reviews / 2011

ELEKTRO GUZZI - Parquet

Name: ELEKTRO GUZZI – Parquet
Item: Parquet
Rating: 8
Author: Alessandro Paolinelli

2011 (Macro)

techno

by Alessandro Paolinelli

Not even the most expert wizard could have blended Underground Resistance and Moto Guzzi and come up with such an explosive potion. The whole thing seems even more mysterious, at least as far as the motorbike references go, when you consider that these three alchemists are Austrian.

The fact remains that we're faced with a gem of minimal techno acoustically crafted.

Il set Elektro Guzzi, fresh winners of the EBBA 2012, is in fact made up of three canonical instruments: bass, drums and guitar, suitably tuned to bring to the stage a sound that draws inspiration from the Detroit industrial scene.

An album that captivates with a dry, vintage sound; one that doesn't bother with frills but hits hard thanks to the powerful, overbearing drive of its compositions.

It starts with the Italian track, a land that Jacob and the two Bernhards must particularly appreciate. It takes off with "Affumicato", with its Arabic-tinged aftertaste, and in no time at all you can sense the detachment from the cold production of machines alone: they play, they sample, they loop and re-loop.

The magic potion enraptures and carries you off to Pentagonia, uncharted territory where dull thuds of primordial beats echo, interspersed with the breathing of auxiliary machines. The drums push forward, while guitar and bass duel in collections of minimalist filigree work. The single's video shows just how interesting Elektro Guzzi's research work is: the fusion works, the taste is refined.

Darkly "Absorber", the third track, drags itself along with a heavy gait, together with its subtle, almost ironic riffs acting as accompaniment. "Panier" opens with confident assurance "Panier" and wriggles between filters that open and close like flowers over the course of a day: a dry jingling that hangs suspended and sets off again amid dreamlike echoes and the usual coherent, firm and decisive stride.

"Vertical Axis" struggles between an atmosphere shaped by volumes of Floyd-influenced memory and a drum solo that doesn't break the continuity: in the end a bass arrives to take it by the hand and carry it away. Another unmissable piece is "Moskito", the album's longest track, nine minutes of electronic swirls, hypnotic undercurrents and the usual driving rhythm. A ride that never stops being enjoyable, that leaves you ready to go again every time: the ending seems to bear the hand of Apparat in the atmospheric embroidery, while underneath beats the same old Elektro Guzzi heart.

"Slide Dandy" is the kind of closing track that leaves no doubt about the scale of the work we're dealing with: one of the best electronic albums, if not the best, of the year just ended.

So let's wait and see how they'll manage to reinvent themselves, and look forward with anticipation to live shows that, judging by the videos, look unforgettable.

Everybody hop on the Moto Guzzi, everybody hop on Elektro Guzzi.

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27/01/2012

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Alessandro Paolinelli, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition