Antonello Cresti
Solchi sperimentali

Experimental Grooves by Antonello Cresti is a journey through experimental and avant-garde music that starts from the '60s and reaches our days. The author has selected about 300 albums that he deemed significant, trying to exclude the most famous names to focus on the lesser-known ones. All the artists discussed in the text share a common desire for research and a drive to go beyond the boundaries of the already known and heard. As Cresti himself says, some tools have been very useful to him, including cult books like works by the Swedish critic Dag Erik Asbjornsen on the '70s prog and Krautrock scenes, European Progressive Rock Music by Al Aprile and Luca Mayer and Trances & Drones by Gino Dal Soler and Alberto Marchisio. However, the real inspiration for Experimental Grooves can be found in the mythical Nurse With Wound List, a heterogeneous list of artists – many from progressive music, Krautrock, and avant-garde – compiled by the great Steven Stapleton, leader of Nurse With Wound, and included in their 1981 debut album. The volume consists of the analysis of records and is divided into numerous mini thematic sections (with titles like "Sound Enemies," "Extreme Electronic West," "Mystic Krauts," "Moon Musick," etc.). There was no intention to be completist, yet the number of albums and artists in the avant-garde field is remarkable. Great attention has been given – as mentioned – to the unknown and forgotten albums.

Enthusiasts of radical and unconventional sounds will surely find plenty to chew on. Hence, the inclusion of groups like the Germans Dzyan, Limbus, Dom, Yatha Sidhra, Radio Noisz Ensemble, Kalacakra, Siloah, The Nazgul, Pyramid, and Sand. In the Italian avant-garde, there's space for Roberto Cacciapaglia, the early Battiato (who indeed is not unknown), Opus Avantra, Pholas Dactylus, Area (with the choice of a "difficult" album for Area themselves like Event '76), Aktuala, N.A.D.M.A., Lino Capra Vaccina, Claudio Rocchi, Pepe Maina, Franco Leprino. But there are many stimulating names like the French Pataphonie, Semool, and Archaia. Rightly great emphasis has been given to Magma, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, Jade Warrior, Henry Cow, the Third Ear Band, and the minimalist school represented by Terry Riley. Among contemporary experimentation, there couldn't be a lack of Laibach, SPK, Tuxedomoon, Diamanda Galas and indeed Current 93, Coil, and Nurse With Wound, the latter artists of whom Cresti had already talked about in his previous books analyzing the neo-folk and industrial scenes and the English esoteric underground Lucifer Over London and Come To The Sabbat. Obviously, not everything has been included. While it's positively striking that the Mexican Jorge Reyes is included for ritual-ambient, Steve Roach, Robert Rich, and Vidna Obmana could have also been included. Just as I wouldn't have forgotten the Cranioclast for dark-ambient. But the book is of extreme interest and has the merit of providing a small guide to listening experiences for that hard core following avant-garde music, filled with forgotten treasures and cult records to seek either for the novice or someone wanting to complete some gaps in their collection. The volume is dedicated to the memory of John Balance and Claudio Rocchi.

Antonello Cresti "Solchi sperimentali" – Crac Edizioni – 259 pages – 2014 – Euro 20,00