https://soundcloud.com/violet-poison/diana-berti-learning-to-live-alone
Francesco Baudazzi is a prolific Italian producer and label owner, and today we take a listen to his proto-techno leaning project Diana Berti. With a significant discography of singles and EP’s under the moniker Obtane, he is more recently known as Violet Poison, with LP releases on the labels Hospital Productions, Opal Tapes, and Haunted Air. In addition, while Baudazzi helped run the now defunct techno label Zooloft, with Giorgio Gigli, he is back with Veleno Viola, a label to focus on his new approach to “DIY and post-punk aesthetics, with the main focuses of rhythmic noise, experimental dark ambient and power electronics”.
As Diana Berti, the producer creates cinematic, sequencer-based ambiance using the Korg Poly-800 and a handful of gnarly effects. As Baudazzi recently explained to the Brvtalist, the project is named after a character in Lamberto Bava‘s 1989 horror film Il Gioko. Inspired by the “fragility” with which actress Alessandra Acciai played the part, as well as the film’s local, Borgo a Mozzano, a place Baudazzi visited often in his childhood, the musician explains: “There’s a strong link between the landscape, the music, the movie and my childhood”. Elements of this can be heard on “Learning To Live Alone“, with vintage analogue gear lending an air of melancholic nostalgia to this track. Blending dream-like melodies into sequenced repetition with a single distorted bass stab, as well as a growing palette of squelching electronics, Baudazzi creates a sonic realm both beautiful and brutal.
