OndaLabel #3

Stefano Gentile is the mastermind behind Silentes, a label that has managed to stand out internationally for its ability to synthetically stitch together an experimental sensibility open to noise, to silence, and to their endless mutual implosion, building a catalog of works that's hard to match elsewhere for stylistic and research coherence, aesthetic taste and passion.

There's no need to mention artists like Fabio Orsi, Gianluca Becuzzi, Nimh, Pierpaolo Zoppo and Maurizio Bianchi, who alongside Rod Modell and Michael Mantra are among the names involved in the label's numerous, frenetic output.

A label born from the ashes of another legendary imprint, Amplexus, which in the '90s worked with artists such as Sam Rosenthal (of Projekt Records and Black Tape For A Blue Girl), Vidna Obmana, Robert Rich and many others, becoming a benchmark in Italy for ambient and electronic avant-garde music.

Oltrelanebbiailmare and Officina Fonografica Italiana are two other facets of Gentile's relentless activity, devoted not so much to electronic or noise experimentation as to rediscovering the past: they dig up, from the scorched earth of Italy's wave scene, small hidden gems and finally give them back their dignity and light.

The interview that follows is an attempt to take a snapshot of a creative movement that shows no sign of slowing down.

I'd say let's start with your first label ventures, that Amplexus which between 1994 and 2004 released a huge number of titles closely tied to the ambient scene. What idea drove you to build it, and with what artistic goals?

Amplexus came about because I wanted to publish some photos I'd taken while listening to a certain kind of music - ambient, precisely. Back then there was so much to discover... There was a lot of positive energy, lots of musicians eager to experiment with new things. I was lucky enough to be there at the right time, launching Amplexus with Robert Rich's mCD, and from there, I have to say, everything was fairly easy - at least until I decided to put out things that went a bit beyond "classic" ambient. Either way, those early years were really great, really "full"...

Among the various artists released were internationally significant names like Steve Roach and Black Tape For a Blue Girl, as well as Robert Rich and Michael Stearns. How did you get in touch with them? How did you choose which artists to release? Did you try to get them interacting, like in a workshop?

It all happened fairly simply. I started by sending a fax to Robert Rich, who immediately accepted my proposal. It involved releasing 20 minutes of music on 3" in a special package, a cardboard fold-out measuring 21x45 cm wide - a beautiful format, though extremely expensive. The Amplexus project was meant to end right there.

Then, more or less the same way, I got in touch with Dirk Serries and with Sam Rosenthal of Projekt, who offered to distribute Amplexus in the US. As it happened, only a few months later I had Vidna Obmana's mCD out, and then, one after another, the rest followed... The idea was to take photos drawing inspiration directly from the music that would then accompany them, or vice versa; so there was a real collaboration with the various artists, and I'm still in touch with many of them even after almost 20 years.

In 2004 came the change. What led you to wind down Amplexus and launch Silentes? What vision did you want to pursue? How had the ambient scene changed by then? The new electro-acoustic mutations, the influence of noise and post-industrial sounds…

Well… Amplexus had grown too big, it had become unmanageable for me, since I was running it in my spare time, and on top of that I was starting to get impatient with a lot of people who clearly didn't understand that I wasn't going to publish ambient music for the rest of my life. I think I put out some important, beautiful records, but I wanted to try different paths.

When Amplexus was about to burst under the weight of too much work, I decided to make a clean break. I took almost a year off to think things over, and I was seriously tempted to drop everything altogether. You also have to consider that Amplexus had grown into a sizeable mailorder business with thousands of titles in its catalogue, so I found myself saddled with a warehouse that was far from negligible, even in financial terms.

Then one day Rod Modell wrote to me — I'd already put out a couple of his releases — and he proposed three CDs with clear techno influences, very Basic Channel. For me it was a real bolt from the blue… When I listened to Vibrasound I was so struck that I suddenly felt like I'd gone back ten years, to when I was dreaming up Amplexus.

So within a couple of months I set up this new project called Silentes. I left behind limited editions and special packaging — I wanted something essential and recognisable, so I asked Aube for help with the artwork (the first Silentes artworks are his work). Meanwhile I was in constant contact with Amir Baghiri; I'd also released some of his material on Amplexus. I proposed a rather odd collaboration to him: basically I'd "explain" to him the sound I wanted to get from certain images, and he'd try to play it. The result was the Seele project.

In November 2004 the first four Silentes CDs came out, in my view four masterpieces: the two by Rod Modell/Deepchord, the Deepchord remix of the tremendous Sonic Alter by Michael Mantra, and Berlin by Seele. Okay, maybe the last one isn't a masterpiece, but it's a project I really loved making.

All the CDs did very well, not to mention the two Deepchord releases, which today are genuine collector's items. Meanwhile Rod Modell became particularly well known in the techno world, and so, with renewed enthusiasm, I carried on with the Silentes project, shortly after also launching the Silentes Minimal Editions series for sounds far more rooted in industrial and noise.

Gianluca Becuzzi, Fabio Orsi, Nimh are just some of the important names released by Silentes — how did the collaboration with them come about, and with what aesthetic and stylistic vision?

Every project has its own story. With Nimh, that is Giuseppe Verticchio, we've been friends since the Amplexus days, and I've released almost his entire discography. I think he's one of the most underrated artists working today, and I consider Giuseppe an important part of the label/project anyway — not least thanks to his work mastering so many Silentes-branded CDs.

With Gianluca there was a real meeting of minds. I love his sounds and he appreciates Silentes. It was an almost natural collaboration. With Fabio the collaboration started quite recently — if I'm not mistaken it was through Gianluca, I don't quite remember… Anyway, with Fabio we released a beautiful triple CD at the start of this year, plus a DVD featuring images by Valentina Besegher. In 2013 he'll again be the focus of a new project of mine.

Alongside them, Maurizio Bianchi and Pierpaolo Zoppo, two great masters of Italian industrial and experimental music… What kind of artistic relationship and exchange were you able to develop with them? How relevant do you think the vast amount of material recorded by Bianchi still is, and how much do you think we lost with Zoppo's death?

Two great friends, first and foremost… Maurizio got in touch with me right while I was winding down Amplexus, to propose a collaboration. It seemed like it wasn't going to happen, precisely because I was closing things down, but then I got back in touch with him once I started the Silentes project, and from that moment a wonderful collaboration began. I believe Silentes is the label that has released the most of Maurizio's work, and I'm proud of that. I love what he does.

Poor Pierpaolo, on the other hand, I approached myself… Now, thinking back on it, I don't quite remember how it all unfolded. I do remember asking him to release a CD box set collecting all twelve of his famous tapes (the box set already existed on cassette, released by the late Marco Corbelli — Atrax Morgue), but he wasn't at all keen on the idea. He preferred to release new material. So I suggested instead putting together a collection of his most significant works, and he sent me 5 tapes from which I pulled the tracks that went on to make up "Sonic Deprivation".

But I couldn't ignore the new material either — and there was really a lot of it, since in his later years Pierpaolo had become decidedly hyper-productive.

First came the idea for "Digression", to my mind a fantastic piece of work, helped along by Gianluca Favaron's job of "compiling" the various tracks. Almost naturally, the idea came to me of a collaboration between Gianluca and Pierpaolo, and that's how the Lasik Surgery project was born. And so it went on…

But, not content with that, I then asked both Maurizio and Pierpaolo to collaborate on Maribor as well, and the result can be heard on the two albums "Atrocity Exhibition" and "De Immenso".

MB and Zoppo are two artists from a past that you try to bring back to light, especially through another project: Oltrelanebbiailmare, with which you've reissued material by bands like Aidons La Norvege, Wax Heroes, A.t.r.o.x (the latter together with Spittle) and you've just reissued Militia and Endless Nostalgia... Is it a mission of musical archaeology aimed at a neglected past?

Oltrelanebbiailmare was a bit like fulfilling another dream. The label was created specifically to reissue one of the records I consider among the best of Italian new wave from the 80s. Actually, I'd say it's the best record, namely Colloquio by Le Masque. From there I felt the urge to go dig up almost forgotten gems, somewhat along the lines of what Spittle was doing. It was inevitable, then, that we'd end up collaborating on reissuing some masterpieces, including the first tape and 12" by Le Masque again, and then that album I consider essential, "Water Tales" by A.T.R.O.X., in a fantastic edition that also includes the first album and tons of unreleased material.

More recently we've put out reissues of Endless Nostalgia, Bi Nostalgia, Engel Der Vernichtung, Viridanse, Militia...

Alongside these reissues you've also licensed new material by historic bands (Le Masque) and contemporary ones (Lullabier), do you find a linear, evolutionary, stylistic thread running through them?

I don't know if there's a real connection... What I do find in the contemporary releases, though, is the same enthusiasm I felt 30 years ago when I'd call Contempo to order the newest releases; when I'd hold the record in my hands and take in the cover art, the inner sleeve, and put the vinyl on, and it all felt like a ritual. Those things inevitably will never come back, but I swear, listening to, say, the new Le Masque CD that just came out, titled "Le Rose e i Gerani", brought back the very same emotions. And as long as I keep feeling something, I'll keep going. Or going backwards, which is sometimes even better...

Going back to Silentes for a moment, what drove you to create the Silentes Tapestry series, a series of tapes featuring material by ambient-industrial-experimental artists with simple alphabetical titling? What project was it meant to represent?

That's another project conceived with Gianluca Favaron - who, I haven't mentioned yet, is half (and then some) of Under The Snow, a musical project between me and Gianluca, precisely.

Silentes Tapestry came from the idea of putting a bit of an alphabet together with some of our friends. 26 Italian projects, one for each letter of the alphabet. We chose the tape format because we're old-school and we still like holding tapes in our hands. Also, you know, 26 releases would have been hard to pull off on CD or vinyl given the costs, especially with a run limited to 100 copies per title... Either way, we jumped at the chance to dust off our tape decks and get back into the habit of listening to cassettes. We grew up with cassettes. Makes sense, right? In short, Silentes Tapestry is a sort of musical catalogue, a map of the Italian music we love most, of the noise we love most, of the silence we love most... The soundtrack of our everyday life.

Coming to the present day, a relatively new sub-label has emerged, OFI, dedicated to digging up more strictly Italian industrial material: Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata, Maurizio Bianchi, Mauthausen Orchestra... in collaboration with Spittle rec. How difficult is it to research and bring back to light material that was already released in limited editions? What are your goals, which artists have you set out to rediscover?

Oh yes, another great project... Officina Fonografica Italiana: I like the name, born from an idea of mine and Simone Fringuelli's from Spittle Records. The goal is to dig up Italian works from the 80s and 90s in the industrial/noise field. Back then, Italy was producing masterpieces recognised the world over - just think of Maurizio Bianchi's early records, or indeed the legendary Mauthausen Orchestra tapes - but also other things that remained more hidden.

Besides MB and MO, we're working on the first discography of the legendary T.A.C., and soon Die Form will be out, along with more material by Tasaday, which I consider essential.

Speaking instead of Stefano Gentile as an artist and music lover, what roots shaped his passion for experimental, electronic music...

Well, I started out with punk, I had my own band called Hyxteria, but back then - we're talking about 1981-'82 - I really listened to everything, from Crass to Current 93, from Discharge to Cocteau Twins. Towards the end of the 80s I started listening to more ambient stuff. I discovered Steve Roach's albums, Origins above all, and that's where my story as a "label owner" began.

Maribor first, and more recently Under The Snow: the musical projects you've taken part in manage to sum up well a dark, restless side that's crucial in defining Silentes and its attitude. What kind of artistic goal do they represent, and have they represented, for you? Do you have other projects or studios/workshops in the works?

It's true that the projects I'm involved in as a pseudo-musician tend towards the dark zone… But they're not really that dark. Under The Snow offers sounds that are perhaps best listened to "in solitude", Maribor can be heavily noisy at times, but at the same time also "suspended" in an almost "musical sweetness" well represented by the track "1600" on "De Immenso". I like to experiment. On that, I'd say there's no doubt.

Future projects always, and always… A new Maribor, and I hope a new Under The Snow as well… these are the projects I most hope to bring home in 2013.

An important project I hope to release soon is "Implodendo In Un Silenzio Devastante". It's a DVD featuring the video excerpts made by Francesca Coniglio that accompanied the live performances of Under The Snow, Ennio Mazzon and Enrico Coniglio, during some shows we did together in 2012. It was a wonderful experience shared with great friends, and I hope to finalize it soon with the release of this DVD.

Have you ever put on or planned any artistic events, festivals… with a distinctly experimental flavour: installations, performances?

Honestly, no, I've always kept a bit of a distance from the organizational side of these events. Mostly because I don't think I'm cut out to manage them, I'd rather leave it to someone more experienced in that field. But I'm always open to potential collaborations or live projects.

Last question, to come back to the label. What projects does Silentes have planned for the future?

Besides the "Implosione" DVD I mentioned earlier, I have a new project/dream I'm working on: it's a kind of photographic magazine with an accompanying LP. It will be called "13" and four issues will come out each year. The first will be dedicated to Fabio Orsi, who will present the musical work "Memory Of Safe Place" alongside the photographic work "La Foresta Non Fa Paura". I'm hugely excited about this new project, very demanding, and therefore very stimulating. Always on the move, never waiting around… There are always things to dream about.

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