Released
1998
Label
Old Europa Cafe
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
V. le Marconi 38
33170 Pordenone
Italy
Visit
Last Edit/Update
17 september, 1998
Bad Sector
PLASMA
(limited: 747 copies)
Track Listing
PL1 Ions
PL2 Waveguides
PL3 Mass
PL4 Irradiation
PL5 VLBI
PL6 Luminance
PL7 Plasma
PL8 Currents
PL9 Periods
From the very opening electric sparks of Plasma, the listener is plunged deep into
the heart of a hermetic world of flickering and breathing synthetica. This is the second
full-length release from the Italian one-man project Bad Sector, and it
is easily one of the most compelling and captivating creations of pure electronic music to
come out this or any other year. Once "plugged in" -- so to speak -- the
magnetic sound quality of this CD never loosens its grip on the listener, and one can only
lean forward and be carried along with the all enveloping arrangements, until the final
pulsing heart beat of "Periods" breaks the spell, and returns the listener to
the mundane room presence of reality.
Massimo Magrini (Bad
Sector) is clearly intensely fascinated by the science and sounds of electronic
phenomena, and the instruments created by man to temper and tame it. In fact, many of the
sounds incorporated into the nine tracks on this CD stem from such sources as VLF
magnetosphere recordings, short wave scanning and reception, neon tubes radio signals and
high voltage transformer recordings. These wheezing, seething, spitting and grating
recordings have been seamlessly weaved into the harmonious droning sonic streams of the
compositions on Plasma, to create an immensely full and charged final sound image.
Listening to this music is to tune
the ears to the workings and whisperings of the universe itself. Bad Sector's
music is extremely rich and grandiose; buzzing with a million minute details, as if each
little click and electric tick was the aural trace of an atom or molecule across the
velvet background atmospheres that hold it all together. At times the sonic currents carry
with them human voices -- decayed electronically transmitted signals, plagued by static
interference; impressions of the human struggle to grasp and impose its will on the
mysterious and unconquerable energies of nature.
The excellent cover art of Plasma
depicts monochromatic photographs from the collections of the MIT Museum in Boston and the
Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade. The photographs, like the music, at once pay homage to,
and reveal the clumsiness of, the human aspirations to control electricity. These are
images of gigantic solid steel structures that stand motionless, while lightning flashes
from their cold surfaces to the ground beneath in forked patterns that are wholly
unpredictable.
Plasma has been released by
the Italian label Old Europa Cafe in only 747 copies. It is simply a
fantastic CD -- for anyone who likes the stark and severe variety of electronically
generated music, this CD simply should not be missed.
