From a secluded outpost near the cities of Lodi and Piacenza, Angelo Bignamini raises entire worlds from the surface of a table. In an interview with Zoomin’ Night operator Zhu Wenbo, who released his tape Take a Seat early last year, he describes his process as harnessing small-scale interactions between “found objects ([such] as small stones, woods and plastic components), pre-recorded stuff on tapes and CDs, and small feedback devices.” A guitarist at heart—he has also put out a few solo guitar recordings and played in avant-rock duo The Great Saunites—Bignamini displays an equally musical ear for the possibilities offered by these unconventional materials, especially on Rebelòt, a new cassette collecting what is now my favorite material he has released under his own name so far. There’s a restlessly eager sonic lens at work throughout the eight active fragments, homing in on microscopic whirs and flits before racking back to sweep over a lush life-sized scene. The field recordings are simply one of many elements on the same footing, mere tools for finding fleeting contrast and/or harmony… they flash into earshot in full crystal-clear focus before cutting out just as quickly. The most affecting moments are those brief, unstable synergies: the graceful duet between winding tape and creaking floorboards in A3, the dissonant clusters of natural and synthetic sound blown into glinting glass sculptures in B2. A real gem from an artist and label who consistently offer the best that contemporary electroacoustic music has to offer.
Noise Not Music 