Stefano Bertoli - Eleven Faces
and Forty Two Arms
I don´t know Stefana Bertoli but I do know the label Italian label Industrial Ölocaust Recordings. This one, with the highly esoteric themed title, is the first release in his own name. A 2 track-track full-length which is sofar available on tape, pro-CD-R, and by digital means.
If anyone should be in doubt what the theme is about, then I can reveal to you that it seems to be a concept-based treat around a certain Avalokitesvara who in turn is a Bodhisattva (any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood), this Buddhahood embodies the compassion of all Buddhas ( is a title for someone who is awake, and has attained nirvana and Buddhahood)... So basically, we're talking about a godlike and important figure in Buddhism. He/She also contains both sexes, and must therefore be seen as someone like... Abraxas maybe? Well ok, on to the recordings itself.
A vintage old-school proto-electronic treatment waits to be explored. As a fan of old Doctor Who (and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop), some of you might have a feeling where the album goes. The first track simply named Kan starts with echoing and reverbed icy bleeps of various pitch and volume, imagine space... cold, empty, and very large. Not that far away from the likes of Coil´s Worship the Glitch album. These evocative bleeps swirl around your speakers for around 10 minutes, and then the track moves further into a minimal ritualistic sound-setting. Mechanical hummings from a source with a high voltage get mixed into a dynamic set made of various electronic and primitive glitch sounds, it´s all very stimulative and addictive so far!. Some of it also reminds me of the ghostly radio-sounds which I have heard on Ulver´s Perdition City!
Track two named Non, adds esoteric Tibetan-like chanting to the electronic glitch mesh. Still within the same sound-nature as the earlier track. Fans of Zoviet France and Hybryds, take notice here. Interesting and demonic noises ripes a hole in the sound-fabric later on! Chilling dynamics happening around 16 minutes later, the feeling that something otherworldly tries to enter your world (by quiet means). Don´t fall asleep to this album people, the demonic noises around 24 minutes are brutal... and frightening. And then it ends.
Feels like reaching up from some deep gulf to get some air! It´s not a noisy treat, but when the album stops... silence greats you... feels kind of eerie after that. A very subtle psychedelic experience, parallel universes in sound? This might be it. Kind it a spin, a prober mind fxxx.
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