Category Sound

Alfa Romero

Alfa Romero is the multifaceted duo comprised of Marzio Aricò and Lorenzo Bartoletti. Both highly acclaimed musicians in their own right, the pair combine their many years of experience in electronic music for their all-encompassing Alfa Romero project. Working together as producers, DJs and label owners, the duo explore a shared musical vision in a partnership that aims to broaden the horizons of electronic music. As producers, Alfa Romero share a passion for club friendly music. Although their tracks keep the focus on the dancefloor itself, they come with rich colours, deep emotions and strong rhythms. Their deft ability at weaving subtle melodies into the mix also enables the duo to create moments of beauty that are rarely seen on dancefloors elsewhere.

Vespera

Oscillations

Eelke Kleijn - New Album "Oscillations"

Bernard Herrmann

“He was a genius at thinking of combinations of instruments to produce the effect that he wanted. I remember on ‘Twisted Nerve’ he showed me some of the score, there are like nine bass clarinets and three contrabassoons, and he said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘I think it’s going to sound very dark.’ He says, ‘I want it to sound very dark.'”

“He was such a fierce proponent of people pursuing an individual style. He hated the idea of fads and fashions in music, from what I can gather, and in film that’s very often subject to fads and fashions, and you also have to really work and compromise with other people – so it’s really interesting that he found himself in film.”

“The easiest advice to give can be the hardest to follow. Lurking in the back of the mind of anyone making music will be a mental note to do their own thing and not follow the pack, but it takes strength to not be influenced by the greats, especially in an industry that, whatever sense of experiment it likes to pay lip service to, is often magnetically attracted to the tried and tested. Herrmann, whose emotions ran, like his music, on a romantic cocktail of agony and ectasy, had an honest need for acceptance, but he would never let that stop him going his own way, however lonely that path was.”

Spitfire Audio Annual, Issue 1

Inspiration: Grimes, “Genesis”

[fve]http://vimeo.com/25338800[/fve]

Inspiration: Kupio Album Preview

[fve]http://vimeo.com/52374816[/fve]

Philosophy I.

(Excerpts from Bad Vibes interview with Vladislav Delay)

Why do you feel a need to classify your music under different pseudonyms?  Do you categorized music under each name, during the creation, or are the ideas immediately begin life for each project?

They are my children, my projects. I couldn’t give same name for all my children (musical or otherwise). It’s personal. And then it’s very much also practical.

I play around with so many different musical styles that I think it serves the purpose to give them different names. I can appreciate people doing music that mixes everything up; one of my biggest influences is Frank Zappa to begin with. But I can’t do that myself, and rarely I like the mash up music beside the Zappa stuff. So for me the different productions are very conscious and I guess I enforce them with different names. I also assume, and partly know also from the long history of experiencing audience’s reactions, that many people like only narrow selection of music. so it makes no sense to offer everything I do under one name, it would just confuse and piss people off, at least more than it would satisfy people by surprises in each release.

I also like concepts, musically, but also giving them titles. I mean in the end there are just few, but Luomo and Vladislav Delay for example have strong conceptual ideas behind them which I’ve had for long time already. And having new ideas for each project is very exciting. there’s something like a foundation but then you move around in that space and try to create something new, I like that.

You’ve described where you live ‘as in the middle of nowhere’ – Do you feel your environment lends itself to the creation of your musical aesthetic?

I think environment plays a big role to everyone. There’s probably the most suitable surrounding for each and everyone and it’s different to each and everyone. The big thing and the challenge is for us to even begin to look for it, never mind to find it.

I noticed while living in Berlin that I’m going to be ##### if I can’t find my “place” and then spent few years trying to figure it out, and luckily had faith and power to go through that and also a partner to support me in that and of course very importantly share my views of life.  So to a point. When you have “your place” where you live and feel well it totally benefits your creations. I have seen it very clearly already.

You’ve described your relentless work ethic as a personal vision – what is your perfected musical manifesto?

I don’t believe in manifestos actually at all. I learn new things every day and change my views accordingly, and many things I felt in the past feel already ridiculous. So I try to question myself and what I do constantly. So maybe that is the manifesto if one has to be said.

But also I don’t work so much or so hard in the end. You lose the necessary “something” if you just do and do and do without a break, and you also begin to repeat yourself. So older I’m getting more I’m trying to do other stuff, my daughter also helps a lot in that…

But my musical quest is relentless still, for sure. And the musical vision I have is also quite relentless and maybe little bit unforgiving, to myself that is.  The main thing is, there’s so much possibilities to do, and not everything is easy to achieve so what can I do? I really want to do lots of things musically. Only difficult thing is that more and more it becomes very hard to make a living out of making music, especially if you don’t want to constantly tour around. And the thing is, if you tour around you end up not making any music, good music at least. There’re sadly way too many proofs out there about that for sure.

 

Parallels: 1984+2012

Ideal.

[ylwm_vimeo height=”320″ width=”400″]7209628[/ylwm_vimeo]

Analog & Digital Chemistry (“Reverso”).

This is another song by Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto that was performed at the Cocoon Club in Frankfurt several months ago.  One of the key benefits of seeing them live is witnessing the graphical representation of their music shown directly behind the duo.  The imagery is created via complex computer algorithms programmed to be directly in sync with the music.

While there are many examples of this on YouTube, I’ve chosen to link to the original track below.

This song is incredible.

[youtube]Ik6fU-S3I4s[/youtube]