INTENTA

Description

SWISS EXPERIMENTAL AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC FROM 1981 TO 1993. FEATURING: ANDREAS HOFER, CLAUDINE CHIRAC, SKY BIRD, FIZZÈ, BELLS OF KYOTO, ELEPHANT CHÂTEAU, DRESSED UP ANIMALS, PETER PHILIPPE WEISS, D-SIRE, AIR PROJECT, JEAN-PIERRE HUSER, OLIVIER ROGG, CAROL RICH, CARLOS PERÓN, UNKNOWNMIX, ABORTED AT LINE 6, I SUONATORI. 'Intenta' is a compilation that highlights Swiss experimental and electronic music composed between 1981 and 1993. It brings together 17 tracks produced by artists from all over the country, including Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Bern, Basel, St. Gallen, Zurich and Aarau. The compilation is divided into two parts: one devoted to experimental music and the other to electronic music. The term "Intenta" comes from Latin, the root of Switzerland's four official languages, and translates as "understanding" in French. This is a central point of this compilation: despite the distance or the "Röstigraben", a certain homogeneity lies in the approach and musical production of the artists compiled here. Moreover, some of them have had an important influence in Swiss music history, while others have been forgotten. For example, Carlos Perón founded the group Yello before going on to a formidable solo career, while Claudine Chirac, former saxophonist of Grauzone, fell into obscurity in her solo career. In this sense, Intenta aims to bring back to life a little-known yet very rich period of modern Swiss music, with the essential tracks of the era as well as other artists much less known to the public. “A brilliant panorama of modern Swiss music from the 80s.” “For as long as the Geneva label Bongo Joe has been introducing us to the pleasures of the restless Swiss underground (Hyperculte, L'Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, la Tène), it was high time it introduced us to the generation that preceded it. As its subtitle indicates, ‘Intenta’, Experimental & Electronic Music from Switzerland 1981-93 is exactly that: an anthology packed with surprises and unexpected music from the Confederation at the height of the post-punk era, from which, until now, we had only really heard the brilliant flashy collages of Yello or the furious synth punk of Grauzone, Stephan Eicher's first band. Variously inspired by Pasolini, new wave, italo disco, the Lounge Lizards, rap and the emerging house scene or the beauties of Lake Constance, the myriad musicians scattered ‘between Geneva and St. Gallen’ represented here were experimenting in every direction, regardless of good or bad taste or any sense of cohesion. One will thus enjoy, from a safe distance (30 to 40 years later), the industrial poems of Carlos Perón, the robotic melancholy of Carol Rich or the wonderfully apathetic new wave of Elephant Château, a Basel collective whose self-produced 1988 maxi Dreamings has benefited from a growing reputation among collectors in recent years thanks to a few influential blogs.” --- Olivier Lamm, LIBÉRATION ---