MasMas - Chaos and light

Born out of a residency at the Mattatoio in Rome, the trio MasMas is one of the most liberated and, at the same time, unconventional outfits around. A project that fuses analog and digital electronics, songwriting, improvisation and sound art, with the noble aim of restoring the need to "make a mess" as a creative and vital act. It's a philosophy that comes through loud and clear, in all its brilliant, lucid madness, on "Make A Mess", an art-pop record - or call it whatever you like - damn inspired in its sheer elusiveness. We caught up with MasMas to hear about how they came together and the genesis of the album.

How and when did MasMas come about?

Simone Pappalardo: It all started after a conversation between us during a concert that was cancelled because of the lockdown, with funds originally earmarked for live shows. It was a time when I'd decided to meet up with various musicians - my goal was to experiment with people outside my usual circles. So I called up Mauro and Simone, who didn't know each other, and shortly afterwards the only lasting project was born. The difference compared to my usual collaborators from the academic world was clear: since I always turned up late at the Mattatoio, I'd find the two of them already playing and having fun, without waiting for sheet music. That struck me a lot. It was exactly what I was looking for.

"Make A Mess" highlights a dialogue between analog and digital electronics, songs, improvisation and sound art: tell us more.

We felt drawn to the song form, which we then took apart, decomposed and stretched out using electronic means. It's a title that reflects the idea that being creative necessarily requires a degree of disorder - the opposite of the obsession with order found in the traditional song form.

And artificial intelligence?

Simone Pappalardo: We use it like any other musical algorithm, not out of technological enthusiasm but as an expressive tool. Basically, we go about hacking it, modifying it and destroying it in various ways, while keeping direct control over it.

Mauro Remiddi: Technological tools are innocent - it all depends on how they're used, on the gesture that makes them interesting, not on the technology itself.

So, what were your musical reference points while writing the album?

Mauro Remiddi: Lately I rarely listen to whole tracks, preferring fragments of thirty seconds at most so as not to be influenced by how someone else develops their ideas. Klein, for instance, is one of the few artists around that I can actually listen to in full.

Simone Pappalardo: Playing together, we started hearing echoes of Calexico, Aphex Twin.

Simone Alessandrini: Let's say the idea was precisely to throw each other off balance in relation to our own musical leanings. That's how we ended up with a schizophrenic playlist that still has its own connecting thread.

Self-built instruments are a central element of your approach: what's behind this fascination?

Simone Pappalardo: I work on sound installations and build instruments for various kinds of performance, and so I've brought that practice into MasMas as well. I've developed 3D-printed membrane flutes that we then sell as merchandise. This certainly ties in with Mauro's field recording work, as well as with Simone's research on the modified saxophone. And tied into all of this is also Il laboratorio permanente in the Alessandrino neighborhood, a project designed to involve the local community, which unfortunately stalled in its original form but that we hope to pick up again.

Why “Make A Mess”?

Mauro Remiddi: It comes from my daughter and a funny episode that happened in Los Angeles when she was six. After tidying up her room, she yelled at me, “Let's make a mess!” and started emptying everything out again. It showed me how much creativity needs disorder, and at the same time it freed me from the paralysis of excessive control. It immediately struck me as the ideal phrase to express what we would go on to do in the studio.

For “My Head” you used sounds extracted from deteriorated compact discs and modular synths: how did this idea come about?

Simone Pappalardo: It comes from my philosophy of modifying and disrupting technology to make it your own. It's a critical approach to technology, and it sidesteps the built-in expiration date typical of commercial products.

“Dominant Tonality”, on the other hand, came from the grille of Simone's microwave, captured with a contact microphone and processed through the modular synth: another oddity…

Simone Alessandrini: This one draws a lot on my unconventional approach to the saxophone, like miking the inside of the instrument's neck to get a sound that's “technically wrong” but artistically interesting, while also avoiding the bright, traditional tone everyone knows.

“In The Bunker” has an even more singular genesis, but also a political one.

Exactly, it was recorded during the first days of the war in Ukraine, in separate rooms, precisely to represent a certain kind of isolation. It's a track that came about spontaneously from a delicate saxophone improvisation by Simone, with Mauro's lyrics written on the spot during the recording. Our compositional method, after all, is based almost entirely on improvisation: long sessions from which we extract material to edit and work on.

Simone Pappalardo: I have to give credit here to Mauro's ability to insert voice and lyrics during even the most chaotic improvisations. The lyrics come from the sound and the emotion rather than from cerebral concepts.

What will your shows be like?

Most of the songs will be completely rearranged, while keeping the aesthetic of a sound that could collapse at any moment. “Little Rain Song” becomes guitar, voice and flute. “My Head” changes every time because we don't remember the original arrangement, so it's reborn with every performance. In short, we prefer to play live rather than use sequences, with some parts deliberately pared down to the essentials. On the whole we're also against video projections, we prefer pure performance and watching people sweat on stage.

Is the Roman alternative scene more and more lively these days, or am I wrong?

Simone Pappalardo: It's in great shape, there are lots of collectives, events and new self-managed spaces. But there's a shortage of guitarists willing to turn up the volume, which I think is Rome's biggest problem after traffic (he smiles, ed.).

Who created the cover art for “Make A Mess”?

Simone Pappalardo: I made it by photographing a room in my studio. I have serious issues with order and compulsive accumulation, seeing potential in practically every object. The album title felt like the perfect fit as a result, because it captures my relationship with creative disorder, where mess becomes artistic productivity.

(June 07, 2026)

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