User:Silvia Dalle Montagne/sandbox/Luca Formentini

Luca Formentini

Is a musical artist and composer, born in Brescia on April 5th, 1968. Living in San Martino della Battaglia.

Italian sound-sculptor Luca Formentini uses the guitar as the main tool for his explorations of post-tonal music. Contrary to what one expects from abstract art, Formentini's experiments exude life.

His career dates back to the 80s, to the tape scene of his native Italy.

He was already using the guitar as a textural instrument and creating links between the structures of Ambient and Rock when most of today's drone-builders were still in their diapers.

The fact is Formentini has simply exploited a pre-existing "language" but he manages to be both lyrically evocative and touchy thar makes the difference. While many of his contemporaries fall while looking for the coolest sound, Formentini is more absorbed in the search for interiority and you can hear it.

In Formentini’ hands the guitar is used for texture, for resonance, for controlled feedback. He is clearly operating without set parameters here, creating a new form, albeit one that is gentle, evocative and surprisingly musical.

About the album Subterraneans (2003)

''On this album Formentini, known as a guitarist, takes his instrument beyond what it was designed to do. Through innovative performance techniques as well as electronic effects processing, his music can approach the uneasiness of the avant-garde, and just as easily float back to the safety of ambient music's harmonious static state''.

About the album Tacet (2007)

Emotional depth and intuitive music are what Formentini is after and it is these two elements, rather than a desire to perform with famous names, which have brought him in musical contact with Can's Holger Czukay and Markus Stockhausen - both known for their equally idiosyncratic attitude.

"Tacet", a work which sought to engage the listener just as much as it did the performers in a dance between improvisation and composition, between Sound Art, Jazz and Ambient, leading its audience away into a land where these terms turned entirely irrelevant.

About the album Scintilla (2018)

Emotional depth and intuitive music are what Formentini is after and it is these two elements, rather than a desire to perform with famous names, which have brought him in musical contact with Can’s Holger Czukay and Markus Stockhausen – both known for their equally idiosyncratic attitude.

''In a way, Scintilla hits the reset button on Formentini’s approach to music. The new collection is a solitary investigation, a private walk through intense and yet delicate emotional landscapes. As could be expected, many of the pieces explore the polarity between the private and the public. Scintilla translates to sparkle. According to Formentini, it relates to the “small, spontaneous and out of control tiny flashes of light that appear here and there in our lives. it’s about using them to help us track our journey, to help us chose our direction.” But of course, one could also understand the word to mean something more literal, the flame to a new chapter. Either way, one thing’s for sure: This time, the fire is sure to keep burning for a whole lot longer...''

Collaborations

He has collaborated with Holger Czukay, Markus Stockhausen, Lino Capra Vaccina, Franck Vigroux, Steve Jansen, Theo Travis, Steve Lawson, Deborah Walker, Stefano Castagna, Alvin Curran...

Side projects

Flos, with Stefano Castagna. Two albums have been released: Songs/Signs (2019), Il Sogno Bianco (2014).

Flowers of Now, with Markus Stockhausen, Tara Bouman, Vera Fisher and Deborah Walker. They played at I Suoni delle Dolomiti festival and other concerts and released a live album titled Intuitive Music in Cologne ( 2008)

Discography

In solo:

-Scintilla – Audiobulb Records/Ritmo & Blu – UK/Italy, 2018

-Tacet – Extreme Records – Australia, 2007

-Subterraneans - Auditorium Edizioni - Italy, 2003

Side Projects:

-Songs/Signs - Flos - Audiobulb Records – Ritmo & Blu – UK/Italy, 2019

-The Eyes – SenderFlos – BaconAnDecks records – Germany, 2015

-Il Sogno Bianco – Flos – Segesto Invenzioni - Ritmo & Blu – Italy, 2014

-Flowers of Now - (with M.Stockhausen, T.Bouman, D.Walker, V.Fischer) 21st Records – Italy, 2008

-Deep Ocean Inside - Isn't - Sublime Label – Italy, 2005

Collaborations:

-10 Tumbleweeds – Piero Chianura - Apparèmment Des Notes – Italy, 2017

-La visita – Angela Kinczly – QBL – Italy, 2013

-Phoenix – Angela Kinczly – Segesto Invenzioni – Italy, 2010

-21st Century - Holger Czukay - Revisited Records - Germany, 2007

-An Impulse of Acoustic - Sunao Inami - Electr-Ohm - Japan, 2005

-Linear City - Holger Czukay - Revisited Records - Germany, 2002

Compilations:

-121212 - Looper's Delight 12-12-12 Project, 2013

-Zaum vol.1 – Psychonavigation Records – Ireland, 2009

-Village of the Unfretted - V.A. - Unfretted Records - UK, 2005.

-Beyond the darkness - V.A.- Oltre il Suono - Italy, 2005

-Cue One - V.A. - Cue Records - Japan, 2004

-Locations vol. 1 - V.A. - USA, 2001

-State of the Union - V.A. - Electronic Music Foundation (Elliott Sharp) - USA, 2001

-Philter Phrenzy - V.A. - USA, 2000

-Ambitative vol. 1 - V.A. - USA, 2000

Site-specifics and installations:

-Hunting for Parrhesia: with Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato e Stefano Castagna –  Venice Biennale, 2015

-SubBrixia: with Alvin Curran, Francesco Fonassi e Stefano Castagna - Brescia Metro - site specific and 5 months installation, 2018

-Organico Elettronico Celeste: with Agustina Mosca, Laurie Amat and Stefano Castagna - Santa Giulia Musem – Brescia

-All Brothers: with Eivind Aarset, Roger Mills, Markus Stockhausen, Claude Voit and Stefano Castagna San Martino della Battaglia, 2014

-I Suoni delle Dolomiti: with Markus Stockhausen, Deborah Walker, Andreas Polygolupos, Davide Rossi and Tara Bouman  - Arte Sella, 2006

-Il Sogno Bianco: Contemporary Art Musuem Lissone – Milano, con

-Pacciamina Leonesia: with Lucio Pozzi e Stefano Castagna -  Leonesia Foundation – Puegnago del Garda 2015

-Contemporary Art Garden: Philipp Morris Foundation – Brescia, 2001

-Museo Santa Maria alla Scala – with Markus Stockhausen, Tara Bouman, Vera Fisher and Deborah Walker – Siena , 2006

Visuals and movies:

-Il Suono del mio Passo: movie by Mario Piavoli, Zefiro Edizioni, 2017

-Kaleidoskope: video about the artwork of Paolo Cavinato, by Mario Piavoli, 2017

-Mondo: Albano Morandi, video installation for Venice Biennale, 2007

''As artistic director: ''

-Sei Chitarre Sole: Desenzano del Garda – from 2000 to 2007

-Sleep Concert: from 2015 together with Tiberio Faedi