[reviews] afe045cd
raffaele serra: europe endless

The sense and atmosphere of this CD are perfectly embedded in its dedication to Rainer Werner Fassbinder. This is, like, the electronic soundtrack that Fassbinder didn't live enough to choose.

Synthesizing 30+ years of electronic music (ambient drones, Kraftwerk and kraut-electronica, soundtracks, intelligent techno and Warp-style beats), sound-magician Raffaele Serra unfolds his own tribute to Europe, photographed in 12 tracks dedicated to its cities: Berlin, Zürich, Amsterdam, Paris, Wien, London...

Blurred polaroids of flashing lights, rain and night movements. Shifting from obsessive techno beats ("Children of Kaos"), to minimalist drones ("Abduction"), to jazzy dilutions ("Genetic Light"), Serra's synthetic soundscapes bear, like his celebrated cities, both the restlessness of a nomadic spirit and the existential weight of several hundred years of history.

[Eugenio Maggi]