gothmagog
Not many albums I would label "otherworldly," but this one definitely qualifies. Reminds me of some of Juno Reactor's work, less cinematic and more disturbing. Great vocal work throughout, awesome stuff.
Favorite track: Il Cattivo Passato.
Repossessed by the past, bitten once again and forced to relive drama, history, memories, tradition and roots. A past that needs exorcizing, bending and re-imagining in order to move forward and depend on. This is ‘Rimorso’, Mai Mai Mai’s colossal mediterranean gothic album.
Known for his incredible blend of Southern Italian Folklore, industrial drone, proto-techno & punishing miasmic electronic music, Toni Cutrone aka Mai Mai Mai approached ‘Rimorso’ with a clean slate. Following ‘Nel Sud’ (La Tempesta International, 2019) and his mediterranean trilogy ‘Theta’ (Boring Machines, 2013), ‘Δέλτα’ (Delta) (Yerevan Tapes, 2014) and ‘Φ’ (Phi) (Not Not Fun Records / Boring Machines, 2017) the Roma based noise artist recreated his spirits of the past by collaborating with musicians and ethnomusicologists that work on the present, on traditions that are still passed on and morphing continuously, healing our nostalgia for a lost future. ‘Rimorso’ sheds the past heavy use of samples and sound manipulation in lieu of a human element: voices, percussion, lap steel guitar all embedded in a rich cultural heritage.
From ‘Fimmene Fimmene’, a recontextualized protest chant of female tobacco workers in Salento, sung majestically by Nidi d’Arac prodigy Vera Di Lecce, to ‘Nostalgia’ where Beirut born Youmna Saba literally soars over a futuristic Arabic melodrama on the verge of ascension, ‘Rimorso’ is an album that treads black waters, were phantoms dance ceremonially, tip-toeing around the heart. ‘Sind’ revisits one of Faraualla’s (Puglia female quartet known for their repertoire of a cappella vocal polyphonies) pieces with techno outsider Cosimo Damiano and the vital percussion of the Ars Ludi ensemble; ‘Mediterranean Gothic’ sees Mike Cooper’s tropical exotica plunge into the abyss, witch hymns under a black sun rising; ‘Musica Nova’ loosely based on Musicanova’s ‘Pizzica Minore’, features Nziria’s neomelodic stratifications (Tullia Benedicta) hovering on a slow thump chopper, a pulsating techno serenade; led by the visceral voice of Maria Violenza ‘Secondo Coro delle Lavandaie’, an obscure gem of Italian folk music, mixes hypnotic voodoo drumming and an enchanting choir filtered through a Southern Gothic lens; album closer ‘Antiche Memorie’ is heightened by maestro and longtime Battiato collaborator Lino Capra Vaccina (vibraphone, gong, percussion), purveyor of cosmic sheen and placid elegance.
‘Rimorso’ is Mai Mai Mai’s new ritual, turning absence into presence, dismissing nostalgia for consummation, an immersion into the temporal disjunction we are experiencing through the essence of human fabric.
‘Cutrone deserves admiration for how much he crams into such a short space of time, preventing the listener from ever locking the record into the straightjackets of genre and influence’ The Quietus
‘Mai Mai Mai trades in energising blasts of biomechanical synth noise which snarl and throb like a demonically possessed star cruiser’
The Wire
‘Diggin this f-cked, weirded out, atonal mad shizzle from Rome’
Kevin Martin aka The Bug
‘Mai Mai Mai records rich and challenging drone, ambient, and electronic music, which is often as elegant as it is abrasive’ Bandcamp Daily
credits
released May 20, 2022
‘Rimorso’ is released on Gatefold 2XLP/CD/Digital by Maple Death. Recorded by Mai Mai Mai at artist apartment, Hombrelobo Studio Roma, Rocchi Studio Roma. Mixed & Mastered by Matt Bordin at Inside Outside Studio. “Il Cattivo Rimorso - Il Futuro Perduto - Rimorso” feature recordings of a polifonic Arbëreshe Choir from Basilicata by Nicola Scaldaferri. Artwork by Legno.
Mai Mai Mai is an Audio/Video project, an idiosyncratic examination into Mediterranean and Southern Italian folklore, a dark
journey into past traditions, made of blurred memories and hazy sounds.
It can be considered as a 'Mediterranean Hauntology', one that avoids the pitfalls of nostalgia yet which reanimates the ghosts of a lost past, in the form of an evocative ritual....more
Oranssi Pazuzu, the gods of psych black prog metal!! Many an act attempts to fuse those elements, and very few do it well. OP are and will continue to be the leaders in this style! Ralph Douglas
Pinwheel-bright psychedelic electronic music from Malang, Indonesia, influenced by Javanese philosophical teachings. Bandcamp New & Notable May 19, 2020
giro days pummelling 12 minutes monster grinder is a gem a perfect soundtrack to the time honoured tradition of going completely bonkers for one day a fortnight. that refrain of sex death sex death is tied to the title for me..the little death.sex ...and life ..measured in giros.or.lives ,measured in bi weekly trips to the hole in the wall at midnight .....a triumph of a record... probably as good as just say no..but I'm a sucker for a pair of drummers.GNOD ON christopherogley