SUN EATERS album reviews (on Hive Mind Records) Full Press KIT HERE
“Novello’s timbral explorations undergird Mazurek’s psychedelic musings. […] fertile melodic sense, […] glorious artistic freedom, […] edgy and compelling” – Andy Hamilton (THE WIRE)
“I like how they integrated the modular synth and the trumpet, the two sides complement each other quite effectively. There’s a good balance between the organic and electronic, between the breath and the circuit. A very rich and vivid blend of sound colors tied together with thoughtful stabs of melody. I truly enjoyed it.” – Daniel Barbiero (WordPress)
“Ascending motions, Don Cherry 4.0 mood, Sun Ra rusts, Terry Riley acids […] A perfectly ordered creative disorder […] seeing it live would be a bomb. This is poisonous, balsamic music, that gets you high even when you’re perfectly lucid….”” – Nazim Comunale (Blow Up)
“It sounds like Don Cherry collaborating with Autechre. It’s fantastic.” – Phil Freeman (StereoGum)
“Novello and Mazurek establish immediately an almost telepathic, sci-fi-like common ground. […] Novello sketches evocative, effective techno-like pulses that trigger Mazurek’s poetic, concise trumpet chants, alternating between the intense and restless to the minimalist and distant, but always soulful ones. Sun Eaters is an engaging, imaginative and ceremonial sonic collision between the vintage and the futurist, allowing us to rethink the elusive distinctions between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’. ” – Eyal Hareuveni (PercorsiMusicali)
“Novello governs the laws of nonsense abstractism through analogue synthetizers, boasting a variety of amazing architectures, intertwining and altering the sacredness of Mazurek’s trumpet winds” – Paolo Miceli (Komakino)
“Legendary improviser Rob Mazurek, co-founder of Chicago Underground, looks skyward on this one, improvising over extra-terrestrial bleeps and beats from Italian synth maestro Alberto Novello.” “Mazurek releases a lot – he’s earned the privilege, at this point – but ‘Sun Eaters’ might be his most crucial release in years.” “The duo’s interplay is electrifying.” “Novello provides a surprisingly effective back for Mazurek’s well-worn wails, wiring blippy, atmospheric rhythmic sequences that veer from sci-fi wobbliness to reductionist technoid pulses”. – Boomkat
“Chicago-based composer, improviser, multi-media artist and underground legend, Rob Mazurek, joins forces with modular-synth maestro and light magician, Alberto Novello for an invocation that hurls us out into new and uncharted sound-dimensions. […] Some albums are made to be heard on record and this is such an album, the modular synth really comes to life on record, the strange offworld sounds wrangled from the analogue machines take on a life of their own and really inhabit the space. The whole thing sounds immense.” – Marc Teare
“I’ve got to admit I’m entranced. [..] A couple of pieces include chants that take Don Cherry’s organic music to the planets. Immersive, psychedelic, music to bathe in.” – Graeme Muller
“Sun Eaters is a dizzying space ritual, a totally out exercise in telepathic collaboration and psychedelic sound, stretching the definition of improvisation to new abstract territories“
“A instant-classic release covering the ground between improjazz—electronic and worldmusic”
INTERVIEWS
Interview for the Dutch National Newspaper De Telegraaf (in Dutch)
Interviewed for The Generative hut.
Interviewed for Il Resto del Carlino (Italian National Newspaper)
Interview on Neural Magazine 2019
Interview on Neural Magazine 2016
ILLUSTRIOUS COMMENTS
“Incredible, very nice work!” – Richie Hawtin, Techno Pioneer
“Wow, beautiful colors!” – Robert Henke, New Media Artists
“A splendid work. truly talented!” – Aldo Tambellini, Pioneer of Video Art 2020
“I’ve seen many laser performances in my life, but Alberto really adds original spins to the whole scene” “I truly enjoy Alberto’s work. He’s come up with some new wrinkles. It makes me feel like I wish I hadn’t recycled my laser animation system.” – Ronald Pellegrino, Pioneer of Laser Art 2020
“I did not think it was possible to have a 45-minute laser show so captivating” – Kim Trent, Lecturer and Programme Leader at University of the West of Scotland and Glasgow Contemporary Art Center 2019
“never thought It was possible to achieve such beautifully complex shapes with a laser”, Austin News – 2019
BOOK / ARTICLES:
My work is mentioned by Joseph Hyde in the chapter “The New Analogue: Media Archaeology as Creative Practice in 21st-Century Audiovisual Art” in Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices, Rutledge.
LIVE PERFORMANCE REVIEWS:
“Composer and musician Dorit Chrysler and visual artist Alberto Novello deliver a candid and warm performance, transporting the audience to ethereal and otherworldly realms reminiscent of earlier decades.” Review on Revista Arta of the Concert with Dorit Chrysler on Theremin for Simultan Festival 2023 by Martina Oprea.
“If the Futurists, on the other hand, had had today’s means at their disposal, instead of the praiseworthy attempts with intonarumori, the whirling evolutions of aeropittura or the abstract and colourful compositions of FuturBalla, they would probably have created objectively rigorous, deterministic and affirmative works, similar to those developed by Novello.” Review of solo concert @Bologna Festival on All About Jazz (italian) (2021) by Libero Farne’
“A performance by musicians who, accustomed to the interchangeability of modes of enjoyment, move from electronic clubs to concert halls (or as in this case to the cinema), who are no longer just composers or performers, but also luthiers, creators of their own instruments, scientists, scholars of the possibilities of performance, and who leave the user mesmerized by the pyrotechnics of light and sound.” Review of solo concert @Bologna Festival on Giornale della Musica (Italian) (2021) by Valentina Anzani.
“The interesting part of the set was the creative role of the electronic instrumentation, which far from trying to create the usual background soundscapes,
has chosen a dialogue as protagonist with the flutes, sax, and the drums that reached climaxes of strong expressive power.” About odbo oqpo, live at Smartno Festival, SL (2017). odbo oqpo – Vid Drasler (drums), Paolo Pascolo (flute/sax), Alberto Novello (modular synthesizer)
Angelo Leonardi, on All About Jazz (Italian) 2017.
Laser Drawing, de Bestuuring Den Haag, NL (2017) “Torn between describing Alberto Novell’s performance as “LSD for straight-edge people” or “Civilised fireworks for a civilised age”. His experiments into “analogue visuals” have matured from hooking up CV signals from his modular to an old “Vectrex” console a few months back, to a custom cable from his modular to a multi-colour laser that he just finished today and performed with this evening. Absolutely spectacular stuff that you should and hear see if&when you have a chance. You should probably also book him, now that you can still afford to. Kassen Oud, Amsterdam.
Bombyx Mori (2016-2017) (Music for the choreography by O. Maciejewska) European Cultural News 2017 Inferno Magazine 2016 Maculture 2016
Modular Synth Solo (opening for Meridian Brothers), Dobia Arte Eventi, IT (2015) “Opens the evening the electronic live set by JesterN. From an initial phase of broken contemplations (reminding of la Cluster), he moves on to rhythmic structures and melodic spirals of a mutant dna, never loosing himself and keeping a well determined direction. It’s a very careful sound creation and modification, that reminds me of all the names in the end of the nineties / beginning of the two thousands releasing on labels such as Rephlex, Sonig, and do on… very impressive!” Loris Zecchin, Solar Ipse 2015.
Wie je ook Bent (2014) (Music for the choreography by Marie Goeminne) “Deserves a special mention music by Alberto Novello. The development in his splendid composition parallels the dance language” , TheaterKrant 2014
Fragmentation (2012) “The piece is aesthetically strong, with the tension between the mechanically precise sonic-visual elements and the frail viscerally of the dancer at the forefront of the experience. Most importantly, the piece strikes a good balance between transparency of the technical processes and the construction of a wholly conceived experience.” Peer Reviewer of the NIME Conference 2012″
Fragmentation (2012) “This piece is very engaging both creatively and technically. The integration of music, movement, and video is very well accomplished. One of the more conceptually interesting and successful implementations of EEG control.” Peer Reviewer of the ICMC Conference 2013″
Clinamen (2010) on la Jornada 2010, Mexico City.
PAST ALBUM REVIEWS:
Neocortical F Bars, Francisco Lopez / JesterN (2020)
Novello substitutes fizzes and whorls, occasionally slipping into silence while preparing the next movement. The tone is as cold and septic as its cover, ending in Geiger fuzz. A Closer Listen.
odbo oqpo, with V. Drasler and P. Pascolo, Creative Sources (2020)
“seven haunting improvisations of unfaltering patience, electronic tones commingling with atmospheric flutes and subtle percussive intervention, creating rich sonic environments or quirky conversation” Review of odbooqpo release by Todd McComb Jazz Thoughts
Full Review of odboqpo release by SIGIC
The trio weaves an interesting and patient sound-sound-rhythm interweaving, stretched between sound and texture arcs with an interweaving of occasional melodies, modulated harmonic tonal fusions, percussive spraying of rhythm and sound, and synthetic clusters, oscillations and textures. The recordings are distinguished by a bold sound image, where each instrument gets its own space, and at the same time they subtly blend into each other. The music resonates through interfaces of ectrophone music, free improvisation, contemporary chamber and electroacoustic music with quiet echoes of jazz. Centralala, Slovenia Improvised Music Forum.
Cahier des Petits Coquillages vol. IV/V, Setola di Maiale (2018)
“Since the beginning, the soul of this music confrontation is easily decodable, based on scratchy concatenations of wind instruments. The many dense and moody passages make the atmosphere very intriguing. This is not enough: the sound sources are numberless and also harsh, full of creaks, snorts, continuous pulses, hisses, trills, tickings, backwashes and thousands of other elements the Italian experimenter, also known as JesterN in the audio-art circle, has in his personal broad background. Nobody would be surprised if the more open-minded lovers of improvisational music or new jazz might have found the duo worthy of interest. Everything becomes cinematic and alien, the atmosphere makes you feel like you are in some kind of futuristic noir film. The different interventions of the two artists are so intense and decisive as they are moving parallel on the same way, never having an open contrast of timbres, rhythms and phrasings. The single parts come together raw and sophisticated: abstractions and harsh audio emergencies, repetitions and variations, moments of urban lyricism and scattered schizoid equipment. If some vintage free form style is performed with awareness, the goal is still the confrontation with new different styles, given that an unconventional approach requires a deep knowledge of what the history of music has made so far.” Aurelio Canciotta, Neural Magazine
” Both musicians base their music on innovation, electronics and the synthesis of free improvisation and experimental music. Their music is modern, has weird, specific and evocative sound. The musicians are searching for a genuine and pleasant fusion between absolutely different musical language elements and styles. They group contrasting compounds, bright melodies and soft excerpts, extremely loud culminations and silent pieces in one place. Both musicians are individual and creative players. Their music is free, abstract and based on spontaneous musical decisions. It’s very interesting to listen to their music, because it’s changing and sparkling all the time… There’s a bright contrast between warm, expressive and dynamic trumpet and synthesized, cold, weird, modern and interesting electronics. The synthesis between these instruments create arvelous, suggestive, interesting and dynamic sound.” Massimo Ricci, Avant Scena
” … a contiguity of acoustic environments and creative personalities that works quite well in long stretches … The outcome is a singular coalescence of subsonic throbs, unruly frequencies, unrelenting pitches and piercing harmonics immersed in some sort of boiling liquid. It remains nice and stimulating even after a number of consecutive listens.” Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
” … The musical relationship the two forged is one of strong, independent and parallel voices that nevertheless provide complementary parts of a distinctive whole. Novello’s electronics are glitch and jumpy; even at their most abstract they allude, however obliquely, to rhythms rooted in the body: foot-tapping, finger-popping, knuckle-rapping. Their chopped sounds are a sonic bed over which Arthurs’s melodic lines lie—sometimes uneasily, sometimes comfortably, but always appropriately” Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News
” … Arthurs possesses a wonderful tone, very smooth and creamy. On this recording, he flits and writhes between glitchy electronic patterns set up by Novello, often of a repetitive nature but with much ancillary fuzziness and thorny extrusions. Arthurs’ often muted horn charts a relatively sober course through Novello’s electronics which tend towards a giddy, loopy and humorous aspect (here and there, I’m reminded of Dr. Patrick Gleeson, circa ‘Sextant’), creating a very enjoyable contrast, sometimes light-hearted, other times poignant.” Brian Olewnick, Olewnick Blogspot
Le Retour Des Oiseaux, Bowindo (2014)
“Romantic and dizzying sensory expansion zone. […] A bundle of sharp frequencies floating in the void, extreme light/sudden-darkness. If you appreciate Chris Watson and Jon Hassell, Paul Schütze, Aphex Twin and spectral Davis fades, you are at home. Wonder.” Marco Carcasi – Kathodik.
“The wonderful feeling of surprise! When words run out, then you know you heard something different. I start to listen and then I’m stuck. I have no idea what I hear but I like it! [..] That’s right: crazy and I do not know how Novello thought or put the whole thing together, but even though the music is in constant change, it feels incredibly cohesive. [..] Novello probably has worked very hard with this piece. And he gets rewarded: Le Retour des Oiseaux is a fantastic album that feels genuine and completely personal. Joachim Nyberg, Sound Of Music
“The project eventually evolved into a quadraphonic live audio-visual performance. Here the flugelhorn, played by Flavio Zanuttini and the sonic manipulations of Alberto Novello emerge alongside trills, fuzzy sequences, hyper-fragmented rhythmics and complex instrumental elaborations [..], very enjoyable and addictive ” Neural Magazine
“Lyrical and elegant, the fluegelhorn spreads an aura of enigmatic beauty on a very complex and articulated electronic texture , curated in the minimal details […]. Bright and creative use of the sound of the brass and the microscopic elements that interconnects the sonic events.” Massimiliano Busti, Blow Up Magazine.
“An album of very difficult music that doesn’t hide a conceptual matrix, but how much grace and how much beauty in these sounds!” (Solar Ipse Magazine #8)
“Le Retour des Oiseaux is a cerebral affair, rooted as it is in the tradition of the electroacoustic avant-garde. The result is a set of masterfully constructed, coloristic works emerging from the fecund meeting of acoustic brass and the technological imagination.” Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News
“Highly enjoyable and addictive” Neural Revue Autumn Issue 2015.
“The music we can see as a mixture between improvised parts on the flugelhorn and electronic manipulations there of, making this is a very refined work of electro-acoustic music… .. crude, chopped techno version of musique concrete … ending a strange collage of electronic drone sounds, that has a nasty feel to it, and makes the perfect coda …” Frans de Waard, The Vital Weekly
“Jazz-core interconnected with subtle silver spiderwebs. Fine taste, in line with Rune Grammofon. There is everything you need (color, taste, feeling and technique). Seems like they have fun making music and they transfer it to the listener”. Loris Zecchin, Solar Ipse
“The surround versions are spectacular, so if you have the possibility to listen in surround be sure to do so! […] But if you’re prepared for it, the electronic sound manipulation of Alberto Novello (recorded at the Institute of Sonology at The Hague), together with the Flugelhorn played by Falvio Zanuttini, are amazingly adventurous.” Peter van Cooten, Ambient Blog
“Le retour des Oiseaux can be associated with the work of the giant of field recording C. Watson […], the fourth unexpected track of the album could have been taken from an album of Squarepusher, […] particularly interesting is the last ambient track, in which the aural fusion between the instrument and the digital processing is very effective.” Fabrizio Garau, The New Noise
“I find it hard to describe what I hear on the album Le Retour des Oiseaux: it is a mix of electro-acoustic music, contemporary, ambient, techno, Messiaen’s cosmology and more. Novello does exactly what he wants and ignores the rules and the accepted approach. [..] It is a revelation. Novello is a musician who follows his feeling and create something genuine and different, an album that really gets started tanks.” Joachim Nyberg, Sound Of Music
“The futuristic abstractions of the whole record genuinely blend density facets of avant-garde classical music phenomena.. stochastic breakbeat, percussive and almost restless… immersive sonic manipulation.” Pall, Komakino
‘Le Retour des Oiseaux’ has a wide palette of minimalist sounds, from sharp, manipulated field recordings, guitars, timbres and sound waves. The flugelhorn developes from compressed sounds close to silence, to more harmonic forms. The modular synthesizer features staccato rhythms and others floating into the atmosphere.” Escudero, Guillermo
“From the origins of time, birds are the ambassadors of the new day. Today, its an electronic one. Saturated of impulses triggered by iridescent machines. With ‘I’, a strong drone grows with distorted sound, falling down inexorably into a dense R. On the B side, starts very strong ‘D’, based on a crazy mix of hallucinations, dub bubbles and tribal rhythms. After that ‘S’is a delicate light in the fog, the last one to dissolve in an ultra-terrestrial sand clock.” Translated from Marco Ferretti, Electronique.it
Complete Communion, Hybrida Records (2014)
“Aggressive and psychotic … a new and dynamic representation of the work of Don Cherry” , Antonio Ciarletta, Blow Up Magazine
“Jazz-core interconnected with subtle silver spiderwebs. Fine taste, in line with Rune Grammofon. There is everything you need (color, taste, feeling and technique). Seems like they have fun making music and they transfer it to the listener. Loris Zecchin, Solar Ipse
“I cannot deny the credibility and unique beauty version of the Dutch-Italian musician of Don Cherry’s songs.” Леонид Аускерн, Jazz Kvadrat
ℏ, Dobialabel (2013)
“The resulting synthesis is a very interesting feast for the ears in ways that most ambient artists struggle to achieve, building non-linear step by non-linear step into a multitude of sounds that can be perceived as deeply as you please, depending on how much attention you can spare.” David Murrieta (A Closer Listen
“.. non-banal contemporary electronic music, embracing noise and ambient, between experimentation and proto-dance..”, (Soda Pop
“…a wonderful release, a feast for the ear and especially also for the eye”, Vital Weekly
“hBar is a gratifying perceptual experience composed of sublime sonorities, a chanche which fully satisfies the listener.” Nicola Tenani, Sounds Behind The Corner
“hBar is strong on its own, slithery here, plangent there, the electronics avoiding the cliches that sometimes infect this area. It’s a strong and unusual effort, well worth investigating.” Brian Olewnick’s Blog
“hBar is an uncompromised work, dark, and sometimes disturbing. The result of the digitally elaborated-flute is as intriguing as Fennesz stripped of any emotional hint.” Manfredi Lamartina, Rockit