ROBERTO MUSCI Vinyl & CDs

Review: This six-track release from the Musci archives offers up sounds that blend traditional instruments with synthesisers and electronics. It comes with remixes by Cut Hands and Nokuit and highlights the work of Roberto Musci, an Italian ethnomusicologist who has been active since the mid-80s. Musci's music gained renewed interest following the 2016 Tower of Silence compilation and got praise from legends like the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. It's dense, challenging, and unlike much else you will hear this year.

Review: Following up on the material reissued via Music From Memory, here is a reissue of Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta's sought after ambient masterpiece from 1987. The album realises sound from electric, acoustic and documentary source, taking ethnic field recordings (from Africa, Indonesia, Asia, India) as the thematic centre. While studying guitar and saxophone in his hometown of Milan, Musci developed a deep fascination for non-western music and set out to travel across India, Asia and Africa, which he would do extensively between 1974-1985. Born 1961, Giovanni Venosta is an Italian composer who specializes in collages of samples (mainly ethnic music), found sounds, live improvisation. He has also composed film soundtracks.