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Expanding on an idea that had first been embraced by
Seefeel and that had infected countless British
artists (Flying Saucer Attack,
Experimental Audio Research),
Vienna-based guitarist Christian Fennesz
has made a career out of heavily treated guitar drones and noises.
Fennesz debuted with the four-track EP Instrument (Mego, 1995).
The album Hotel Paral.Lel (Mego, 1997) represented
the first major expression of his vision.
It would also remain his harshest work, influenced by industrial
music, by Autechre's digital techno and by
Merzbow's free-form noise.
Fennesz, basically, introduced himself as a composer of electronic music
for electric guitar.
Fennesz marked his territory between
post-electronic musique concrete and post-ambient ambience
with
#2, a violent mass of sustained noises moving along the spectrum,
Nebenraum, a wavering tone that dissolves into a limping proto-melody,
Blok M, a morphing beat for a rhythm-less music,
Santora, sounding like a dying motorcycle engine,
Delhi Plaza, a march of miasmatic robots,
Fa, a series of agonizing drones,
Traxdata, a flow of violent discontinuities,
etc.
It often sounds like Throbbing Gristle turned
into chamber music.
The single Plays (Mego, 1998), that deconstructs two classics of rock
and roll, is another powerful manifestation of this metabolic process.
Plus Forty Seven Degrees 56'37" Minus Sixteen Degrees 51'08" (Touch, 1999)
and, lo a lesser extent,
Music for an Isolation Tank (Rhyz, 2000) continued the experiment
while softening the edges.
The music was still dense, at times massive, obscure, menacing, but not
impossible.
Magic Sound (Mego, 2000) and
Return of Fenn O' Berg (Mego, 2002)
document live performances with
Peter Rehberg (Pita) and Jim O'Rourke.
If the previous albums were philosophical treatises,
Endless Summer (Mego, 2001) is a poetic work, one that rediscovers the
power of melody in a world that is largely dissonant.
Thus the futuristic muzak of Made in Hong Kong,
in which melodic themes recur cyclically albeit transformed into descrete
sequences of digital events,
the sweet waves of distortions lulled by folkish guitar in Endless Summer,
Shisheido (a brief piano-based lullaby),
Caecilia (a nostalgic proto-tune emerging from the shapeless breathing of the electronics, perhaps the most poignant track),
"songs" that point towards a parallel universe of purely
melodic sounds, but visible to us only through the fuzzy prism of quantum
spacetime.
At the same time, Fennesz has not given up on his most extreme passions:
A Year in a Minute (cycling masses of organic drones),
Got to Move On (buzzing heaps of decomposing objects),
Before I Leave (a wavering organ-like intereference),
Happy Audio (ten minutes of crackling noise, signaling the end of
the "record") drill further down in the cells of that grid to test
the ultimate nature of matter.
Dawn (Grob, 2002) is a collaboration with
saxophonist Peter Van Bergen and keyboardist Gert-Jan Prins.
Field Recordings 1995:2002 (Touch, 2002) collects rarities, including
Instrument.
Wrapped Islands (Erstwhile, 2002) is a collaboration with
Polwechsel.
GRM Experience (Signature, 2004) was a collaboration among Christian Fennesz, Mika Vainio and Christian Zanesi.
Fennesz's treated-guitar glitch-pop reached another apex on
Venice (Touch, 2004), perhaps his most tenderly romantic work.
Most of the tracks exude the impressionist shoegazing of, say, Seefeel, but three rank among his most touching artifacts:
Rivers of Sand,
Circassian and
Laguna (a duet with Burkhard Stangl).
The 20-minute ambient EP Sala Santa Cecilia (Touch, 2005) is the product
of a laptop-based collaboration between Christian Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
It is self-indulgent and quite trivial.
Cendre (Touch, 2007) is a collaboration with
Ryuichi Sakamoto that sounds like piano
and guitar new-age sonata.
Live In Japan (Autofact, 2007) documents one of his free-form improvisations.
Transit (which features David Sylvian on vocals)
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Paolo Latini)
Sfruttando un'idea che fu già di Seefeel
e che già ha infettato tanti artisti britannici (Flying
Saucer Attack, Experimental
Audio Research), il chitarrista viennese Christian Fennesz si è
costruito una carriera su un suono fatto di rumori e droni chitarristici.
Il debutto avviene con le quattro tracce dell'EP Instrument (Mego,
1995). L'album Hotel Paral.Lel (Mego, 1997) è la prima espressione
matura della sua visione. Rimane anche il suo lavoro più aspro,
influenzato dalla musica industriale, dalla techno cut-up di Autechre
e dal "free noise" di Merzbow.
Fennesz si afferma così come compositore di musica elettronica per
chitarra elettrica.
Il singolo Plays (Mego, 1998), che decostruisce due classici
del rock and roll, è un'altra potente manifestazione del suo precesso
di metabolizzazione.
Plus Forty Seven Degrees 56'37" Minus Sixteen Degrees 51'08"
(Touch, 1999) e, in minor misura, Music for an Isolation Tank (Rhyz,
2000) continuano quella sperimentazione, sebbene ne sfumino i contorni.
La musica rimane sempre densa, a volte massiccia, oscura, minacciosa, ma
non impossibile.
Magic Sound (Mego, 2000) e Return of Fenn O' Berg (Mego,
2002) documentano delle live performances fatte con Peter Rehberg (Pita)
e Jim O'Rourke.
Se gli album precedenti erano trattati filosofici, Endless Summer
(Mego, 2001) è un'opera poetica, un'opera che riscopre il fascino
della melodia in un mondo fortemente dissonante. La muzak futuristica di
Made in Hong Kong, Caecilia, Shisheido, "canzoni"
che puntano verso un universo parallelo di suoni puramente melodici, universo
che ci è visibile solo attraverso la cresposa griglia delle coordinate
spazio-temporali quantiche. Allo stesso tempo, Fennesz non ha sopito i suoi
impulsi più estremi: A Year in a Minute,
Got to Move On,
Before I Leave, Happy Audio vanno ancora più a fondo
nelle celle di quella griglia, fino a testare l'essenza ultima della materia
sonora.
Dawn (Grob, 2002) è una collaborazione col sassofonista
Peter Van Bergen e col tastierista Gert-Jan Prins.
Field Recordings 1995:2002 (Touch, 2002) raccoglie rarità,
tra cui Instrument.
Wrapped Islands (Erstwhile, 2002) è una collaborazione
con Polwechsel.
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