Infidel Bodies is readying their Infidel Selection Volume 1 compilation entitled ‘so pure and so perverse‘ for a limited edition cassette release on May 28th. The Italian label operates out of Naples, and run by Erminio Granata (11xxx27) and Marika Pagano, it was established in 2017 to feature the more obscure realms of Techno and Ambient–with a strong emphasis on Industrial, EBM, and Noise also distinguishing it’s select output. Discussing the upcoming release, the label explains that the project’s conceptual underpinning was guided by the notion that:
“The line that divides purity from perversion is so thin that it’s invisible to the senses. We look for it until we get lost between right and wrong.”
With an international array of artists poised to tackle this thorny conundrum, the compilation’s roster includes tracks from more established musicians like Bakunin Commando, Kollaps, Konstruktivists, Huren, Sirio Gry J, Eexxppoann, Ryuji Takeuchi and Katran, up-and-coming producers such as LKSMN, Dee Grinski, Mystics, and Primary, as well as selections from Erminio Granata’s other projects Hyperlacrimae and Code27.
Tracing that thin almost imperceptible membrane between purity and perversion, Infidel Selection Volume 1 often travels equally difficult to discern divisions between Ambient and Techno, and with the tracks on the collection darkly colored by elements of Industrial and Noise, differences between the genres are often rendered moot. While Techno’s most distinguishing factor, it’s 4/4 rhythmic pulse, is all but absent as the collection opens, black holes of bass drone, hissing textures of white noise, mechanized clatter, and shadowy arpeggiation characterize openers like LKSMN’s “Beauty Full Ass,” Dee Grinski’s “Aircraft Boneyard,” and Hyperlacrimae’s “Paradisi Artificiali.”
LKSMN is the Italian producer Pietro Rianna, and like Moscow’s Dee Grinski, the two create swirling fields of looping drone free of rhythmic intrusion. While “Beauty Full Ass” is monochromatic in color and akin to a UFO landing in a deserted vector of a bombed-out city, Grinski’s interstellar offering contains Command Center vocal samples and slowly sketched melodic elements that color the cut with outer space melancholy. Hyperlacrimae, Erminio Granata’s more Industrial leaning electronic project, continues to inhabit this beatless terrain, but it’s quasar-like peels of bass and space soaring pads definitely contain Techno’s future forward vibe.
As we reach tracks like Mystics “Unsolved Enigma,” Bakunin Commando’s “Blood Calls Blood,” Kollaps’ “Heartworm,” and Huren’s “Bebedores-De-Sangre,” ambiance begins to give way to an increasingly proto-techno vibe. Bakunin Commando is one of Francesco Baudazzi‘s many projects, including Diana Berti, Obtane, and Violet Poison, and on his cut hyper-tense arpeggiation, mangled vocals, maniacal laughter and sheets of screeching noise make for an unsettling chaos. “Heartworm” continues that confusion with Kollaps, an Australian-based trio with tracks on director Leigh Whannell‘s 2018 Upgrade soundtrack, adding a slow-motion bass beat, ear-ripping blasts of noise and demonic vocals from beyond the grave. Huren is the Berlin-based producer David Foster, and joining the fray, his marauding flies and buzzing hornets are no less disturbing as they provide menacing sonic cover for a deeply buried shadow of beat that is barely perceptible.
With the arrival of the Konstruktivists’ track “Dark Times,” an even fuller array of rhythmic components begins to emerge as a caustically resonating bass drum thuds like an approaching sense of doom, while robotic vocals entreat you to “bring out your dead.” Monolith Records’ Sirio Grimaldi‘s project Sirio Gry J joins the action on “Dinasty” with a coal blasted drum loop and front-loaded low end, while Primary continues the movement towards a realm more akin to Techno. “Corridors” pounding kick and backbeat are eventually joined by acidic arpeggiation, and like Erminio Granata’s more Techno-centric project Code27, on “Wizard” the migration towards club-ready beats seems complete. While those two tracks are Infidel Selection Volume 1‘s most prototypically Techno, closing offerings from the South Korean producer Eexxppoann, as well as a meet-up between Japan’s Ryuji Takeuchi and Darko Kolar‘s alias Katran continue that trajectory. However, if both ???? (Resonance of Skin)? and ?DE#1″ also provide kinetic rhythms, albeit heavily filtered and experimental sounding, those dancing are probably Entertainment Units moving on their mechanized limbs.
Look for Infidel Selection Volume 1 to come out as a limited edition cassette with signed artwork from the Canadian collagist Teresa Elizabeth Lobos featured on the cover and inside insert. Preorders are available thru Bandcamp, and they come with a digital download of the four tracks currently available, plus the complete album the moment it?s released. You can check out the cover artwork and track listing below…
Tracklist:
A1. LKSMN – Beauty Full Ass
A2. Dee Grinski – Aircraft Boneyard
A3. Hyperlacrimae – Paradisi Artificiali
A4. Mystics – Unsolved Enigma
A5. Bakunin Commando – Blood Calls Blood
A6. Kollaps – Heartworm
A7. Huren – Bebedores-De-Sangre
B1. Konstruktivists – Dark Times
B2. Sirio Gry J – Dinasty
B3. Primary – Corridors
B4. Code27 – Wizard
B5. Eexxppoann – ??? (Resonance of Skin)
B6. Ryuji Takeuchi and Katran – DE#1
