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Reviews

Gaudi — Magnetic
(RareNoise RNR080, 2017, CD)

by Jon Davis, Published 2017-09-25

Magnetic Cover art

Readers might remember Gaudi’s previous release, a single containing music assembled from recordings spanning the RareNoise label catalog. With Magnetic, Gaudi presents an entire album of the same kind of material, including the two tracks from the single in different forms. The result is not dissimilar to some of the dub-oriented recordings that Bill Laswell has worked on, and the fact that the vast majority of the sounds were produced by musicians playing live really makes it sound more like “real” music than you might expect given how it was produced. It’s almost like a jigsaw puzzle that’s been assembled out of pieces from various other puzzles, but somehow makes a coherent picture of its own when put together. (Now that would be a project!) This truly takes sampling and audio collage music to a new level — I’m not aware of any other album that has been created in this manner. But any music has to succeed or fail on its own merits without relying on a back story for appeal, and Magnetic works in that regard as well. This is instrumental music that grooves and is full of interesting sounds, whether it’s echoes and textures or a lyrical piano part or a pulsing analog synthesizer. There’s a range of moods, with eerie sounds and subtle dub echoes at one end, and the pulsing of “Modular Rondo” at the other, where Gaudi adds his own synth to an energetic drum part. Throughout, the bass parts are what stand out, with source material coming from Bill Laswell, Colin Edwin, Lorenzo Feliciati, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, and Jamie Saft. I suppose with diligent research, it would be possible to identify the original settings of all these parts, but that would take more time than I’m willing to invest. I’ll just spin it again and enjoy the grooves.

Filed under: New releases, 2017 releases

Related artist(s): Brian Patrick Carroll (Buckethead / Death Cube K), Bill Laswell, Pat Mastelotto, Merzbow (Masami Akita), Coppé, Lorenzo Feliciati, J. Peter Schwalm, Jamie Saft, Gaudi (Daniele Gaudi Cenacchi), Eraldo Bernocchi, Cyro Baptista, Terje Evensen

More info
http://gaudimusic.bandcamp.com/album/gaudi-magnetic

 

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