Magnetic is the exciting new album
by London based music producer / musician GAUDI, which features a choice
selection of sounds from the catalog of internationally respected experimental
label RareNoiseRecords, as well as direct contributions by several top caliber
musicians from the worlds of rock, jazz and electronica.
The making of Magnetic truly was a creational challenge,
even for a man who has been working to dissolve musical boundaries for over 35
years. The initial idea of the project was to compose an album of entirely new
music using sounds from the RareNoise catalog as his 'orchestra of musicians';
over the course of its development it grew though into a full spectrum artistic
interaction with a further array of international music giants, some of which
GAUDI has worked with in the past.
Best loved and noted to date for his genre blending and high
quality dub-centric productions, in Magnetic, GAUDI has shown us another aspect
of his musical self, other ranges in his musical landscape and he has done it
with an all-star cast of supporting musicians.
The list of artists whose sounds were initially chosen by
GAUDI from the RareNoise catalog of releases or who successively added their
sounds and skills to the overall project reads like a 'who's who' of musical
talent and gives warranted indication as to the quality of the ingredients;
They include bass legend and producer extraordinaire Bill Laswell, psychedelic
prog-rock bassist Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree fame, drummer Steve Jansen (of
Japan fame), Ted Parsons, the drummer from cult band Killing Joke, Roger Eno on
piano, Grammy award winning Eric Mouquet (aka Deep Forest) on grand piano,
drummer extraordinaire Pat Mastelotto (known for his work with XTC, King
Crimson and David Sylvian), innovatory avant-guarde guitarist Eraldo Bernocchi,
post-punk experimental guitarist Buckethead
(collaborator with Guns 'n' Roses, Bootsy Collins, Iggy
Pop), drummer Nikolaj Bjerre from Lamb, multi-instrumentalist Jamie Saft on
bass...to name a few! (For the full list of featured artists please see below).
GAUDI, alongside programming and production, returns to his roots as a pianist
/ keyboard and theremin player, playing here his full arsenal of vintage analog
synthesizers.
Magnetic is like a tour around the other side of GAUDI, who
always had the off-beat of reggae in his step, but since his teenage years also
had music from experimental electronica, new wave, Krautrock and proto-punk
flowing through his veins. Bands like Bauhaus, Tuxedomoon, Yello, Cabaret
Voltaire, Devo, Killing Joke, Talking Heads and The Residents informed his
early years. For those familiar with GAUDI's work these influences can be heard
in a myriad of different ways in most of his 15 albums to date, but
predominantly as flavors amongst the dub textures. In Magnetic, however, he has
reversed the polarity, north has become south, there is dub seasoning to be
found within, but the body, tone and flavor of this album are another beast
altogether. Magnetic is a contemporary tribute to the darker side of the 80's;
to psychedelic rock and an era when Sigue Sigue Sputnik dropped proto-punk on
the world!
It is not a departure from the GAUDI we know and love,
however... Magnetic is a celebration of bass in all its guises - there are six
world class bass players featured in the album - and GAUDI's roots as a pianist
and self confessed lifelong synth junkie, come up fairly center stage. His use
throughout the album of original, modular and analog synths, from his big guns:
the ARP 2600, Fender Rhodes, Minimoog, Korg MS20 and ARP Odyssey, to the
diminutive but no less iconic Casio VL Tone, to his trusty vintage tape echoes
and the 24 track analog tape machine it was recorded on, give the sound an authenticity
and integrity right down from the musicians to the mechanics.
Magnetic is a both a visual journey of great, but hidden,
complexity and richness, which yearns to be listened to with closed eyes, but
also a voyage across a full spectrum of tempos, from near ambient soundscapes
to rocky up-tempos with seamless bridges in between.
Magnetic is an album of polarities, spacious yet
introspective, dark yet with a hint whimsy, deep and soothing yet fundamentally
groovy; it was created both as a homage to the joy music brings and as an act
of appreciation for great musicians.
Why 'MAGNETIC'? From the far reaches of the universe to our
solar system and the planets within it, it is the force that keeps everything
together. Magnetism moves us, pulls us toward each other, keeps the particles
together.
Magnetic is the unseen in music, the intangible that draws
and holds the notes and the musicians together, and it is, in the end, how the
recording of this album ended up: on a magnetic tape.
Magnetic will be available on June 30th on a limited edition
transparent vinyl LP, CD and Digital download.
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