Stunned no. 21

Albero Rovesciato - Ancient Shining Drums of the Covered City c30 (Stunned no. 21) —out of stock—

Albero Rovesciato’s members Francesco Cavaliere & Marco Lampis are native to the mystic isles off Italy but now they roam Berlin, presumably because they have smashed all the percussion instruments in their homeland. All we know is we’re glad we located them with some remaining objects and intact drums, because few troupes can make us simultaneously smile with delight and scamper for cover when they rev up like this. Cavaliere & Lampis emerge from the badass Italian sound collective Phonorama, so we know they mean business once they open their trick bags and begin spilling out wares of leftfield musique concrete & cybertimes junkyard gamelan. Before-and-after shots of their performance spaces provide evidence that a typical Albero live action reduces much of their tools to splinters & powder. This isn’t to imply that things are sloppy, however. Not for a second. Crystal recording fidelity on ‘Ancient Shining Drums’ benefits the wheezing-blurting-whacking fits of OCD voodoo, ensuring that we have never heard chaos sound so lean & tangible before. Marco puts it best when mentioning he & Francesco’s desire “to escape from pedals and digital effects, to approach and find material contact with the instruments, to arrive at PYRAMID LEVEL.” Hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes in blood red shells, insert card, and double-sided color jcard.
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review:

"This stuff is totally liberated from imposed rhythmic constraints and finds a true, natural flow of rhythms. That isn’t to say they’re above relentless, authoritative pounding as on the second piece but as that part fades a thicket of clicks, clacks, clinks clanks, thrums, dings, dongs etc. materializes against a super sparse minor key organ melody. Resolving the percussive in a (somewhat) more coherent way against a pulsing organ loop beware going nuts in the final 15 seconds. A brilliant piece. The last two pieces are also great. The first is shorter and has a droning presence along with percussive rattle that starts out friendly before getting real complex real quick. The last piece initially sounds like marbles and silverware slung down a bar through a labyrinth of beer glasses. It’s somewhat disorienting but appealingly tactile and immediate. I don’t even really hear drums anywhere in the piece, and it doesn’t matter, the two guys manage to create a rich, exciting piece out of these incidental sounds that people usually ignore in their everyday life. There's some squeaking towards the end that sounds like saxophone almost, but I’m pretty sure it’s just coming from the friction of someone rubbing a glass. Not only is this tape just a flat out brilliant and enjoyable percussive brouhaha, these guys are creating something really distinctive, complex and enthralling." - Auxiliary Out