Antonio Tonietti
No Longer Human
DISSIPATIO diss018 CD
This Italian fellow plays treated guitars, bass guitars and synths to express his allegiance to the life and work of Osamu Dazai, a 20th century Japanese writer, in particular the novel No Longer Human. I’ve not found the time to read Dazai’s works yet, but this celebrated novel may have some affinities with Steppenwolf or L’Etranger, or other modern novels which tip over the edge of existentialism to wallow in self-loathing. Any one of Tonietti’s vague and miserable drones would probably make suitable background sounds as you leaf the pages of such an anti-hero book in despair, and the vocal interjections of Claudio Miano, Giorgio Pinardi and Silvia Pegah Scaglione, running the gamut from shrieking horror to resigned, stoic moaning, contribute further malaise. In this queasy mix of processed musical instruments, disembodied human voices, and field recordings, Antonio Tonietti manages to steer clear of melody, harmony or root notes, in favour of a moody shapeless soupy atmosphere, and treads as carefully through this twilight zone as if he were a ghost in a haunted house. There’s a lot of care and craft in these layers, but I’m put off by the drama-queen attitude, soliciting our sympathy for some nameless tragedy, which has not been earned. A modern opera for today’s disaffected souls. (12/02/2024)
Elio Martusciello
Esercizi Per Esistere
DISSIPATIO diss019 CD
Here the guitarist offers twelve tracks directly inspired by the poems of Nazim Comunale, even including a booklet of these texts with which we can measure his success, said poems also illustrated by the drawings and collages of Peter Bartlett. Martusciello is going to inordinate lengths to disguise his guitar on these cuts; computers may have been used. It could be that the actual phrases he’s playing are quite simple, but are technically inflated to suggest a certain grandeur by the use of echo, reverb, looping, and delay. For me it has the unfortunate effect of just deferring the payoff; any catharsis or emotional release is simply being pushed away or swept under the carpet of sentiment. While not quite as boneless as Antonio Tonietti’s filleted symphonies above, Elio Martusciello runs a close second in the general competition to remove muscle tone and sinew from the musical corpus. If some sort of sympathetic response is being elicited, it’s very hard to engage with it. Even so, this fellow made a tribute record to the music of Giacinto Scelsi in 2010, so he can’t be all bad. (12/02/2024)