RA Sessions: Lucy
Psychedelic sounds from one of techno’s finest innovators.
Luca Mortellaro has done more than most to broaden the idea of what techno can mean. Go back to 2009, and the first release on his label, Stroboscopic Artefacts. The Alpha Sampler was a mini compilation that featured three tracks with subtly spectacular sound design and an electrified beatless closer from Xhin, a Singaporean artist who became known for innovative techno transmissions. Bring things forward to the present day, and Stroboscopic Artefacts’ latest release is Self Mythology, Mortellaro’s third album, which features improvised vocals, flute and percussion from Jon Jacobs across nine deeply psychedelic tracks. Stroboscopic Artefacts describes itself as seeking “an incessant accretion of new ideas and new formal elements that must transcend any self-limiting expectations of genres.” In Self Mythology and its countless other exceptionally strong releases down the years, the label has clearly achieved its aim.
Indeed, as Mortellaro was setting up for this live session in our Berlin office he told us that the show is “mainly about expanding some territories that are part of the techno aesthetic.” Through his own releases Mortellaro has consistently found new ways to explore this idea, and he currently seems most excited by the possibilities of unifying electronic and acoustic instruments. He set up in front of a modular system, a mixer, a sequencer and some effects, while Jacobs performed vocal phrases, flute and percussion. The result felt like a singular collision of the past and the future.
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Self Mythology is out now on Stroboscopic Artefacts.
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Tags: Lucy, RA Sessions, Self Mythology, Stroboscopic Artefacts
