KRUNGTHEP ARCHIVES

In this last effort, Giuseppe Verticchio (frontman and multi instrumentalist behind Nihm) liberates the musical possibilities of noises taken from various public places and subtly interact this study with densely sonic instrumental textures (made of various ethno-cultural instruments from traditional Asia). The musical signature and general aesthetic direction are in the direct vein of the two previous releases Travel Diary and Missing Tapes: moving, symbiotic and spatial relationships between the acousmatic theater, fragmented acoustic tones and relevant organic interferencies. The opening theme rises from the distance with an exquisite, almost liturgical music procession made of hypno- minimal patterns, long sustained acoustic drones and crowdy noises that progressively come into the mix. Track 02 starts with an intense burgeoning medley of sounds, abrasive noises, timbral and polymorphic textures which combined all together create a kind of vertiginous cyclical mind trip through altered memories. Track 03 probably represents the highlight with its meticulous and well balanced dialogue between static minimalism, luminous melodies lines, sustained sonorities and an avalanche of noisy, crashing sounds. Track 04 is an hypnagogic repetitive mantra for ethno instruments and sonorous, slowly evolving drone frequencies, punctuated by cinematic noises and physical atmospheres. Track 05 closes this energetically mobile and sonic voyage with a vast collection of concrete materials and deliciously introspective acoustic chords. Krungthep Archives reveal tremendous ecological soudscapes and introduces the listener into an original trans-cultural sound monography. These archives spontaneously communicate the pleasure to re-discover in a sensitive way the micro-polyphony of everyday life. Well recommended for curious, sound ethnographers and post-industrial (neuro-electronic) listeners.

Unearthly ethnic electronics.

Giuseppe Verticchio's, a.k.a. NIMH, 2011 "Krungthep Archives ", travels through the obscure, white noise, strident electronics, as it is also poignantly focused on playing ethnical kind of tunes with their respective instrumentation, mostly Asian or Indian, alongside, live recordings of nature's sounds and some village's peasant life of what seems to be somewhere around those same places.

In this project's progressive mutation, back and forth between its musical directions and mixtures of musical languages and influences, what is constant is Giuseppe Verticchio's detailed and creative music songwriting. Even the unmusical white, harsh noise or its indistinct voices and chatters , are kept in size, unless the composition requires the opposite, without surrendering the spirit of "pure electronic experimentation", very much in the tenor of his own country (very) early electronic musicians. (Italy circa 1930.)

In fact that is exactly what makes this work "cinematic like" (without any kind of ST cliches, of course), the wide space given to each musical or noise direction. Unobtrussive to each other but linearly focused, as also imprinting each song with its own personality, yet parts of the whole project.

Rich in melodies and moods, yet abundant in its uncompromising sonic electronic textures!

****4.5 PA stars.

It is a strange and wonderful thing to hear a myriad of the instruments of the East played in an ethereal and electronic context. "K.A. 4" is an excellent example of this unique fusion and how well Verticchio pulled it off: an Indian drone that sounds distinctly electronic opens, and a furiously played sitar is the centrepiece. The track ends with a swell of strange sounds and the return of the drone. The whole album takes various Asian sounds and then makes them feel out of this world. Words can't completely convey just how otherworldly and yet so right this comes out as. It is like an industrial ambient band going backpacking through India, Southeast Asia, and then on through China and Japan, along the way cutting tracks with traditional musicians, and then assembling the project into an excellent whole. Or you can think of it as an artifact dropped by extraterrestrials who decided to do a take on some Earth music. And this is all the work of one man! Verticchio is remarkably talented, and the proof is this masterful album.