Bocci - Lyke Wake - Oberto
Cosmonauti
Released back in March, this album features three artists within the Italian experimental/industrial music scene. Christiano Bocci (whom we reviewed with the To The Moon And Back album, together with Noise Cluster), Lyke Wake (a Veteran of Italian industrial), and J.C. Oberto (whom we will meet again with another Lyke Wake album, which we will review later).
Concept of this album? Something with cosmonauts from the Soviet Republic up until 1991. Ever in doubt, u can read it more closely. This text is from the Bandcamp page, and there is much, much more to read, also on the inner sleeve:
Specific aspects of this collaboration have been the aesthetic suggestion inspired by Soviet cosmonautics (up to 1991) and the historical impact it has had on the imagination of Western Europe, where we live and work. Therefore, we did not intend to make any reference or take a position regarding the dramatic current events or the developments of contemporary geopolitical dynamics. Sound and verbal experimentation as tools of existential expression. The discomfort of those who find themselves in a world that is not theirs, knowing that one's own does not exist.
The artwork for the album is a totally retro-sci-fi futuristic treat for the eyes! Thinking back to early sci-fi illustrations with a touch of the promise-of-a-brighter-future sort of propaganda. The sci-fi comics with Dan Dare pop up in my mind for a reason. The album contains 11 tracks, totaling approximately 65 minutes.
Il Cielo Visto Da Quaggìu (The Sky Seen From Down Here) is the first track. The sound of feet in shoes walking, watery waves on a rocky and sandy beach, a dog barking somewhere, and... strange sounds unfolding. The kind of otherworldly sounds that u can hear in your mind... when u start looking up to see the stars on a cloudless night. Mysterious spoken words in Italian are added, a distant airplane, and a sound that sounds like some sort of alarm. Are we already entering space? Glitchy sound effects, a stretched violin string, ethereal radio-noise... this is just the first track, so much soundwise meat on this already! Later on, we get the esoteric psychedelic noise-synth that only Lyke Wake can do, which is something that sounds a bit like when you are tuning your low-fi radio in a different parallel universe. And those...beautiful synth-choirs of deep human voices. Think early Coil and early Berlin-School, excellent stuff!
The second track, Carillon Sovietico Spaziale: Sputnik (Soviet Space Music Box: Sputnik. A chunky low-bit noise on one side of the stereo, and a cold, windy sound starts the track. The sound of something metallic, like a fan creating air in a ventilation system. An exquisite synth melody later on adds a beautiful adventurous touch to the track, in space, and looking back at Earth.
The third track, Ero Solo un Cane (I Was Just A Dog). Could that be about the space-travelling dog Laika? I think so. Subdued psychedelic guitar-string work is added, beautifully done slow synth-melodies with a melancholic icy touch. Really like the voice of J.C. Oberto, don´t know what he is saying, but he does have an excellent and highly evocative voice!
The fourth track, Carillon Sovietico Spaziale: Vostok. More of an experimental sound here than the Sputnik track. Glittering sparks of ethereal stars, strange and symphonic radio-noises with cosmic space dust just touching your spine.
The fifth track, Motocross per Jurij Gagarin, is a subtle piece with an epic kind of element to it. Excellent moody guitar-work by C. Bocci here! Sometimes the guitarwork is reversed, and sometimes it isn't! Retro-wave VHS synth work wraps it all up quite nicely, fans of John Carpenter, anyone?
We jump further into the album, and further, I mean, track number eight... called Passeggia Libero (Walk Free). Kind of Cosey/TG-sort of industrial guitar-bass sound starts the track with some highly distorted spoken word parts. All the former tracks have had a kind... spacy levitating feel to them, this one (in the beginning) seems more bound to the ground. This all stops when the spoken words part starts, and the background synth gently pushes the listener back into space. When the synth-melodies and the choirs enter, absolute clarity enters the mind of the listener, removing all the obstacles of noise and confusion. Perfectly balanced.
With the ninth track, L'Ultimo Volo (The Last Flight), we are almost entering a fantasy-like dimension where twisted creatures like Mortiis exist. Only this time, he is floating in a space suit, of course! Kind of dungeon-synth in space, but I don´t think that it was the intention. Later on, it gets a lot more abstract!
The last track, La Terra Vista da Quassù (The Earth Seen From Up Here). Heavenly, layered, and cathedral-like synthwork, blistering sound of icy winds, organ-drones, and otherworldly electronics end the album in a classy kind of way, without too much drama.
The thing this album does. There is abstract stuff, and there is the clear synth stuff. The synth stuff is so good, mainly because it is strengthened by the abstract elements. The good stuff is good, mainly because it is being subdued by the abstract stuff. And vice versa, offcourse. Everything is perfectly balanced between order and chaos, and that is how things work in the great cosmic. Sometimes it can be understood, but... the great space surrounding our little plant is so big that it becomes... well, abstract? Too big for our human minds to fully understand, and yeah... we then get back to Lovecraft offcourse... again! Nevertheless! This album is AGAIN a bloody masterpiece, and I love it to bits! Smoke something, open up a good vine... whatever... everything about this album is so enjoyable!.
