Alessandro Adriani – Crow
In his role as Mannequin gatekeeper, Alessandro Adriani has put out other people’s music and in the process unearthing some fine electronic music obscurities from both the modern day and the past. However, 2016 will go down as the year that the Italian label owner turns producer, stepping out from the shadows and puts out his own material.
It’s not like he has undertaken this new role on a whim and already in 2016 has a fine debut album under his own name for Monofonus Press. Adriani has now chosen Crow to launch this Mannequin sub-label. Death of the Machines sounds like it could be the sub-plot for a low rent version of the Terminator movie series, one where the warrior robots endure a solid trouncing from their human counterparts.
The label’s maiden voyage is fittingly bleak. Adriani’s “White Swan” sees a throbbing Giallo Disco-style groove and a menacing bass coalesce to underpin sinister synths and frazzled shards of percussion. As the track progresses to its fuzzy electronic outro, you can almost smell the plumes of grey smoke swirling over a bombed out city-scape as mercenaries hunt down the last of the replicants. Such a grim, post-apocalyptic vista is crying out for a human to pay it a visit – and the most appropriate person to do this is Mick Wills.
Every month sees one of the German DJ’s edits surfacing, and his take on the title track is well worth acquiring. Slower than “White Swan” and noisier than his remix of Hunee, Wills’ take on “Crow” is led by powerful, slow motion drums and a wall of noisy electronics that whirrs and rasps hyperactively. Buried deep inside this combination are gleaming synths that suggest that a better world will replace the dystopia that Adriani has created. Until that time, the death-stomp disco of “White Swan” will keep the troops and fans of this gatekeeper turned producer happy.
Richard Brophy
Tracklisting:
A1. Crow (M.W. Cut)
B1. White Swan