M.B. + E.D.A.
Regolelettroniche
KARU8
Baskaru 2008
04 Tracks. 47mins24secs

Born in 1955, Maurizio Bianchi is a long-standing member of the Italian experimental music scene. He debuted in 1979, and, until 1984, he released a considerable amount of work, but then withdrew from the music business completely as he entered a deeply religious and spiritual part of his life. He came out of retirement in 1997 and has since resumed a very productive work pace, with a mix of new releases and re-issues being made available. Twenty years Bianchi’s junior, Emanuela De Angelis first emerged as lead singer and guitarist with noise formation Joyce Whore Not in the early nineties and later founded Mou, Lips!, an experimental electronic project, with Andrea Gabriele, and has been working as a solo artist for over four years.

For their first collaboration, Bianchi and De Angelis create long and expensive drone-like forms, developed over the four tracks and nearly fifty minutes of Regolelettroniche, which vaguely translates into ‘electronic rules’, and which informs the record and sets its the boundaries. Indeed, the pair focus on processed textural loops, layered into vast cyclic suites, the longest of which, Cosmic Norms, covers twenty five minutes. Built around what sounds half way between processed electric guitar distortions and a medical ventilator, this centre piece defines the austere aesthetic of this collaboration. Very little happens during the whole piece beside a slight change in the opening of the filter and almost imperceptible variations in consistency, but this almost static state, when contemplated from afar, hides a depth of tone which justifies the track title.

Albeit shorter by half, Universal Order works according to similar rules and defines a comparable spiritual space where the mind is free to reflect or wander without obstacles or distractions. As the dense layers move imperceptibly and change shape, frequency and rhythm, the hypnotic character of these two compositions becomes more apparent.

Bookending these are two shorter compositions, Earthly Principle, the shortest of the four tracks at just under three minutes, and the six minute closing track, Electronic Rules. With these two pieces, Bianchi and De Angelis tie their vast soundscapes and slow moving drones into bite-size vignettes which, whilst still retaining some of the motion stillness elements explored in the two core compositions, do away with the slow progressive approach. While this is especially true of the former, the dark atmospherics of the latter conjure images of desolate landscapes and, surprisingly for artists who come from a region where the sun plays such an important part in everyday life, eternal nights. Incidentally, Electronic Rules is also the point where M.B. + E.D.A. get closest to conventional ambient electronica, evoking in part Biosphere or Deathprod.

With Regolelettroniche, Maurizio Bianchi and Emanuela De Angelis have produced a much more serene record than what they respective work could have led to think, and this composed restraint, at times palpable, is possibly the greatest strength of this collaboration, as it actually carries the restricted scope and focus of the compositions and fuels their apparent immobility.

3.8/5

Emanuela De Angelis | Baskaru
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