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Ruins — Cosa? (Experimental Works)
(Bandcamp Klanggalerie gg541, 1985/2026, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-10-23

Cosa? (Experimental Works) Cover art

By the early 80s, Ruins was essentially a two-man band featuring Piergiuseppe Ciranna (vocals, electronics, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drum machines, tapes, noises) and Alessandro Pizzin (keyboards, electronics, guitar, drum machines, pizzynth, noises) and much of their commercially released output can be found on  our artist page, some of which we have reviewed as they are reissued. The collection of 26 tracks at hand represents experimental pieces that were created either individually or together, used for Ruins multimedia installations in art galleries back in the 80s, and as such these have never been released before. Most are relatively short vignettes of a minute or two (although there are some exceptions that go out to nearly five minutes) that pretty much make a musical statement — usually electronic based — and play with it for a bit and then move on to the next one; few feature vocals, and those that do are typically severely effected. There are no rules here, just about anything can happen… “Playing an Old Song” for example, starts out pleasant enough, but after four looped measures the plot starts turning and twisting with the introduction of strange sounds that end up sounding like a night in the proverbial graveyard, but it certainly lives up to the experimental descriptive. With “Unsteadiness” one can hear a disorienting melody growing under the repeated chatter of a drum machine loop. Using pre-recorded voice loops, “Joe Louis” revisits his historic win accompanied by some otherworldly sounds produced on guitars and electronics, while “Rooms of Power” calls forth all kinds of noises and buzzing in a whirlwind of electronic madness. Nothing here could even be considered remotely commercial — these are sounds from the outer fringes that could never be mistaken for songs, but they do serve as excellent pieces of sound-art for the purpose for which they were intended.

Filed under: Archives, 2026 releases, 1985 recordings

Related artist(s): Ruins

More info
http://klanggalerie.bandcamp.com/album/cosa-experimental-works

 

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