L'ACEPHALE

black metal / abstractism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / experimental / folk / ritual dark ambient / conceptual art

Their name is taken from an early 20th Century European philosophical movement but accusations of intellectual or fake metal may be the least of L'ACEPHALE's worries. Portland, Oregon's L'ACEPHALE's sound draws on influences including neo-folk band Death in June and the Ukraine's Hate Forest, both of whom are allegedly "Ripped on Fascist Ideas". Add to that choral passages appropriated from Orthodox Christian composers like Gorecki and Arvo Part, and you can see why they are a more intriguing proposition than the ideologically confused caustic mush that passes for much modern Black Metal. Founding Member Set Sothis Nox La guides us through his complex project.

LAIBACH

abstract symbolism / gothic / martial noise / industrial music

Laibach [ˈlaɪbax] is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia). Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984. The name "Laibach" is the German name for Slovenia's capital city, Ljubljana.

LIEUTENAT MURNAU
Alias: TRAX 0982 / TRAX 0983 / VITTORE BARONI

musique concrete / abstractism / sound art / anti records / collage art / concrete turntablism / noise / contemporary art / fluxus

Vittore Baroni is an Italian journalist who was among the first to write about industrial music and the new experimental frontiers. He recorded some experiments on his own which appeared on different compilations, then towards the end of the 80s' he founded the odd experimental band Le Forbici Di Manitù. 'Lieutenant Murnau' was a pioneering musical project from Vittore Baroni (Italy) operating in the field of "plagiarism", known in Italy as an obscure act it became a cult afterwards. When he first got involved in Mail-Art around 1977, artists like Genesis P. Orridge (1), Richard H. Kirk (2), Monte Cazazza (3) and Nigel Ayers (4) were among Baroni's early contacts. He began to be involved in what at that time was called the "tape network", with his own audio experiments. After a few years of experiments in sound-poetry he began with his project 'Lieutenant Murnau' in 1980. His experiments as 'Lieutenant Murnau' were much more ironical then the industrial music which had at that time its evolution since the mid seventies. It was a little step beyond industrial, Baroni was mostly interested in that area of audio collage which in a few years took the name of "plunderphonics" or "plagiarism". He did not want to play a single note or instrument but to recycle and transform the record releases of other musicians to create new sounds. His sleeping room was his studio where he created his music with the help of only a few tape decks, old record players, prepared vinyl records, tape loops made on a old Geloso reel-to-reel tape recorder, some toy instruments, … he created his music.

LIMBO
Alias: GIANLUCA BECUZZI

ambient music / electroacoustic / sound art / experimental / abstract surrealism / ritual dark ambient / industrial music / drone music

LIMBO was an influential eclectic music project created in January 1984 by the Tuscan artist Gianluca Becuzzi - still one of the most important personalities on the Italian electronic / electro-acoustic and experimental scenes. Since 1984 LIMBO has released twelve full length and four mini-albums. They also appeared on various compilations and performed live many times in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Over the years, LIMBO frequently changed record labels, line-ups and musical styles, but always maintained strong dark and electronic elements. Characteristic of the band’s whole artistic approach was its exploration of rhythm / timbre, as well as the highly dramatic mood created by both the sound and the themes examined (i.e. technology and mysticism, science and neo-primitivism, thanatology and extreme erotic practices). The aesthetic quality, its conceptual and formal coherence and the continuity of its developed languages, all helped to create the “cult” status that still surrounds the name LIMBO on the international underground circuit. In September 2006 the re-born Spittle Records (the Tuscan label which originally released the debut mini-LP "IN LIMBO" back in 1986) asked the disbanded LIMBO if they could release all the band’s early material, including its first demo-tape, its first mini-LP and a small collection of tracks that have resurfaced from within the label’s vaults. Spittle's inquiry results in "Early Works (1984-1987)", a double-CD including a digitally re-mastered and polished version of the the whole musical production of LIMBO in its early years.

LUCIANO MAGGIORE

abstractism / ambient music / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / experimental / noise / drone music