Last copies. Over the years, we’ve sent a lot of love in the direction of Alga Marghen, and with good reason. Over the course of nearly three decades of activity, the Italian imprint has continuously cast light into the shadows of historical sound practice, offering particular focus to under-appreciated artefacts at the juncture of visual art, sound art, experimental music, and sound poetry, continuously helping to reform our understanding of 20th Century, and the voices that made it what it was. While Alga Marghen’s focus, across the breath of their vast catalog, is too broad and varied to generalise, there are reoccurrences that illuminate particular passions, two of which find a meeting point now - the contexts that bubbled around and within the short-lived, legendary imprint Cramps, and the composer Walter Marchetti - with a brand new highly limited edition of “Il Divano dell'Orecchio”, their incredible 5LP collection, originally issued in 2010 and out of print ever since, gathering Marchetti’s seminal output for the label between 1974 and 1989, as well as “Per la sete dell'orecchio”, a full-length that the composer privately released in 1984. Containing what is unquestionably one of the most important bodies of avant-garde and experimental music ever produced, this brand new edition of 80 vinyl copies is housed in a distinct, newly designed box, overflowing with a wealth of associated material - photos, scores, texts, etc. - and each LP beautifully reproducing its original sleeve. Nothing short of absolutely astounding. We’ve been waiting nearly 15 years to see this one come back into the world. Don’t sleep. Copies aren’t going to sit around for long.

While Walter Marchetti’s name towers in the history of Italian avant-garde and experimental music alongside names like Luigi Nono, Demetrio Stratos, and Giacinto Scelsi, as well as projects like Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza and Musica Elettronica Viva, he equally stands slightly outside of the dominant threads of practice that emerged from his home country during his lifetime. A composer, radical humanist, and collectivist, Marchetti’s work guided by a profound faith in others, and paid little regard to himself. He set out to liberate music - its sounds as much as the listener - from what he believed to be oppressive hierarchies, categorizations, and definitions, refusing to distinguish between art and the experience of everyday life. He sought the loss of ego - embracing a world of sound which demanded little intervention - sonic spaces within which he could disappear. It’s little wonder, with this in hand, why his work is among the most radical of his generation, while also not offering him a household name.

Marchetti left behind only a slim body of solo compositions, in part because during the majority of his years of activity, he dedicated his engeries to Zaj, a collective he formed in 1959 with the composer Juan Hidalgo, which was often regarded as an extension of the European arm of Fluxus, embracing the fleeting temporality of experience and allowing their efforts to evaporate into time. Few documents from the 36 years of their collaboration exist. With the exception of a handful of LPs scattered across the '70s and '80s, the majority of which appeared on the iconic imprint Cramps and remain incredible hard to find, the vast majority of Marchetti discography has emerged since Zaj dissolved in 1995. It is this early body of work under his own name that Alga Marghen’s incredible 5LP collection, “Il Divano dell'Orecchio”, focuses our attention, making the entirety of it available in one single, extensive release.

“Il Divano dell'Orecchio” begins in the logical place, with Walter Marchetti’s debut solo endeavour, “La Caccia” originally issued by Gianni Sassi's newly launched Cramps imprint in 1974. Regarded by Steven Stapleton as one of the best records ever published, the LP includes a single long form work across its two sides, contracted from a pallet of hunting calls for birds and other animals. Remarkably engaging - bristling with complex tonal interactions - it defies expectations every step of the way with a remarkable amount of emotiveness and humanity, prefiguring numerous evolutions of experimental music by years. Issued in a stand-alone sleeve that reproduces the original scores, photos of both the 1965 Zaj performances and of Marchetti recording “La Caccia”, complete with a full color inner sleeve, reproducing the original Cramps LP layout.

From there Alga Marghen’s incredible collection progresses to “In Terram Utopicam”, Marchetti’s second solo outing, issued by Cramps in 1978. Comprising three individual pieces, all performed by the composer’s Zaj collaborator, Juan Hidalgo, the first side is entirely dedicated to that incredible solo piano piece “J’aimerai Jouer Avec un Piano Qui Aurait n Grosse Queue (Per Pianoforte a Quaranta Mani)”, a constrained and spacious work of rolling structures and complex harmonics, before progressing into “Adversus”) (1966) and “Osmanthus Fragrans” (1973), two immense works for home-made electric music, composed for Zaj, which deftly anticipate the entire movement of noise that would emerge across the coming decades. Housed in a full colour sleeve that reproduces the original scores of “J'aimerais Jouer...” and “Adversus” , as well as photos of various Marchetti performances and the original “In Terram Utopicam” Cramps LP layout, if there was single proof of how radical and ahead of his time Marchetti was, this is certainly a contender.

The third LP within “Il Divano dell'Orecchio” comprises the piece “Per la Sete dell'Orecchio” (1981), a deeply physical document of action in space, originally privately issued in 1984 on the Vandalia imprint, and “Song for John Cage” (1985) - a stunning gesture of field recording and sound poetry - accompanied by a reproduction of the compositions score. From here, we progress into the remarkable 1980 solo piano piece, “Natura Morta”, played by Giancarlo Cardini and issued by Cramps on CD in 1989. A tonally striking work of minimalism - nodding more toward Feldman than Glass or Riley - it’s deeply engrossing and captivating through every moment and hanging note, made all that more fascinating by the fact that the work is performed with the piano covered in a sprawling still life, a photo of which, from its performance at Milanopoesia in 1988, is reproduced on the album cover, as well as Marchetti’s text “In My Music”.

The fifth and final LP of “Il Divano dell'Orecchio”, titled “Vandalia” and wrapping up this remarkable retrospective of Walter Marchetti, contains two pieces, “Perpetuum Mobile” (1981) and “Le Secche del Delirio” (1989), the former contrasting natural and urban rhythms by combining field records of frogs croaking and automobile traffic to thrilling effect, while the later is a sound collage that combines a serialist inspired piano score - played by Juan Hidalgo - and the tape recording of a pigsty, illuminating Marchetti’s incredible and pointed sense of humour, that often lingers unacknowledged within his work.

A truly towering accomplishment on Alga Marghen’s part - a dedication fitting to a composer of such importance and stature - we’ve been waiting more than a decade to see the label’s 5LP box set, “Il Divano dell'Orecchio”, dedicated to the work of Walter Marchetti, come back into print. The day has finally come! This brand new edition of 80 vinyl copies is housed in a distinct, newly designed box, overflowing with a wealth of associated material - photos, scores, texts, etc. - and each LP beautifully reproducing its original sleeve. This is a rare chance for anyone who missed it the first time around. Supplies won’t around for long so don’t sleep. This is definitely one of the reissues of the year to get!