[reviews] afe127cd
andrea marutti & fausto balbo: detrimental dialogue

Andrea Marutti is an authoritative figure of the Italian electronic experimental music area. For Fausto Balbo, the road to electronic experimentation took a bit longer to gain focus on.

On this collaborative effort, the two work in total symbiosis, and shape four long chapters of uneasy experimentation that sees a complex melange of analogue sounds some of which have a distinct retro flavour, while others belong to the realm of contemporary sound design.

Cosmic and krautrock meet abstract frequency manipulation. Warm vintage synthetic tones share the stage with barrages of dramatic soundwave processing. "Detrimental Dialogue" is in constant movement, although some passages can be described as ambient, it offers none of the established droning complacency that clouds that genre.

Sounds and noises come and go, are cut up and spliced back, interact with each other to give life to psychoacoustic wonders, that take you to space and back; a bit Tangerine Dream but also early Pink Floyd, they invite meditation or get scary when the time is mature for that.

This feels a bit like a gritty blanket being laid over you. You'd better stay perfectly still. Simply accept the journey. Until, 48 minutes later, you're back awake. And dizzy. This is top material for adventurous heads.

[Gianfri]