Franz RosatiNulltelékheia

Franz Rosati’s Nulltelékheia has recently come out on Daniele Antezza’s Holotone. This is the fifth release on the label, the first few being Antezza’s own releases under Inner8, as well as Koichi Shimizu and Scald Process. Thus far we can say that the label has kept its word to ignore genre and allow artistic freedom to flourish. All releases have been peculiar and idiosyncratic, Nulltelékheia being no different in that regard.

This is a record where Franz Rosati dispenses with all signs of humanity. The feeling is cold and impersonal, the sounds either synthetic or machine like, with no space left for melody. It’s also a very noisy work, the distorted high-volume beats somewhat reminiscent of projects like JK Flesh or M//R. There is some very effective use of sampling, and the synths occasionally sound reminiscent of the frantic electro-industrial sound.

Continua Imperfect starts the album off on a hard, repetitive note, a kind of minimal-technoish beat given a lot more mass and grit. Rather quickly, however, we get a better sense of what this record is really about: the distortion grows more intense and the track loses its sense of rhythm, leading to a bewildered confusion, and coming back down again. Protective Layers is one of the more extreme pieces on the record, but it begins patiently, in terrifying bursts of rhythm and texture. By the end we find ourselves in a gargantuan grinder spinning at full destructive power. There is a lot of detail at all levels of Franz Rosati’s sound – the beats are not hitting flat ground, but rather piles of tiny, multishaped objects, glass and metal, stone and wood. Xamy Disu crashes through in a sluggish, unwieldy, way, like the bowels of a rusty spaceship, like entire blocks of some metropolis being wrecked under metal fists. Mercurial Device is, in a way, one of the more “musical” tracks on Nulltelékheia, mostly due to the (deeply unsettling) synths. But even this one sounds too much like thunder – like cosmic divinity bearing down with all its might. The closer, Chase Me Astral, is a cathartic, almost symphonic piece, with a trajectory leading upwards into the luminous skies. A fitting way to finish a record that feels too strange to be earthly.

With Nulltelékheia Franz Rosati has managed something quite unique – an album that fits nicely into a stylistic area, yet sounds entirely alien, overpowering. Undoubtedly this aspect of the sound was also partly achieved through the mastering decisions of label boss Daniele Antezza – what a great collaboration in that sense! Hopefully we’ll hear a lot more from both Franz Rosati and Holotone.