Summary.
Pennsylvania's Azusa Plane, the project of guitarist Jason DiEmilio, formalized a mystical psycho-acoustic art of guitar drones and overtones on Tycho Magnetic Anomaly And the Full Consciousness of Hidden Harmony (1997).
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Azusa Plane e` il progetto solitario di Jason DiEmilio, chitarrista di
Philadelphia, esordito con una serie di singoli affascinanti, fra cui
Fall/ Meander (1995) e Beyond Infinite,
nel segno della musica ambientale per droni di chitarra.
La cassetta Resonating Subtleties (Shrimper, 1996) e` ancora nel segno
della canzone pop immersa in rumore di chitarra, ma il disco accreditato a
Spires of Oxford (Colorful Clouds, 1997),
45 minuti di improvvisazione alla chitarra,
e il singolo dedicato ai suoi maestri,
Lou Nico Sterling John and Maureen (Burnt Hair, 1997), nonche' una
collaborazione con Mazzacane Connors, si allontanano sempre piu` dalla
forma canzone.
Tycho Magnetic Anomaly And the Full Consciousness of Hidden Harmony
(Camera Obscura, 1997) e` l'album che rivela la sua arte psicoacustica di
droni e sovratoni chitarristici. Sotto l'influenza dell'"ambient guitar noise"
di Flying Saucer Attack e delle sinfonie per
chitarra di Glenn Branca, DiEmilio esplora le proprieta` mistiche del suono
con il solo ausilio di una chitarra Fender.
Temporal Continuum,
Implications of Holomovement,
Miracle of the Octave e la title-track di 27 minuti compongono affreschi
spirituali.
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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
The double-CD
America Is Dreaming Of Universal String Theory (Colorful Clouds for Acoustics, 1998)
contains nine lengthy guitar tracks titled Strings.
The first one is a sustained Hendrix-ian solo.
The second one (21 minute long) goes through a number of different settings and
dynamics, from wall of noise to acoustic guitar to koto-like strumming to
ominous whirling distortion to cosmic background radiation.
Strings 3 is a crescendo of droning guitar.
The fourth one is a slow, delicate free-form jam for two guitars.
The fifth one is a solo for cosmic guitar's sound effects.
The sixth one features prominent drumming and casual guitar dissonance.
The ninth track is the one spiritual hymn of the album, a colossal "om"
uttered in a multitude of colorful instrumental registers.
Strings 7 (24:40) unleashes a massive, terrifying guitar drone and
then sustains it through a series of variations.
The 28-minute Strings 8 is a softer but no less harrowing version of
Strings 7: instead of a wall of noise, DiEmilio releases a low-frequency
miasma of guitar noise. This is the closest that Azusa Plane gets to ambient
music.
The EP Jacques Offenbach's Opera Efforts (Amish, 1998), with
1872 and 1875, is more varied and a bit more humane.
Much of the artistic development took place via singles:
United States Direct Investment In Other Countries (Rocket Girl, 1999),
Hal (Road Cone, 1998),
She Was Into S&M (Colorful Clouds for Acoustics, 1998),
Song For Claudia Cardinale (Earworm, 1998).
Azusa Plane's drummer Quentin Stoltzfus launched his own project,
Mazarin.
DiEmilio 's lengthy compositions on
The Highway's Jammed With Broken Heroes (Kraak, 2001)
are significantly more complex, bordering on the jazz avantgarde.
Instead of relying merely on the properties
of tones and the fascination of trance-y sequences, the guitarist delves into
"Henry Kaiser-ian" cacophonous tour de forces.
No Future is a 18-minute catalog of possible guitar sounds.
The problem is that there is more science and calculus than art and passion
in these self-indulging pieces.
Where The Sands Turn to Gold (2012) is a double-disc retrospective of
Azusa Plane's career.
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