Campo de' Fiori (IT)
ANALOG, ERGO...SIAM HYPNOISE! by Carlo Cattani

An ancient villa in the province of Padova...
wrapped in the fog: this is how a temporary seal of nature looks like over this portion of earth, an island in comparison to the rest of the world....... A dazzling light coming from a window of the ancient villa tries to irradiate itself in the fog but neutralizes itself while those wide windows look like secular eyes of this prestigious residence dwelling on the surrounding forest........
Structured sounds arrive to our ears floating from small holes in the old windows in a mystic atmosphere to show us signs of life.
It’s a large room, in the "belly" of a secular villa in the country close to Padova the "hometown" of those signals we distinguish to be "MUSIC"... what music!
Shall we go in? Impossible to go in all together so I’ll use my ears for all of you... Let’s go in!
Right away I understand that "The Way Out" to be involved in the "musical world" created by this exceptional trio of Italian musicians is that you must put on your shelf dedicated to great records under letter "H" for HYPNOISE!
"The Way Out" is the opening song of "OPIUM", their first album, officially released in the first months of the new millennium, four years after the band got together in 1996.
At that time in fact, the "Hypnoise symptoms" had been perceived by three students of a local school of a Middle Ages town, Cittadella, where they had a debut with some primitive versions of songs recently included in the 7” Opium.
The "belly" of the villa is in the country close to Padova, "home base" of the activities of the band, and had incubated tiny musical buds, today flowers of international valence, conceived and cured under a "natural light" of a happy meeting between talent and cultural formation persevering an artistic objective!
The power of the trio is assured by the energies of P. MIKE III, guitars, vocals, creative force and fulcrum of the band, FREZ eclectic drummer and percussionist, SANZE.... high performance bassist. The musicians have played together since the days spent at the prestigious "Thelonius Monk jazz school" of Vicenza.
The international debut of HYPNOISE had the precious care of the reknowned American producer and musician Ronan Chris Murphy, known for working with King Crimson, members of Yes, Ministry etc., who had flown from Seattle to Padova and was very interested to develop the Hypnoise Project.
"OPIUM", is a winning realization with a strong international profile composed of nine heterogeneous episodes, (total time over 40 minutes), with a pair of cool instrumental ones.
The opening begins with a strong and structured rock song, "The Way Out", in which you can appreciate great rhythm section and guitar style; the right opening song of a wide “musical mosaic” composed by this Italian power trio: a toxicating lead guitar always in the right place to leave space for a solid rhythm section.
P. Mike III’s expressive voice sounds quite rough and warm...and Trey Gunn’s Warr guitar
is a long walk in the garden of “King Crimson”....an exciting and amazing end.
All following tracks show that Opium isn’t a foreseen work easy to catalogue under any commercial label, but a mix of precious musical caresses and feelings dedicated to listeners looking for interesting and exciting timeless music.
The music of Opium is a fascinating one, with precious arrangements; every single track shows P. Mike III’s great guitar work, sometimes virtuous in great solos, other times "suspended" in psychedelic parts creating, with FREZ and SANZE, moments of curious ambient music!
HYPNOISE carefully avoid commercial digital recording techniques devoting their skills to the use of analog equipment to get warm sound improving creativity and spontaneity.
Having been convinced of the quality and positivity of their analog experience, and with all the good reviews that were obtained after the official release of their first album Opium, Hypnoise delight us with a new album titled St. Valentine’s Porno Bar under Los Angeles based Veneto West Records. (www.venetowest.com)
Compared to Opium, where every track was a different picture of P. Mike III’s life, in St. Valentine’s Porno Bar we’re In a real “Rock Opera”, (“A novella in sounds by Hypnoise” on the exclusive front cover made in a square of Venice), over 70 minutes to explain a history of a personal reinvention between many different musical, colored moments.
A remarkable step ahead comparing their new album to the first instinctive and valuable Opium... careful listenings of St. Valentine’s Porno Bar convince me Hypnoise fly high with this new album, confirming their international vocation and their great creative effort.
A "TRIO" with great ambitions!
P. Mike III’s musical invention wide skills have been confirmed with this “small/mega production” created in a few minutes of 1999 St. Valentine’s Day.
Try to imagine what a great combination of positive elements and feelings must have occurred to turn on such an incredible creative force.
So patiently, MIKE begun to write the "storyboard" based on this "inspiration", primitive lyrics and musical riffs to describe spaces and lights within Caesar step by step after personal re-invention and inner revolution ultimately finds peace and happiness in the purity of nature. (great end, "THE OCEAN”, inspiration had, (confession of the writer), during one warm and placid Cuban night before the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean on the famous Playa de Santa Lucìa).
... more than ever analog, HYPNOISE realize this CD using exclusively old analog devices, kind of ancient recording in the WI-FI, mp3, iPods modern age but, as I said before, all this aged equipment works like a “balsam” for their interesting creativity!
Places, things and persons, contributed to the making of this cd...... town of Venice with the recording of noises from Rialto’s fish Market and its humid and foggy streets, the reverb of a small medieval church and an ancient villa, medium waves of glorious tube radios... all on a 1935 Magnadyne S53, breathtaking gospel choirs with the amazing voice of American Cheryl Porter...everything orchestrated with great artistic production by Ronan Chris Murphy, the right producer for Mike & co.
.... even an old demijohn had lended its "belly" contributing to the creation of particular sounds for the SANZE’s bass..... "old demijohn makes... good sound"
On all, skills and abilities of the Italian trio, and its leader, are inspired from the great musical pages like the ones written by Pink Floyd, appreciated somewhere in the album.
Must say P. Mike III joined a 45 hours non-stop jam in Padova playing with musicians like Pat Mastelotto and Tony Levin (King Crimson World) and the great guitarist Willie Oteri.
Moreover, some weeks ago some radio stations broadcasted the Band playing acoustic showcases with interviews.
St. Valentine’s Porno Bar has been presented February the 14, at “Blacks club” in London, we look forward to listen to them live soon...! Padova, latitude 45°24' 57"96 N - longitude 11°52' 58"08... rock listeners may have to turn their head on that part of the Planet! www.hypnoise.net exhausting and constantly updated official site ... not supporting the band would be an insult to Saint Antony from Padova!