MAI MAI MAI - Rimorso 2LP

Highly recommended.

Known for his incredible blend of Southern Italian Folklore, industrial drone, proto-techno and punishing miasmic electronic music, Toni Cutrone aka Mai Mai Mai approached ‘Rimorso’ with a clean slate.

‘Rimorso’ is an album that treads black waters, where phantoms dance ceremonially, tip-toeing around the heart. ‘Sind’ revisits one of Faraualla’s (Puglia female quartet known for their repertoire of a cappella vocal polyphonies) pieces with techno outsider Cosimo Damiano and the vital percussion of the Ars Ludi ensemble; ‘Mediterranean Gothic’ sees Mike Cooper’s tropical exotica plunge into the abyss, witch hymns under a black sun rising; ‘Musica Nova’ loosely based on Musicanova’s ‘Pizzica Minore’, features Nziria’s neomelodic stratifications (Tullia Benedicta) hovering on a slow thump chopper, a pulsating techno serenade; led by the visceral voice of Maria Violenza ‘Secondo Coro delle Lavandaie’, an obscure gem of Italian folk music, mixes hypnotic voodoo drumming and an enchanting choir filtered through a Southern Gothic lens; album closer ‘Antiche Memorie’ is heightened by maestro and longtime Battiato collaborator Lino Capra Vaccina (vibraphone, gong, percussion), purveyor of cosmic sheen and placid elegance.

" ‘Mai Mai Mai trades in energising blasts of biomechanical synth noise which snarl and throb like a demonically possessed star cruiser" - The Wire

"Diggin this f-cked, weirded out, atonal mad shizzle from Rome" - Kevin Martin aka The Bug

" ‘Mai Mai Mai records rich and challenging drone, ambient, and electronic music, which is often as elegant as it is abrasive" - Bandcamp Daily