Music & Visions – projects selected by Stefano Santoni + ThePT
Gathering Light, from Invocation and Ritual Dance of My Demon Twin album, Rocket Recordings, 2017.
Stefano Santoni’s review:
Il lungo viaggio dei Julie’s Haircut è arrivato alla settima fermata, un momento cruciale per la band emiliana perché Invocation and Ritual Dance of My Demon Twin viene pubblicato da una delle etichette più importanti del mondo in ambito psichedelico, la britannica Rocket Recordings, che ha nel roster nomi come The Heads, White Hills, Gnod, Anthroprophh e i nostri Ufomammut e Lay Llamas solo per citarne alcuni. Dal 2005 la musica del gruppo si è mossa verso territori più sperimentali, concentrandosi maggiormente sull’improvvisazione e la ricerca sonora, senza perdere contatto con il groove e la melodia che hanno caratterizzato la loro musica fin dalla formazione avvenuta nel 1994.
Il collettivo giunge quindi ad un crocevia importante del proprio percorso evolutivo, e lo supera splendidamente salendo sul razzo simbolo della label britannica per esplorare il cosmo dal punto di vista della loro metà oscura. Si, perché proprio la grafica di copertina, una celebre fotografia delle dive gemelle del cinema muto Dolly Sisters vestite di perle, è il punto di partenza per una nuova espressività emozionale, creata dalla loro metà uguale ma così diversa. Già il precedente Ashram Equinox del 2013 aveva mostrato il raggiungimento di una certa maturità espressiva e compositiva, che nel nuovo lavoro si mostra in tutto il suo splendore sciamanico già nell’apertura di “Zukunft”, undici minuti di rigogliosa vegetazione jazz-psichedelica che va a lambire gli oscuri sentieri cosmici di Tangerine Dream e Popol Vuh creando un affresco siderale senza tempo cui contribuisce in maniera fondamentale il sax del membro aggiunto Laura Agnusdei. La successiva tribale “The Fire Sermon” vede il ritorno della voce, elemento che rimane spesso in secondo piano, una suggestione ancestrale che fa capolino nella fitta trama psichedelica senza mai richiedere troppa attenzione. In “Orpheus Rising” ecco il pulsare ossessivo del basso, lo sbuffare del sax, la voce più presente anche se a volte filtrata, il motorik reiterato a gettare un ponte tra i due gemelli, tra il passato ed il presente della band. “Deluge” va avanti a spallate tra distorsioni violente e un muro di feedback che solo a tratti viene scalfito dai fiati alla Morphine. “Salting Traces” si apre con un intro di percussioni che ricorda da vicino “Reflection” dei Tool di Lateralus, e il paragone non risulti così peregrino, c’è la psichedelia ripetitiva e a tratti claustrofobica di fondo ad unire il tutto. La grande varietà di questo esoterico trip viene confermata dalle due ipnotiche danze folk/orientaleggiante/droniche chiamate “Cycles” e “Koan” (un mistico e sussurrato viaggio nel viaggio), e dall’esponenziale accrescimento dinamico della Doorsiana “Gathering Light”.
C’è tanto all’interno di questo ambizioso lungo viaggio, la psichedelia tout court, le suggestioni del Miles Davis elettrico, il krautrock, tracce di afro-beat, aperture orientaleggianti, ma il tutto è veicolato ottimamente svolgendosi in una trama avvincente e suggestiva che va assaporata e assorbita con calma.
Tra voci impalpabili, ipnotiche circolarità che dilatano lo spazio sonoro, improvvisazioni, fiati evocativi e spirito anarchico, l’album si snoda in maniera eccelsa portandoci in un mondo tanto oscuro quanto affascinante, consegnandoci un gruppo che è cosa buona e giusta inserire nell’eccellenza della nostra (martoriata) Italia in musica.
Julie’s Haircut
Active since the late 90s, Julie’s Haircut is a band from Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. Their debut album “Fever in the funk house” (Gammapop, 1999), a strange mixture of garage rock, noisy psychedelia and pop melodies was hailed at by the Italian critics as one of the best debuts in Italian indie rock and was included in the top 50 Italian albums of the 90’s by the magazine Rumore. The follow-up “Stars never looked so bright” (Gammapop, 2001) mixed these elements with a more soulful approach, mirroring the love for 60’s black music nurtured by the band.
In 2003, after switching to Homesleep Records, Julie’s Haircut released their third album “Adult situations”, the first to be internationally distributed. Here, melody and odd psychedelia mingle in a more personal way.
By 2005 the music of Julie’s Haircut has moved towards more experimental grounds, focusing on improv and sound research, without losing touch with the groove and melody that characterized their music since day one.
The result was their fourth album “After dark, my sweet” (Homesleep, 2006), featuring former Spacemen 3 Sonic Boom, acclaimed as one of the best alternative Italian albums of the year and included in the top 20 psychedelic Italian albums of all time by the magazine Il Mucchio.
In 2006 they also functioned as “sound carriers” for some performances of former Can singer Damo Suzuki, thus entering the Damo Suzuki Network and consolidating a warm musical and human relationship with the japanese/german artist that lead to further collaborations in the following years.
In 2008, following the release of “N-waves / U-waves”, a 10” EP collecting unreleased studio improvisations of the band with Sonic Boom, Julie’s Haircut embarked on a italian double-bill tour with Spectrum (Sonic Boom’s solo project).
In 2009 their fifth double album “Our Secret Ceremony” is released by A Silent Place.
In 2010 the band takes part with Peter Hook to the tribute to Joy Division Unknown Pleasures in Reggio Emilia.
A new 10” single, featuring cover versions of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Tarot, from “The Holy Mountain” soundtrack and Nino Rota’s O Venezia Venaga Venusia, from the “Fellini’s Casanova” soundtrack, was released in june 2011.
In june 2012 the EP “The Wildlife Variations” was released through Woodworm Music & Trovarobato.
In 2012 the band has begun a collaboration with the american Fluxus composer Philip Corner, resulting in a live performance in Reggio Emilia, a recording of Corner’s music under the direction of the composer and a sound installation featured in the exhibition “Women in Fluxus and other experimental tales” held at Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia.
In march 2013 Gamma Pop released the 7″ split single “Downtown Love Tragedies”, shared with longtime friends CUT, on which the band reworks the Bill Withers’ classic Who is he and what is he to you.
In october 2013 the instrumental album “Ashram Equinox” is released on Wood Worm / Audioglobe / Rough Trade.
In February 2017, after switching to the british label Rocket Recordings, the new album “Invocation and Ritual Dance of My Demon Twin” is released.
Line-up
Laura Agnusdei: saxophones
Nicola Caleffi: guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals
Luca Giovanardi: guitar, keyboards, bass, electronics, vocals
Andrea Rovacchi: keyboards, percussion
Andrea Scarfone: guitar, bass
Ulisse Tramalloni: drums, percussion
Essential discography
Fever in the funk house, Gamma Pop 1999
The plague of alternative rock ep, Gamma Pop 2000
Stars never looked so bright, Gamma Pop 2001
The power of psychic revenge ep, Homesleep/Sony 2003
Adult situations, Homesleep/Sony 2003
Marmalade ep, Homesleep/Sony 2004
After dark, my sweet, Homesleep/Audioglobe 2006
N-Waves/U-Waves with Sonic Boom ep, A Silent Place 2008
Our Secret Ceremony, A Silent Place 2009
The Tarot / O Venezia Venaga Venusia, Gamma Pop/Ghost Records 2011
The Wildlife Variations ep, Wood Worm 2012
Downtown Love Tragedies, Gamma Pop 2013
Ashram Equinox, Woodworm/Santeria 2013
Invocation and Ritual Dance of My Demon Twin, Rocket Recordings 2017
follow Julie’s Haircut on youtube – facebook – instagram – twitter
Linden Gledhill is an artist who explores the physical world at different image scales and fragments of time. His education in science has led to the use of advanced microscopy and high speed equipment to create unexpected imagery revealing the physical beauty which surrounds us.
A passion for photography has led to numerous collaborations with other artists and designers resulting in promotional art work and effective advertisement campaigns. His work can be found in a wide range of products including books, snow boards, record sleeves, promotional video and apparel. Corporate clients included ExxonMobil, GMC, Canon, British Telecom and musicians such as Ryan Teague and Jon Hopkins. In addition, an extensive selection of archive images are available for licensing and printing and can be viewed at Flickr.com.
Linden is always looking to collaborate on projects which can utilize his scientific expertise. The types of collaborations are always flexible and can range form standard macro photography to the creation of special effects for stills and video. His expertise also enables him to build one off equipment for specific application. He has access to a wide range of equipment including microscopes, focus stacking rails and high speed trigger systems. A robot microscope stage with automated focus stacking allows capture of gigapixel images which can be printed to any size and still retain resolution. Collaborations with Cognisys, who specialize in photographic systems, have resulted in advances in photographic equipment including the invention of “StackShot” a fully automated macro-focusing rail. You can read about some of Lindens projects via the following articles:
Jon Hopkins “Immunity” promotional artwork at The Creators Project and 2014 best artwork at The 405
Ryan Teague “Cascades” promotional artwork at Huffington Post and Wired.com
Canon Pixma printer campaign “Bringing Colour to Life” at NPR and Daily Mail
Butterfly wings at This is Colossal.com
High speed insect flight rig at Wired.com
Food colourings crystallization at Popsci.com
Interview at the Scientist
StackShot focus stacking rail patent
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