DETRIMENTAL DIALOGUE (WITH FAUSTO BALBO)

Two electronic wizards and sound alchemists, Fausto Balbo and Andrea Marutti (Amon, Never Known, Hall of Mirrors) have unified their respective musical universe to create a rather unique, innovative and polymorphic electronic album. In itself the musical signature offers a dense and dynamic interaction between sci-fi, fractal sound projections and virtually cosmic surrounded synthscapes. The opening theme offers a synthesis between pure abstract electronic interferencies, spaced out lo-fi keys and icy pop-ish electronics. Indulge me provides a luminous beatific soundscape in search of the absolute quietness. It slowly involves into a metaphysical sound hallucination. Set-Back explores mysteriously evocative, detached soundscapes slowly moving in deep distance, punctuated by electro-acoustic motives, cosmic noises and transversal flux. Troubled Elephant closes the album with various abstract sound manipulations and processual micro-sound textures. Detrimental Dialogue is a vertiginous- cathartic musical experience which entirely renew the whole kosmische synth subgenre due to unusual sound combinations. A really ambitious collaboration and absolute electronic masterpiece.

Eloquent encounter!

In my newly aquired prog/electronic findings, Andrea Marutti´s name shows up constantly. Going on by different "facades" like Amon, Never Known or Hall of Mirrors and his solo works as his collaborations with other electronic musicians like Aidan Baker, NIHM, among many others.

This 2010, "Detrimental Dialogue (With Fausto Balbo)" obviously is one of those collaborations.

Both musicians know their game, it shows and adds up to the clear counterpointing between both personal musical languages. Marutti´s idiom although it deals with noise like structures the same as Balbo´s, his lines still possess a close nature to music as we all understand it. On the other hand Balbo´s expressions are close in range to the raw electronic experimentation, like german electronic pioneer Conrad Schnitzler.

So, expect droning landscapes of swirling enchanting noises, deep unstructured and dirty frequency waves going back and forth between "strange and hypnotic" melody lines, some poignant basses here and there and lots of "blips", "beeps" and ¨tweeks".

Creative and diverse in its songwriting, a more than balanced performance like collaboration, a unique musical proposal and original in its raw-noise constructions. Friendly but not accessible in its musical composition results.

For Prog/Electronic, Krautrock and RiO followers and maybe some other curious cat!

****4 PA stars.

After fifteen years of making music apart from each other, Andrea Marutti and Fausto Balbo's paths crossed in 2005, and since then they have been working every now and then on this release. The album "Detrimental Dialogue" is their first collaboration, and it contains explorations of various types of analogue and digital synthesis. If you are not yet introduced to that part of experimentalism, yes, there is more then 'just' analog or digital. To quote from the press sheet: additive, subtractive, physical modeling, FM, phase distortion, granular, etc. The 48 minutes of this release are divided into four tracks, entitled "Winter", "Indulge me", "Set-Back" and "Troubled Elephant", and with the best will in the world I couldn't explain these titles to you. But rest assured that while listening to these tracks I have tried to figure it out. The drones and ambient parts slowly fade you in and out (of an uncertain state) of consciousness, while the intrusive experiments in minimal noise, glitch and pure waveforms rip you out of there and force you to feel the here, the now and reality; this latter in all its beautiful and confrontational aspects. Through the use of effects, the sounds that are used on this album ? and then mainly those noisy escapades ? are put into a really nice perspective. The stereo image as well as the depth have an exceptional extra dimension, which makes the album as a whole interesting for a) modular sound nerds (you know who you are) and b) people who want to hear proof that there is more than your mind can handle. It's going straight into my collection, next to Robert Piotrowicz' "Lasting Clinamen", and the additional mini-poster with the music-making aliens and insect-shaped speakers by Stefano 'Sicksoul' Rossetti is getting an honorary place on my studio wall. For inspirational purposes? Or just to space out!