LP – Verlag System

According to the composer, “the word Armaghedon should no longer be synonymous with destruction’. Instead, he invokes a new “theocratic” world order that promotes unequivocal “neuronal emancipation”. Maurizio Bianchi is a key experimenter and mythical figure in the industrial-noise underground scene. Here he re-releases an old album for Verlag System and with the support of Pharmakustik Studio. The 1984 album is the soundtrack of an unfinished film. The atmospheres of Armagedhon are decidedly dark and the oppressive pace does not seem to derive from a precise score. Much of the sound flow is the result of awkward modulations created with the use of an Echo Machine. What is not lacking, however, in its freedom from pre-established schemes, is a strong imaginative tension, the result of stirring in previous and personal recordings, without the use of any additional instrumentation. Bianchi’s personal journal is eclectic, interspersed with long breaks and occasional bursts of productivity. The roots of this work lie in the late seventies and early eighties art-punk and electronic scene, not to mention ambient minimalist impulses and a sprinkling of spiritualism. Bianchi’s releases and collaborations can hardly be counted they are so numerous, and the master himself, a Milanese by adoption, has difficulty distinguishing between original materials and reprints of various types, including unauthorized ones. In his decades-long career, Bianchi has never performed live: his is a music that is difficult to replicate, whose structure is defined primarily as a function of the record release, almost without the aim of pleasing the listener, to be catchy or pleasant. Armaghedon consists of two tracks, the first of which, in the exclusive reissue of 300 copies, is accompanied by an exclusive original Polaroid photo from the period taken by Maurizio Bianchi. For unknown reasons, the original LP was not distributed until a year later and was not available for a long time. Furthermore, most of the original copies were destroyed (perhaps because they were unsold). This was his last vinyl production before an 8-year hiatus, a journey through the noise and saturation of sound, a testament to an unparalleled career.

 

Maurizio Bianchi – Armaghedon