Sonata Islands Kommandoh
Members: Giovanni Venosta
Vampyr And Other Stories
In the late 1980s two globetrotting Milanese composers joined forces to produce an acclaimed and prescient record made in equal parts from their own performances and ethnic field recordings, a little in the manner of Eno/Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts - but rather more evolved. This 30th anniversary release includes some early pieces, not already available on CD made this way but, mainly, features the entirety of their score for Theodore Carl Dreyer's legendary silent film, Vampyr - perfo…
Zeuhl Jazz
**250 copies, 2020 stock** Sonata Islands is a cultural association, born from an idea of Emilio Galante, that promotes and performs new music and jazz. They organized many concerts and festivals in Italy. After Sonata Islands goes RIO (dedicated to the music of Univers Zero, Fred Frith and Thinking Plague) and Nippon Eldorado Kabarett (with the same musicians, dedicated to Japanese RIO music of the '80s with pieces by After Dinner, Wha Ha Ha, Kiyohiko Semba and Haniwa All Stars), here they pay …
Losing The Orthodox Path
The fledgling imprint Soave is back from the depths with the reissue of Musci/Venoista obscure album from the mid 90s. Combining sounds of distant and historic cultures - Gregorian chant and field recordings of Orthodox monks praying on Mount Athos - looped with a mystical approach that resounds in a rich undulatory and dynamic minimalism.
A Noise, A Sound
**100 Copies Colored (Silver/Gold) ** Soave present a reissue of Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta's A Noise, A Sound, originally released in 1992. The third episode of the alchemical association between Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta, reprinted for the first time. This work seems to be even more enigmatic than the previous ones. The "plunderphonics" style of the compositional process, significant to allowing a technical experimentalism of inexhaustible variety of materials used (compendium…
Water Messages On Desert Sand
The extraordinary 1987 debut album from the Italian legendary duo. Water Messages on Desert Sand was the very first sound creation from the Italian avantgarde duo of Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta. A classic work in the genre, released by Chris Cutler's Recommended Records in 1987. Back in the mid Eighties, Musci & Venosta, both on sampler, synthesizer, guitar, piano, effects and tapes were masters in overlaying and constructing rhythmic and harmonic pictures of transparent sound from electr…
Urban And Tribal Portraits
At the beginning of the 1980’s the composer Roberto Musci returned to Italy after a decade wondering the globe - drifting between African, Indian, and the Near & Far East, studying music, making field recordings, and collecting instruments. In 1984 this journey was culminated by the release of his first album, The Loa Of Music, a sonic distillation and near perfect encapsulation of the democratic hybridity at the heart of the Italian avant-garde. It remains one of the most important and thrillin…
Olympic Signals
Limited clear vinyl, edition of 100. Giovanni Venosta’s Olympic Signals, is one of the great lost documents of the Italian avant-garde - the first solo outing from one of the movement’s seminal voices, most recognised for his collaborative work with Roberto Musci. In a sea of unjustly neglected works, Venosta’s debut rises from the tide time as a towering gesture of sonic creativity. A shimmering, complex wonder of overwhelming Minimalistic beauty. One of the great records of the 1980’s, that al…
Messages and Portraits
Classic work. Overlays and constructs rhythmic and harmonic vignettes of transparent sound (at once complex and simple) from electronic, acoustic and documentary sources, taking ethnic field recordings as it's thematic centre. In the realm of 'My life in the Bush of Ghosts' but far more accomplished and developed.