[ wor(d)ms ] : something in english please.
You got it ;-)
the wire
Edwin Puncey
Bachi da Pietra are an Italian drum and guitar duo whose name when translated into English is The Stone Worms. What starts out sounding like an appreciation of Tom Walts (a style they retain throughout) quickly finds its own groove as both drummer and guitarist cane their own musical signatures into this basic template.
On "Fisica Elementare" they change track by engaging in a short bout of leaden doom rock, dragging the song to the surface like an exhumed corpse, with Giovanni Succi's rough whisper of a vocal sounding like a torn prayer over his partner's funereal drum swipe.
Grim and unrelenting in its attack, Non Io makes for uneasy yet ultimately rewarding listening.
hassni
The first two albums by an Italian guitar/drums duo who deserve an awful lot more attention than they have received to date. Their name translates as "stone Worms' and that evokes the right imagery for the sound they make. There's something stark, bare, and writhing about it. By and large they play slow with muttered spoken vocals (Italian, I have no idea what they are saying. I'm too stupid to learn languages), and the mood is of middle aged men obsessively dwelling upon, questioning themselves and repositioning memories gone wrong in their head. There's a dignity in the way they present themselves that belies the scarred souls they carry. Their debut, Tornare nella Terra, immediately establishes their signature sound.
Slow tumbling rhythms and sparkling chiming strings. Melodic, circular, and always musical. You know when you clasp a microphone in your fist and speak straight into it? That's the vocal style right here. Brooding, carefully considered movements bearing it's own weight. In the relatively upbeat moments like Verme, the springyness of the rhythm still retains a weight to it. They're a lean, tight, muscular unit reminiscent of the broodyness of Caspar Brotzman but without the burnt amps and overdrive.
Vocalist Giovanni Succi's responsible for the very impressive paint and collage artwork As an outsider it looks like it's at odds with the dark sonic material of the album but they may merely be because of my total inability to understand the tone of the lyrics.
progress magazine
Bruno Dorella and Giovann Succi's second album, Non Io, tweaked and tightened their sound even further. The subtle production work emphasised their ability to turn 3 or 4 notes into a whole world of their own making. Recorded in November 2006 in what appropriately looks like a medievel stone dungeon beneath a church, there's a wooden feel to the instruments and the vocals have become more weary, as if spoken by someone defeated by life but lacking in any self pity. There's a sympathy and humanity to the voice and music played. It's bare and vulnerable to the World. It's the sound of a body breathing in isolation. Blind, loveless and silent. What a marvel, then. that out of this comes and album (two, indeed!) so vibrant and alive with the magic of movement and breath.
Frankly, it's exciting to hear these albums back to back, moreso the latter release. There's a reason these two albums have been played a dozen times since they arrived. Hell, I even started playing along with them on a guitar. Stand out track? "Ofelia'. Makes your heart crumple and gasp out loud for breath. A heartbreaker. "Live again to die again, like drinking again to smoke again, like standing up again and falling down alone." Not a dry eye in the house. Artwork is an in-house production that fits in nicely with Die Schachtel's 'Zeit' series of releases. Sort of Hans Arp like and digipacked with a booklet that has the lyrics and Italian and English. As ever with Die Schachtel, the layout and attention to detail is both meticulous and exceptional.
acquarius records
Dunno why, but we're suckers for sinister mumbling in Italian, accompanied by glitchy droning music... which brings us to this, another cd in Die Schachtel's "Zeit" series, which means original, interestin' Italian experimentalism in a nice embossed digipack, a la previous releases like A and Christa Pfangen. This time, it's a disc from a duo known as Bachi Da Pietra ("The Worms Of Stone" or something like that), who delve deep into what could be considered a form of avant-blues... no please don't run away, we really like this! The slow and sad "blues" here are so blown apart that it's more about a mood than anything that ol' Robert Johnson would recognize, though dealings with the Devil seem possible in both cases.
Bachi Da Pietra's music is damaged, dark, droning, doleful, doomed... almost like a depressed
Italian Jandek playing in the style of Earth's Hex album...? Or Radian gone "wooden guitar"? Other comparisons could be made to Sinistri, and Larsen. An ominous moodiness pervades, stark tension increasing, as insistent beats and acoustic guitar strum are deconstructed to accompany the whispery, lonely-sounding vocals (sung in Italian, with English translations provided in the cd booklet). The percussion and guitar playing both sometimes sound like splintering sticks, and you can practically hear the smoke curling up from the singer's inevitable cigarette.
chain dlk
www.ChainDLK.org by Andrea Ferraris
In the beginning there was Madrigali Magri, it was a sort of post-rock/alternative trio floating in-between the troubled waters of avant blues, murder ballads and desertic folk, after they split up, their main songwriter joined Bruno Dorella from Ovo/Ronin and they added the world “heaviness” to the vocabulary. I wasn't such a big fun of their debut record even if it really good so much that it got some incredible responses, but it looks this time I've to surrender to the fact this record is undeniably good.
Is it so different from the previous chapter?...I don't think so, but the impression is they worked more on melting together the “mammoth” drumming with the dead blues feeling of the songs and for me it woks much better than before. "Non io" mixes this vaguely Nick Cave dead-blues ambience with some "noise-rock" influences and with wave/dark vein.
Hard to say that, but this time the sound of the drum makes me think to trip-hop or to some sophisticated new folk sensation like the Devics, the beat dissolves in the background, it fuels the hypnotical atmosphere of the tracks and clearly in the economy of a “guitar and drums” duo you can imagine how important it is. Strange to see it comes out both on Wallace and on an experimental “non rock/non folk” label like die Schachtel, but tip of hat to the “sacred allegiance” and above all to this elegant, introspective musical collection of failures.
> die-schachtel.com/editions/dsZ04.htm
> wallacerecords.com/bands/bachidapietra.htm
mima r. music sales
http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com
april 2007 release from die schachtel and wallace records; the second album from the duo of bruno dorella (who also moonlights in ovo ) & giovanni succi (who was in madrigali magri ) as bachi da pietra (babelfish: “ it gets worm-eaten from stone ” ... although i think there's more than a bit of subtlety lost there...)
this is a beautifully recorded set of minimal guitar-drum interplay, with whispered vocals (in italian , natch) peppering the mood-array throughout. it's tricky to tag this one into a single genre-scale; there are hints of post-rock timbres & studio-trickery here & there, but it's considerably more earthen, grounded in “ the blues ” (or so the press releases below would claim...)
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bachi da pietra
“ non io ”
tri-fold deluxe digipak. 12-page booklet in italian and english
bachi da pietra (the stone worms) is a two-men band whose dark and resonating music wraps around tunes of desolate candour and lyrics (in italian) as dark and imaginative as broken love can be. a relentless drumming hovers over a huge wash of ride cymbal and a deep, plaintive voice, which is able to capture sadness, anger and yearning.
the entire album is a visceral emotional journey: the dissonant blues-based songs develop around the steady drone of the singer's voice, a trance-inducing vocal presence singing of grim meditations on life that are crafted and performed with disarming sincerity.
just like the mysterious and enigmatic characters that orbited their doom-laden, disturbing world, bachi da pietra is an unpredictable band that leaves the listeners feeling vulnerable, moved, and sometimes totally spaced out....
bachi da pietra is a project that was conceived in 2004 out of a collaboration between the two musicians bruno dorella (ronin, ovo, ex wolfango) and giovanni succi (ex madrigali magri ). both experienced musicians with more than a decade of experience each.
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Their much anticipated debut album was recorded in January 2005 in the cellar of the San Ippolito church in Nizza Monferrato, Italy. Recording techniques inspired by the early days of technology was used to give the album the vivid, rusty and deep sound they were looking for - a reflection of nature in a setting that echoes sand, stone and bronze.
The songs are rooted in the spirit of the original blues. Harsh at times reflected either in the lyrics or in the musical solutions and arrangements. The ten tracks reveals a musical picture made up by words, spring, life and pulsating blood painted on a background of a tiny yet limitless universe. A fertile ground swarming with bugs and stars made up of dull everyday life and flashes of unexpected light.
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Bachi Da Pietra [ pron.: backy da pee-etra ] is a 2 piece band. The name means about Rock Bugs. Someone call it nude cruel Blues, someone else talked about medieval blues (!?). The first album title is "tornare nella terra" (to come back in the ground or to torn into ground); it was recoded on a cellar under a church in Jenuary 2005. Lyrics are about blood, spirng, fucking, fighting, to die and to born again, insects, women, warms, stars, sound, words, work, every day prostitution, life, flowing, something lost, writing, dreaming, and so on. Now is too late.
| Wallace Records | is the record label.
| Audioglobe | Mandai | Recommended | european distributors.
| OvO | Ronin | other Bruno Dorella projects.
| bruno@bachidapietra.com |
| Madrigali Magri | it is the previous Giovanni Succi band, from 1994 to 2004.
| giovanni@bachidapietra.com |
Alessandro Bartolucci is the sound master of this record and many others.
| ale@bachidapietra.com |
................................................[ In spanish ].................................................
pop-page.com
[Es ] pop-page.com by Chema S.
Bachi Da Pietra es el nuevo proyecto musical de Bruno Dorella y Giovanni Succi, dos experimentadas figuras de la escena subterránea italiana, militantes de bandas de carácter disidente como Ronin , OvO , Wolfango –el primero- o Madrigali Magri –el segundo-, entre otras tantísimas.
Comiencen a estornudar los alérgicos a la intelectualidad espesa porque allá vamos…
El gusto de estos dos hombres por teorizar en torno a la experimentación les hace describir a Bachi Da Pietra como una manifestación intangible del lado más pétreo y áspero de la realidad terrena. Algo así como una desmaterialización de escenarios macizos y rugosos. Hablan de música que evoca la erosión provocada por el obstinado paso del tiempo sobre la naturaleza más compacta. La piedra convertida en arenisca, el bronce manchado de óxido. El desgaste del individuo al que sólo le queda la alternativa de arrastrar sin apenas fuerzas la pesada roca de la vida. De la persona condenada a seguir adelante soportando la carga de la derrota… ‘È una guerra e questa è una battaglia / non m'importa se morirò domani' , comienzan diciendo en ‘Primavera del sangue'.
“Tornare nella terra” suena tremendamente abatido y cansado, pero en ningún momento se hunde en la desesperanza. Mantiene siempre una terca perseverancia ante las calamidades de la existencia que estremece por la severidad y la falta de clemencia con las que se expresa, clavando su pupila en la nuestra. Herido de muerte durante la batalla, abatido sobre el polvo del suelo, es un disco al que puedes escuchar respirar pesadamente y maldecir entre dientes mientras agoniza silencioso.
Sobre pedregosos mantras de instrumentación desestructurada, estertores de muerte del blues más polvoriento, se recitan secamente reflexiones sobre la vida y la muerte, el tiempo, realidades inalcanzables, el lenguaje, el sexo, la alienación social del individuo, la demencia, y otras preocupaciones. Mirando a los ojos y sin que se les quiebre la garganta.
Incómodamente intenso, “Tornare nella terra” asusta por su explícita crudeza. Huyan de él quienes quieran ser un poco más felices y se empeñen en ver la vida de color de rosas. Ustedes se lo pierden…
................................................[ In short: translations from italian magazines and 'zines ].................................................
diradio
http://www.diradio.it/ - di Luciano Marcolin
A masterpiece. […] it strikes deep inside, never heard before, original and marvelous. […] a sonorous carpet that is dirty, sandpaper-like, slow, heavy and with an enthralling atmosphere: up, down, across, a voice that has never been heard before, ancestral, primitive, perverse and full of truth, love and hatred, in short, life as it should be […] a revelation.
musicboom
http://www.musicboom.it - digityourself di Luca Confusione
[…] “blues”, and I may agree on this, yet medieval blues. […] Voice and words are superimposed in a refrain manner, with ineluctable gait, guitar and drum loops outlining mental mortuary marches and extremely slow pillory ascents. Blues or agonizing music, however you want to call it, it seems like watching something dragging itself on the ground, I have a clear feeling about it.
musicboom
http://www.musicboom.it - Osceni repertori dalla terra di Luca Barachetti - voto del redattore : 4.5/5
[…] A masterpiece. […] With no way out, straight to your throat and bowels; with rustling words coming out of the mouth, incomplete drums, one guitar and little else. They will ravage you.
kataweb musica
www.KmMsica.kataweb.it/ 6 luglio 2005 di Alessandro Besselva Averame
[…] the words, mumbled, are uttered as if they were coming out of the sewers of the soul, and the slow, primitive musical base on which they lie down is that of pitch color blues, with no chance of redemption.
newsic
www.Newsic.it/ 01.07.2005 di Caludia Benetello
[…] a fascinating, harsh and prickly album. […] “Back into the ground” digs into man's condition in its meanness and gives it back new dignity and nature. […] a poisonous album, since poison and treatment, as it often happens, are the same thing.
buscadero
n. 269 giugno 2005 di Lino Brunetti Autori
[…] this debut album of theirs is already a masterpiece. It will mark the Italian music year. By linking themselves to the spirit of the original blues, the songs offer a dark, personal and extremely harsh vision of it.
live rock
www.LiveRock.it/ di Danilo Corgnati
[…] “Back into the ground” burns, hurts, tears hearts apart; it has disarming sincerity; bare in its sounds and words, which are as innermost as blood. A great album.
sand 'zine
www.Sands-Zine.com/ di Alfredo Rastelli
[…] the two musicians give the sonorous material the hardness of the earth and the sacredness of fire. […] it is an album that burns, makes one bleed and strikes in the head, heart and bowels.
comunicazione interna
www.ComunicazioneInterna.it di Nazario Graziano
[…] Wonderful and claustrophobic piece of work that breathes with difficulty, that seems to be choked by dust and that creaks among rocks, sand, rust and earth clods.
blow up #84 [ maggio 2005 ]
blowupmagazine.com/ Fron Cover + article + review / interview:
"Bachi Da Pietra: Primavera Del Sangue" di Daniela Cascella [ apri ]
“The singing-telling-choking, […] the beautiful texts […]. The striking-adjusting-receiving of the drums which beat and comment upon time as if it were a geological era […] by thundering on the bodies and threatening blood overflows. […] By starting back from the barest and anguished blues, they distort it to recover its sense in its most ancient truth.”
“An authentic and visceral album, that is born after a long darkening journey […] When one first listens to these songs, the feeling one has is that of a sound able to convey both the bitterness of the earth and the wrapping warmth of a return, a rebirth.
“The magic is here […].
................................................[ Reviews originaly in english ].................................................
chain dlk
www.ChainDLK.org by Andrea Ferraris
A wonder duo here...Batman and Robin?...nee...Bruno Dorella from Ovo/Ronin/Bar la Muerte fame and Giambeppe Succi from Madrigali Magri. Madrigali were a sort of depressed-blues/desertic-skeletal-rock combo both melodic and dissonant (if you wonna give a try I suggest "Negarville"), for all of you who can read italian language there's a nice surprise since Giambeppe definitely knows how to write lirycs. Bachi da Pietra could be the final "d-evolution" of Giambeppe Succi solo performances as Madrigali Magri with Bruno playing a minimal drumset and giving the most of the songs an extra "weight" with his death-blues-Swans alike way of drumming. This two guys have received a lot of attention by the italian alternative magazines and you can bet they deserved it: good recording, ghostly ballads, visceral songwriting, deserted landscapes...this release speaks in terms of "mud and blood". You can compare them to Nick Cave "depressed-Birthday Party-era" meets Songs Ohia's "Ghost Tropic" meets Faust'o (a.k.a. Fausto Rossi) gone bad (as if he could have been even worse) meets the the devil himself. The recording is ok and titles like "Verme" (Warm), "Primavera di sangue" (Spring of blood), "Prostituisciti" (Prostitute yourself) can give you an hint of "the air you're gonna breath" while listening these "murder ballads". This' the soundtrack of a car break-down in the middle of the nowhere therefore take it or leave it. Anyhow if you never heard anything with Giambeppe I think you'd better start from Madrigali Magri...if you're a fan instead: just go for it!
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autoradio.blogspot.com
http://Autoradio.blogspot.com
Made of bowels, of sweat, of fields and ground. The sound is knead with the ground. The same ground who sands smelling messages to me. The sound is one with the ground. The voice is laying down on the music, just like bowing farmers in the fields to draw the lines. Sometimes it seems to only mime the words with the lips. Implied, just like the sweat, implied into the gesture that goes with. Another time it gives lyrics as charming as flavouring and charming as grapes from the grapevine. And it's a chorus of percussions and strings, now beated and bited, now caressed and kissed by hard wine cellar and field's working callused hands, by mouths closed up by the muggy weather and the nearby sea's salt that burrows wrinkles into the burned faces.
I relax and this music is cradling me. It leads me in a trip into my teen memory, among the barrels of wine that inebriate if I was passing too close and the nettles that stinging my ankles while I'm working the ploughs to let the water flows into the ground.
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in koma 'zine
www.inkoma.com
Two-men Band, new project for Bruno Dorella (Ronin, OvO, ex Wolfango) and Giambeppe Succi (guitar and voice of onceuponatime- Madrigali Magri ), debutting now together through Wallace rec. If You choose to hear this CD with headphones, well, it's the best way to be swallowed into a world of nude cruel Blues, hypnotism of reverbed percurssions like knives, and a cold guitar, coming across an ambient rythmed and vampiric: it sounds like the missed sound-track for And The Ass Saw The Angel (Nick Cave) , such the madness is so metodically and spiritually guided, told through lyrics like stones. A rythm that keeps eyes half closed, kind of hypnopompic state, - You can just guess some images blurred and uncomplete, but shadows of this nightmare get on focus only at awake, when Prostituisciti explodes, and ends in a brief accelerated escape. - The last track, Stirpe Confusa is double, and after some sec of silence, starts an heart-beat frame, where guitar passes from acoustic to electric, beaten up and left suffering through arpeggio and tremolo modulations.
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Bachi Da Pietra "Tornare Nella Terra" [p] & [c] 2005
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