Giuseppe Ielasi - Aix

Giuseppe Ielasi
Aix
(01.2009, 12k)
RIYL = clicks, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Shuta Hasunuma, the sound of a drippy faucet

Sassigrass recently notified me (quite rightly) that my reviews are starting to get a little repetitive, filled with lots of definitive statements, “best of” comments and general hyperbole. It is really the mark of writers block. And, to be fair, writing music critiques can become a little monotonous. It is hard not to fall into the same old traps over and over again and reference the same musical lineage time and time again. Fortunately, as I work on transitioning to more meaningful, creative reviews, I have this little gem by Giueseppe Ielasi that is pretty much a compositional study on repetition and how to use it to deftly expand a space to its perfect size. On Aix, Ielasi has transitioned from his previous (and lovely I might add) drone work to a more mechanical, rhythmic style. The sound is similar in a lot of ways to the architecture displayed on the cover of the album. Various rhythmic pulses of synthetic and acoustic varieties are set off like metronomes pulsing within one another to build a structure. Within the structure, rather than making space for furnishings or clutter, there is a relatively spare space, like an empty room. It is within this room that Ielasi performs his subtle magic. As he evolves these little micro-structures created within each track, minute variances in the pulse of the songs fill each room with colour. And I am not talking your basic elementary color wheel, something about the way in which Ielasi has composed these tiny trinkets of sound evokes the most inviting hues which, again, fit quite nicely with that cover photo. All and all, it is a wonderful evolution. Listening to these tiny tracks tinker along, growing and evolving I can’t help but think of the Doozers from Fraggle Rock. You know, those single-minded little puppet architects who build the wonderfully Fragglisish towers? I can’t help but think that this is the type of music that keeps them chugging along – building, building, building to their limitless satisfaction. There is something funny about comparing the relatively intellectual constructions of Ielasi to the creations of Jim Henson, but somehow it works out in my head. Delicious work.

-Lil' Thistle

Giuseppe Ielasi - "09"