Buy Link: deejay.de/Fabrizio_Rat_Hera_24H002_Vinyl
24H is the in-house label of Tempio Del Futuro Perduto, a multifunctional cultural space in Milan, Italy, promoting independent creativity through educational, social and recreational activities like workshops, seminars, courses and events about music, design, yoga, art, theatre, dance and more. The futuristic environment space also features a garden, a recording studio and some comfortable rooms which allow any artist to stay and live the Temple for fun or artistic residencies purposes. The final objective of the label is to indeed create a strong network between artists operating in the field of technology and artistic research, to form a collective of conscious operators willing to increase the power of human relations and technologic progress.
Pianist and techno producer Fabrizio Rat is next up on 24H Records with a new EP that continues to fuse classical piano with contemporary techno in fascinating new ways. The French artist’s five originals come backed with a remix from Industrial Romantico.
Rat is a classically trained pianist who infuses his techno with his very real improvisational playing skills. He plays in new and unconventional ways, breaking rules and exploring new techniques, and takes that into the studio when playing synths and drum machines and making techno.
A master of the TR-909 and R-303, he is inspired by Jeff Mills as much as John Cage and is very much leading the way when it comes to crossing electronic and classical paths. After releasing on the likes of Blackstrobe Records, Optimo and Involve, he now serves up new music featuring a piano which, after several restoration attempts, was destined to be disposed of in a landfill. Instead, he recorded and sampled some of his own playing sequences, then took them into the studio in Paris to make the EP we have here. The result is a mix between the past and future, a metaphor for the space in which the artist has performed and continues to grow.
Opener ‘Hera’ is twisted techno with haunting keys. Squealing synths colour in the airwaves and add to the urgency as the piano sounds grow ever more unsettling. ‘Regula’ is another unsettling masterpiece – the keys are off grid and spooky sounding while warped synths and bass tie your mind in knots. Then comes ‘Naos’, an occult interlude that traps you in suspense next to distant synth winds and with only the paranoid keys for company.
On the flip side, ‘Juno’ is manic, with unhinged keys tumbling down the scales in spine tingling fashion while high speed techno drums power along the groove. Industrial Romantico then serves up a rex of ‘Voluta’ with loopy, rubbery kicks that hit hard and firm and dark vocals adding to the moody atmosphere. Closing out the EP is ‘Spira’, a twitchy, experimental track with the wonky piano keys bringing real terror.
This is an innovative new EP that is alive with the sound of the rescued piano, and marks a real techno rebirth for Fabrizio Rat.
Release date: April 25th, 2020.