Stroboscopic Artefacts, the record label founded and co-owned by Berlin based Italian DJ/Producer Luca Mortellaro, aka Lucy recently unveiled the captivating 10 track compilation album, Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music. It captures 10 very distinct creations from 10 very talented Italian electronic artists including Lucy himself. Their musical art comes from and exists within a space that is cavernous in terms of its range of genres and musical contexts. Besides their nationality, the commonality among them is their penchant for pushing boundaries and taking risks in dark corners and in light without fear or favour. And what is also remarkable within that idiosyncratic context is how amazingly accessible these tracks are. The label describes the compilation as;
There is a sensibility of decadence and corroded grandeur etched within its four album sides, reminding us that historically “decadent” times have nonetheless resulted in some of the boldest acts of individual and collective creativity. Like the ‘floral’ theme that has remained a consistent feature of S.A.’s graphic presentation, the music here equally presents fragility and intensity in a way that really drives home this visual metaphor for good, while still holding out the promise that similar creations will be seeded in the near future, Though many of the artists involved have set of residence outside of their native Italy, all contribute here to make a captivating portrait of a shared spirit and cultural memory.
While none of the ten should be bypassed, there are seven that we single out for special mention and share below. Whether you’re familiar with some or all of these great names Flowers From The Ashes is a great resource to enjoy in its own right but also one to launch you into electronic music worlds with a sense of explorative wonder. If you like the artistically experimental side of electronic music, do yourself a favour and purchase this outstanding album on all formats here.
Tracklist
1. Silvia Kastel – Errori
2. Andrea Belfi – Spitting & Skytouching
3. Marco Shuttle – Lux Et Sonus
4. Ninos Du Brasil – Noite Atrás
5. Alessandro Adriani – You Will Not Be There For The End
06. Chevel – Friends Electric
07. Lucy – Starving The Mind
08. Lory D – PRV-HH3-X
09. Caterina Barbieri – Virgo Rebellion
10. Neel – 4G
Avant-garde producer Silvia Kastel who recently released her first album in six years Air Lows, begins proceedings with ‘Errori’, a fascinatingly disparate work which involves the creation and then suspension of sonic fragments that hypnotically hang across the aural horizon.
Errori
Silvia Kastel (ITA)
From the compilation album, ‘Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music’, Stroboscopic Artefacts.
Silvia Kastel Facebook
Audio Stream
Eeri label head Marco Shuttle creates an enveloping atmospheric density from his employment of a slow repetitive kick and a patterned electric bass line on ‘Lux et Sonus’. From this base, otherworldly effects and elements take shape morphing into a slightly unsettling but nonetheless alluring swirl.
Lux et Sonus
Marco Shuttle (ITA)
From the compilation album, ‘Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music’, Stroboscopic Artefacts.
Marco Shuttle Facebook
Audio Stream
UK based Ninos Du Brasil, the Batacuda (samba variant) project of producers Nicolò Fortuni & Nico Vascellari contributes the substantively deep layered rhythms of ‘Noite Atraś’ that seem as though they could spin and roll on forever.
Noite Atrás
Ninos Du Brasil (ITA)
From the compilation album, ‘Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music’, Stroboscopic Artefacts.
Ninos Du Brasil Facebook
Audio Stream
Lucy‘s contribution is the outstanding ‘Starving The Mind’ a expansive piece of experimental techno that immediately elicits a feeling of transcendence. The result leaves one in a mental state that is completely anathema to the track’s misleading title. And that stretched shapeless vocal sample? Wow!
Starving The Mind
Lucy (ITA)
From the compilation album, ‘Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music’, Stroboscopic Artefacts.
Lucy D Facebook
Audio Stream
Criminally underrated outside Italy and techno aficionados, the contribution from legendary Techno shapeshifter Lorenzo D’Angelo, aka Lory D is genius and arguably the compilations standout . Fast paced, intensely busy and positively radiant, its manic rhythms, warm synths and bright acid lines connect up in the most unlikely but rewarding and satisfying of ways.
PRV-HH3-X
Lory D (ITA)
From the compilation album, ‘Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music’, Stroboscopic Artefacts.
Lory D Bandcamp
Audio Stream
The penultimate track from Berlin resident and modular experimental composer Caterina Barbieri, who contributes the elliptical and outward looking, ‘Virgo Rebellion’, a journey that’s as much about the reverberation and space left behind by each chord as the fascinating sounds generated by the structures themselves.
Virgo Rebellion
Caterina Barbieri (ITA)
From the compilation album, ‘Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music’, Stroboscopic Artefacts.
Caterina Barbieri Facebook
Audio Stream
The final track is from Rome based producer and audio engineer Neel, co-founder of Spazio Disponibile and one half of Voices From The Lake. ‘4G’ is a delicately penetrative journey through the outer atmosphere lilting back and forth ensconced inside a sense starry eyed safety.
4G
Neel (ITA)
From the compilation album, ‘Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music’, Stroboscopic Artefacts.
Neel Bandcamp
Audio Stream
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