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Various Artists — Ode to Marco Veronesi
(ADN AgDuNu 001, 2015, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2015-09-25

Ode to Marco Veronesi Cover art

Marco Veronesi was one of the founders of the Italian underground ADN label, who passed away in 2013 after a lengthy illness. This compilation (a limited edition of 300 copies) features various outtakes by a number of artists who were fundamental in the development of ADN during the 1980s. The set opens with “An Elegy” by the experimental electronic ensemble T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata), an eerie five-minute piece featuring haunting wordless female voice backed by multi-layered pulsating and incidental electronics and metal percussion. Riccardo Sinigaglia offers “Magik,” a piece of haunting Middle Eastern exotica where Sinigaglia plays all the instrumentation (an experimental cauldron of strings, percussion, winds, and electronics) with beautiful wordless vocalizations by Lilli Coda. Jumping forward a bit, we have “Fetides Humbert et Jacques” by La STPO, the typical craziness one might expect from this French band, a mix of spoken parts, odd vocalizations, mallet and metal percussion, saxes, and low growling bass with strange electronic sounds in play that, all taken, really sounds like nothing else. Following up on that we have “Black Phoebe” by the Motor Totemist Guild sans Grigsby, an odd and quirky chamber-rock piece for flute, piano, trombone, and percusion. Italian duo Sigillum S guides us forward with “Happiness in the Kooky Cracks among Dimensions,” beginning as an airy and peaceful keyboard piece with much added ambience, adding many strange electronic embellishments as it goes toward an almost frightening end. Jumping forward again, La 1919’s offering “Hcabial” approaches near symphonic proportions using layered keyboards, electric guitar, and percussive loops, all twisted up in a stew of musical madness. Jumping further forward, Merzbow offers a pulsating electronic rhythm overlaid with mega-blasts of snarly grating noise with “Mix 05.23.” The set closes with “Japa(n)chinko” by Cellula Ascolto Attivo, a nine-minute piece mixing industrial sounds and field recordings with voices, loops, odd instrumentation, and more. There are fifteen tracks in all, I’ve only detailed about half of what’s here, but if one appreciates challenging and experimental musical styles of all kinds, then you can’t go wrong with this one! The CD is packaged in a huge poster that folds down to roughly the size of the disc.

Filed under: New releases, 2015 releases

Related artist(s): Merzbow (Masami Akita), La 1919, Various Artists, The Motor Totemist Guild, La Société des Timides à la Parade des Oiseaux (La STPO)

 

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