T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata)
Ouvrez Vos Auditifis Canaux

THE REVIEW

The T.A.C. are undoubtedly to be considered one of the fundamental Italian industrial and experimental groups, seminal and not inferior to the major names in the genre such as the influential Coil. Formed in Parma in 1981, the ensemble initially consisted of 5 members: Simon Balestrazzi (who would later become the leader of T.A.C), Andrea Azzali, Giorgio Barbuti, Gianpaolo Terenziani, and Fabio Cortesi. The label Officina Fonografica Italiana, after reissuing their self-titled debut album, made available in 2013 a new remastered version with 3 bonus tracks, presented in a beautiful digipack, the legendary Ouvrez Vos Auditifs Canaux, originally published in 1985 (there's also another reissue now out of print from 1995 published by Discordia). In this album, the great Gregorio Bardini, an excellent flutist and scholar of folk music (who also collaborated with the legendary Tuxedomoon), joins as the sixth member. The sound of Ouvrez Vos Auditifs Canaux (the album title is taken from French playwright Alfred Jarry, also honored by the Coil in “Ubu Noir” in Scatology) uniquely fuses contemporary classical music, minimalist structures, electronics, and new wave revealing a cultured and eclectic musical background. The approach of T.A.C. to sound matter is Dadaist and pataphysical, as can be heard in tracks like the opening “Meritocrazia,” a sort of apocalyptic avant-rock. “Fallout” is characterized by dark and minimal, almost claustrophobic atmospheres, while “Testimoni oculari” is introduced by the violin of guest Paola Sartori which then gives way to threatening voices and hallucinated sounds. “Saturnismo,” in its dark and minimal progress, uses elements of concrete music and reminded me of a fundamental group in experimental music like Nurse With Wound. “La nascita dei desideri liquidi,” with the spectral violin in the foreground and gloomy concrete noises, seems like a nightmare born from the mad mind of H.P. Lovecraft, probably this is the Music of Erich Zann that HPL spoke of in his famous story! The album concludes with the calm and circular “Andrea Baader Requiem.” A fundamental reissue that all lovers of experimental and boundary-pushing sounds should not miss.