, mixing together on the same level precise ritual and ethnic aspects with a noisy music.

Since the beginning, Sigillum S had as path to be followed the knowledge and the total war against any kind of limit or taboo, refusing any kind of relationship with political/religious structures. During the first 10 years they toured quite extensively through all Europe and Canada, taking on stage a multimedia attack based on videos, slides and artworks used as a part of the stage. Having pared down along the way to consist of only Eraldo and Paolo as core members, they collaborated with different groups in different situations, like: Ain Soph, The Sodality, Gerstein, Iugula-Thor, Dive, Outoff Body Experience, Team Spam, the sculptor Milo Sacchi, the multimedia/artist PM.Koma and many others.

After a slew of releases through their first 15 years, they released the album Abstraction on Daft Records. This proved to be their last release for a number of years. In 2007, Verba Corrige announced the completion of 23|20, a celebration of the history of Sigillum S. The release was done in two different formats (Digipak CD and gatefold vinyl) featuring different track lists and sequences for each. The release featured all new material and collaborations with artists such as Toshinori Kondo, Bill Laswell, SH Fernando/WordSound, Prof. Shehab/Baboon Records, Martino Nicoletti, Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, the band Zu, Xabier Iriondo, Ephel Duath, various members of Crisis, Mark Solotroff, Thomas Fehlmann, Gudrun Gut, Andrea Marutti, Claudio Agostoni, and many others.

Since the release of 23|20 Sigillum S has continued to perform live, welcoming Luca Di Giorgio back into the fold and adding Petulia Mattioli as a fourth member. Much of their back catalog is now available through Bandcamp with new recordings and archival material forthcoming, both in physical and digital mediums.
Ashes

Ashes was started in 1990 essentially as an Eraldo solo project. The basic idea was to produce works that would be out of context for Sigillum S, as Ashes was a very personal project based on a strong individual introspection. The first release was recorded between 1990 and 1992, finally being released on the newly founded Verba Corrige label. This release, entitled Ashland was based on the guitar treatments, which are often used as a mantra for newly born mind paths. 1996 saw Ashes grow beyond the context of a solo project to include the bass and production of Bill Laswell and vocals of Raiz from Italian group Almamegretta. After a silence of almost 10 years, the project returned with a new album called Unisono, expanding on the core trio to include contributions from Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Antonio Denti and Paolo Mongardi.

SIMM is a beat and bass oriented project owing a debt to the sound of Mick Harris' Scorn project, whom Eraldo had played a batch of live shows with. The project released one full-length release on Mick Harris' short-lived Possible Recs label as well as a 12" on the same label. Additionally, the moniker provided some tracks for a few compilations from around the same time period. In 2012 it was announced that the long-awaited follow up to Welcome was announced for release by Vital Records. After some production delays and personal issues within the label, the release (Visitor) has now shifted to the OHM Resistance label and has been released October 31, 2013.

The Somma project was conceived by Petulia Mattioli and Eraldo Bernocchi. The concept behind Somma is the real interaction among different cultures with the aim to contaminate and explore ancient traditions connecting new electronic music and technology with jazz, dub, and mantric concepts. Unlike several so called "world music" issues and experiments, Somma (Sacred Order of Magic Music and Art ) aims to have real interaction between different worlds, both sonically and visually. This approach rejects the traditional meaning of the moniker "world music" and avoids ethnic cliches, proposing that each event held be different, where participants will be building a sonic and visual ritual using both ancient and modern tools. Ranging from acoustic to electric to electronic, Somma aims for the creation of new rituals for a contemporary age, the interaction of the sacred and dub, a digital mantra for a new sacred ground.

Entirely improvised, every event/concert of Somma ties together two theoretically distant worlds using interaction between eastern and western musicians who look for a different concert/event for each performance. Tibetan culture is not at all used as a folkloristic or curious event, as too many times happens in the west, but as living part of the creative process. Visuals are also totally improvised and constructed in real time according to what is happening musically on stage to close the circle erasing any difference between past and future.

Since 1996 Bernocchi and Mattioli involved well known New York producer/bass legend Bill Laswell and start to work on the first studio recording of the combo together with 7 Tibetan monks. The album, Hooked Light Rays came out for Low Records, a division of Pete Namlook's Fax label, gaining positive reviews. In 1998 the album was reprinted by Felmay/New Tone an Italian label specialized in traditional/modern musics.

With the encouragement of Musica 90, one of the most renowned booking/production agencies in Europe, Somma's first public appearance took place on November 26, 1996 at Teatro Regio in Torino Italy in front of 1600 people. (Eraldo Bernocchi - treated guitars and electronics, Bill Laswell - bass, Petulia Mattioli - stage design and visuals, Oz Fritz - sound engineering and space dislocations, 7 Tibetan monks - vocals, horns, bells, drums) In 2001, on occasion of the official visit of the Dalai lama, Somma performed in Trento at the Centro Santa Chiara theatre, in front of a gathering 2000 people. Somma continues to grow and expand, most recently playing on May 28, 2007 at Teatro Dal Verme in Milan adding Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Nils Petter Molvaer and the vocal group Faraualla to the mix. This show received release in 2010 through Eraldo's RareNoise label.

In 2007/2008, it was announced that Eraldo and partner Giacomo Bruzzo created a new record label to be based out of the UK, called RareNoiseRecords. The label officially began releasing albums at the end of the first half of 2009. The initial slate of releases kicked off with the debut release of Meditronica – a project by Ashtech and Polcari which also featured the talents of Raiz, Eraldo Bernocchi and Dub Gabriel. Other releases through the end of 2009 include The Mantra ATSMM, a Method of Defiance live album and DVD from 2007 featuring the then line-up of Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell, Dr. Israel, Toshinori Kondo and Guy Licata, the long-awaited Buckethead side project Death Cube K's Torn From Black Space and Parched, an atmospheric guitar project from Eraldo and Davide Tiso.

As 2010 opened, a live recording of a 2007 show from Somma (held back from 2009 due to perfecting artwork issues) was released and the label released albums and/or EPs by Italian groups Echo and The Mantra ATSMM. Obake is one of Bernocchi's newer ongoing projects, meant to be the place where the energies of Doom and Drone Metal fuse with ambient electronica, noise, the exactness of math-rock, the groove of blues undercurrents harking back to the dawn of hard-rock and the fluid lyrical delivery and musings of a commanding operatic voice. The initial release on RareNoise consisted of Eraldo Bernocchi and Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Massimo Pupillo of the group Zu on bass and drummer Balazs Pandi. After some internal shifting (including a short tour with Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3) filling in on bass, new member Jason Köhnen of Bong-Ra fame was announced in 2013 as the permanent bassist with new recordings commencing that year. In 2014 “Mutations” , the second Obake album, came out harvesting incredible reviews and appearances in major festivals. As well Osso, his new band with Morkobot.

Over the last 2 years the label has expanded its artist and release base, with critically acclaimed releases from Eraldo related groups such as electronica/neo-folk project OWLS (with Tony Wakeford and Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari), Metallic Taste of Blood (Jamie Saft, Colin Edwin and Balazs Pandi) and Obake as well as Eraldo's collaboration with Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie. Aside from Eraldo projects, the label has also released albums by Brainkiller, Bob Belden's Animation, David Fiuczynski, Slobber Pup, InterStatic, Lorenzo Feliciati, Martin Schulte, Mole (Productions) and Naked Truth.

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 2006 release from this collaboration project from Raiz (former vocalist with Almamegretta), Bill Laswell, and Eraldo Bernocchi. This album is a mixture of Electronic music, Dub, Pop, Reggae and Mediterranean sounds.

Milanese electronic producer and manipulator Eraldo Bernocchi in the company of Raiz's unique voice and the low-key but greatly respected Bill Laswell, musician and producer who boasts numerous collaborations.  The music produced by Ashes is a perfect synthesis of the styles of these three great characters and ranges from the Mediterranean digital dub so dear to Almamegretta lovers to at moments more energetic and electronic than they wink at the most "intelligent" dance and the most contaminated and innovative world music, all dominated by Raiz's warm and always personal voice.  "Unisono" contains ten tracks, eight unreleased tracks and two suggestive covers.
 "Guapparia" is a classic of the rebel Neapolitan song and is reproposed in the reggae-dub version while "Set The Controls" is a cover of Pink Floyd interpreted in a hypnotic and personal way.  The first single from the album is "Amparame Dios", an energetic piece written in the balance between reggae, dub and dance.



Ashes - Unisono  (flac 326mb)

01 Guapparia 3:39
02 Raggaria 2:05
03 Dubbamonk 5:30
04 Exodus 7:21
05 Episode Noir 4:54
06 Amparame Dios 5:16
07 Insomnia Softness 4:52
08 Gaza 4:26
09 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun 6:04
10 Staje Sempre Qu' Mme 6:50

Ashes - Unisono  (ogg  114mb)

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Eraldo Bernocchi is an Italian musician, producer and sound designer. Thomas Fehlmann is a Swiss-born composer/producer who currently lives in Berlin, and has been active in electronic music as far back as the 1980s. He is an on and off member of such groups as Sun Electric and The Orb. This is difficult music to describe because it does not fall into any specific categories. Although elements of dub techno, experimental electronica, noise, ambient and found sounds are in the mix Manual delivers something that is totally unique. Very well produced throughout every track comes up with a fresh theme and manages to sound alien and otherworldly yet always engaging. As time goes by it becomes harder and harder to come up with truely original music. These guys have done it.



Eraldo Bernocchi, Thomas Fehlmann - Manual    (flac 320mb)

01 Add Water 9:35
02 Drill Hole 5:57
03 Open Window 3:37
04 Select All 6:07
05 Cut In Half 6:22
06 Go To Source 5:47
07 Change Bulb 5:59
08 Repeat Twice 4:53
09 Peel The Fruit 3:42
10 Press Bottom 3:33

Eraldo Bernocchi, Thomas Fehlmann - Manual  (ogg  146mb)

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From its heavy stone dropping bass to cinematic orchestration, beautiful piano melodies, and progressive dowtempo electronic beats, this collaboration between Eraldo Bernocchi and Blackfilm is an amazing find and addition to the Danish dark electronic label, Vital. Designed as a soundtrack for those lonely nights, walking through abandoned streets and skeleton buildings, Along The Corridors will keep you on the edge of your seat, with your imagination as the only projector for the cinema of your mind.  Blackfilm, who continues to remain anonymous, is a Hungarian artist that was first introduced to us through his self-titled debut on the now defunct Spectraliquid Records. Since then, the album has been picked up by Denovali Records and repressed in 2010 on compact disc and vinyl. His dark atmospheric soundscapes and a bricolage of modern classical samples and instrumental hip-hop beats reminded me of my favorite works by Amon Tobin and Future Sound of London, for a brooding soundtrack enveloping your mind with heavy fog of penetrating sound. Since the release, Blackfilm has relocated to London where he has embedded himself with the heavyweights of dub and even darker journeys in the underground. Anyway dubfans shouldn't miss out here.



Eraldo Bernocchi-Blackfilm - Along The Corridors (flac 310mb)

01 Where We Stand 5:05
02 Broken Optimism 5:07
03 Lost 4:16
04 Roadblocker Dub 5:18
05 Dark Area Of The Night Sky 5:36
06 Invisible Corridor 6:07
07 Mistakes Pt.1 3:28
08 Mistakes Pt.2 6:20
09 1996 Chronicles 4:49
10 Bethnal Green 6:15

Eraldo Bernocchi-Blackfilm - Along The Corridors   (ogg  114mb)

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Italian producer Eraldo Bernocchi invited ambient/minimalist piano pioneer Harold Budd and former Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie (who had collaborated earlier on several projects) to join him in Tuscany for this recording, on which Budd contributes the most sonically central piano parts and Bernocchi and Guthrie add sumptuously ethereal background noise. The result is both blissfully soothing and consistently interesting, although the most interesting things are actually happening in the background, among the steam clouds and wispy layers of sound that provide aural context for Budd's noodlings. Much of what Budd plays is based on pentatonic melodies, which sound nice no matter what you do. (This is a trade secret of new age musicians: stick with a pentatonic scale, and nothing you play will sound wrong.) But those simple melodies are highly effective, and the floating accompaniments are absolutely gorgeous: there are electronic effects in there, but what are most audible are the shimmering guitar chords and seemingly infinite piano echoes that Bernocchi and Guthrie shape and reshape as they drift away into the distance. The end result is utterly gorgeous and deeply comforting music.



Eraldo Bernocchi, Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie - Winter Garden (flac 154mb)

01 Don't Go Where I Can't Find You 4:54
02 Losing My Breath 4:04
03 Winter Garden 4:46
04 Entangled 4:19
05 Harmony And The Play Of Light 5:34
06 Heavy Heart Some More 4:46
07 White Ceramic 3:01
08 Stay With Me 5:20
09 South Of Heaven 6:45
10 Dream On 3:54

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2 comments:

Cass said...

Woah! Shame on you! Everything can be stripped down to and wrapped up in layers of 'meaning', given a context & blah, blah, blah...

...but I feel you are totally disrespecting a beautiful woman here and I shall have none of it! I was rooting for this artist/song to win and am very happy that she/it did! So there! :D

~ Netta has talked about the 'message' behind the song, saying:

" Women, this year have been searching and finding their voices which is great, which is amazing, and very very important. But you know, it’s an empowerment song in general for everybody, for everybody who has been struggling to be themselves, struggling with their bosses, with the government, somebody stepping on them. I have been told so many times that I am not pretty enough, I am not skinny enough to do what I wanna do. And that’s it, it is an empowering song, everyone can find something in it. And it is wrapped in a happy vibe, which I love!"

In my opinion, she rocked it! :)


Cass said...

On another note (with the initial remark aside, of course!) Thanks so much for another wonderful post!