neotantrik: blue amiga

Andy Votel and Demdike Stare's Sean Canty's concept group, NeoTantrik, return with the fruits of recent performances alongside Buchla maestro Suzanne Ciani, Swiss jazz legend Bruno Spoerri, and folk artist Jane Weaver. Recorded during sporadic visits to theaters and art spaces across the world, Blue Amiga follows one year on from their Intervisions, further flinging the coordinates of their improvised alloys to encompass, extract and reduce a broad spectra of influences and disciplines taken from theatrical sound design, Italian library and computer music with general abstract and unrehearsed mechanical/human/electronic interfaces. Put simply; it's a trip. Augmented by the presence of synth music and electro-jazz pioneers Ciani and Spoerri -- both subjects of excellent reissues by Votel's Finders Keepers label -- plus the return of Jane Weaver and home-made music by the Sound Awareness blog's Martin Young, the team sweep us through engrossing soundscapes fanning out from sub-aquatic drone to radiant electro-acoustica, gloomy cues and strung-out, opiated ambience of a deeply romantic, adult nature. Garbed in Asia Argento's gorgeous cover design -- featuring an image depicting the private family swimming pool photography of giallo actress Daria Nicolodi -- Blue Amiga wears its cinematic influences quite literally on its sleeve, while musically rebuking the obvious stylistic blinkers of European film music in favor of genuine naked exploration and expansion.