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I really don't know why so many of our colleagues focus on a certain style of music. Today, I've been listening to a lot of black, death, crust and other forms of metal and there's lot more headbanging pleasure in my inbox. However, after several albums and the recording of a podcast, I welcome a change of sound. While browsing through my downloads folder, I selected this album and I was very right to do so. This is beautiful...
Giulio Aldinucci was born in 1981 and has been working with electro-acoustics and field recordings for several years now. This latest album, Spazio Sacro (Secret Space) contains seven tracks, based on human religious rites. The tracks are field recordings, taken from places which all have a certain ritual connection. From processions to ruins of ancient sanctuaries, humans have created many outlets for their religious and spiritual behaviour and that has had its effect on the sounds of our planet.
Aldinucci manipulated these field recordings and turned them into strange but minimal pieces of ambient. The atmosphere is dreamy but not really dark, although there's a huge sense of mystery in these soundscapes. Far away voices seem to try to narrate the musical path we follow but they're not clear enough. These voices give the whole an otherworldly dimension, as if they are the voices of the deceased, who we are trying to reach with the rituals we perform.
The minimalism in this album is striking. Ambient has rarely been so drawn-out from one, or a few, single notes. This doesn't mean the album is boring, not at all. There's plenty of variation, continuously alternating the music but in a very subtle way. This aspect makes the album enjoyable for several consecutive listens. Something new floats in every time I play this album, which is truly remarkable.
The combination of experimental, abstract ambient, drones and soundscapes with very minimal percussion or sounds of rain, makes this a very beautiful trip throughout these sanctuaries. This is some high quality sound manipulation with a firm focus on atmosphere and mystery. I recommend this album to all ambient fans, although you'll have to get used to this one when you're into 'popular' ambient like Biosphere, Gas, Brian Eno or Laraaji. This is a different level of minimalism and it's brilliant.
Serge
Giulio Aldinucci was born in 1981 and has been working with electro-acoustics and field recordings for several years now. This latest album, Spazio Sacro (Secret Space) contains seven tracks, based on human religious rites. The tracks are field recordings, taken from places which all have a certain ritual connection. From processions to ruins of ancient sanctuaries, humans have created many outlets for their religious and spiritual behaviour and that has had its effect on the sounds of our planet.
Aldinucci manipulated these field recordings and turned them into strange but minimal pieces of ambient. The atmosphere is dreamy but not really dark, although there's a huge sense of mystery in these soundscapes. Far away voices seem to try to narrate the musical path we follow but they're not clear enough. These voices give the whole an otherworldly dimension, as if they are the voices of the deceased, who we are trying to reach with the rituals we perform.
The minimalism in this album is striking. Ambient has rarely been so drawn-out from one, or a few, single notes. This doesn't mean the album is boring, not at all. There's plenty of variation, continuously alternating the music but in a very subtle way. This aspect makes the album enjoyable for several consecutive listens. Something new floats in every time I play this album, which is truly remarkable.
The combination of experimental, abstract ambient, drones and soundscapes with very minimal percussion or sounds of rain, makes this a very beautiful trip throughout these sanctuaries. This is some high quality sound manipulation with a firm focus on atmosphere and mystery. I recommend this album to all ambient fans, although you'll have to get used to this one when you're into 'popular' ambient like Biosphere, Gas, Brian Eno or Laraaji. This is a different level of minimalism and it's brilliant.
Serge