Published by Davide Pappalardo on October 18, 2016
We have just reviewed the last work of Gianluca Becuzzi under his own name (Faraway from light, licensed by Luce Sia) and we find ourselves with another album born from one of his projects, a way more experimental and electronic affair: we’re talking about Kinetix and its new full length called Urban nightscapes, published by Tiny Speaker.
Becuzzi is a key figure in Italian and European “alternative” electronic and electro-acoustic music, known for his works and collaborations with Limbo, Pankow, Kirlian Camera, Noise Trade Company and many others, as well as for his own projects like Metaform, Kinetix, Saint Luka, and his solo work under his own name. Never one to live in the past, he pursues constantly an artistic growth sustained by an understanding of music theory (not so common among the players of this field of music) and an open mind which avoids at the same time any retro tendency and bootlicking, as well as the following of the flavour of the week; his idea of music is well-rounded and grounded in a solid knowledge of songwriting and styles.
Kinetix shows his interest in the possibilities of digital recording and modern minimal electronic music, with a dosed use of noises and computer music, an interest extended to audio art and sound installations. It’s a given that to fully appreciate this kind of project you have to experience it in a live setting, but it doesn’t mean the pure sonic endeavor has not any merit by itself.
The work starts with Psychogeography and its ambient sounds soon towered by a shrilling audio effect, a digital mantra where noises and field recordings generate an ancient-modern world full of an alarming, but at the same time enthralling, atmosphere. An atavistic ritual in which rhythmic pulsations find their place in the final section, between the alarm sirens and the dark crawling structure: the title of the track has not be chosen by chance, this is a travel in the regions of mind made music.
Essential nowhere again uses deep bass sounds and a steady rhythm, soon growing with an industrial crescendo, where the interplay between the rhythmic structure and the effects in background is the key factor. An hypnotic urban ritual which contextualize in a modern sound the idea behind the originators of industrial music, where the factory-like rhythms are linked to digital effects and obsessive loops.
Our private demons could recall modern dark techno, but this is not by any means a following of trends, keeping all the experimental expects of the project: a pulsating bass starts the round with its earth-quake movement, while sampled choruses and ghostly strings are heard in the background. Soon frantic effects grow, building up a controlled tension doomed to develop in a slow industrial techno loop, and the whispered vocals produce mysterious words. The rhythm adds new elements, in a grim mantra aimed less to the dancefloor and more to the personal mind-travel.
Stay sleepless is an epic ambient affair where baritone echoes and suggestive chants are violated by a destructive and distorted rhythm, a sonic juggernaut moving with a slow peace among an almost sacramental atmosphere. Once again the rhythm is the key to the structure of the track, back boned by a minimal, but effective, usage of steady sounds and effects; the result is a digital, but at the same time brooding and dark sound once again evoking a world where ancient and atavistic darkness meets modern technology.
A work showing effortlessly its idea of modern digital music, an omni-style reaching ambient, minimal electronic music, experimental techno, industrial and much more, without belonging to any of them. An idiosyncratic work where the knowledge of the rules is used to subvert them, a play-field where the ancient roots of our minds are transplanted in a modern sound which remembers the past, but is never its slave. This is not just music, this is art, and this is an album any actual lover of engaging intelligent music should listen to. Highly recommended.
Label: Tiny Speaker
Rating: 9