Luc Ferrari

Few copies back in stock, long out of print. After the publication of Danses organiques, Elica is pleased to present two previously unreleased compositions by Luc Ferrari from the early 80's: the stereo magnetic tape piece Dialogue ordinaire avec la machine coupled with Sexolidad, a composition for fifteen instruments. Both pieces share with the Danses a deep sense of sexual curiosity, a penetrating matter for the composer's musical explorations. This album is yet another fine testament to the French composer’s genius; these pieces have bucketloads of creativity and depth to them despite being shelved for well over 20 years. Composed between 1982 and 1984, the first piece showcases Ferrari’s interest in tape collage work and sampling whereas the second piece is one of his less than traditional compositions for a traditional ensemble.

Dialogue ordinaire avec la machine describes the not so chance meeting between the artists (Ferrari helped by Yannick Gornet) and the mysteriously working machine (a sampler), between the curiosity, amusement, surprise, ineptitude and excitement of the musicians and the machine with its appeal, complexity, stubbornness and synthetic eruptions. A rollercoaster through exploration, seduction, observations, misunderstandings, purrs, moans, gurgles, whooshes, loops and mechanic rhythms from which Ferrari builds his own synthesized folklore, ending with one of the most unusual episodes in the composer's production, the rather graphically explicit and apocalyptic Love Song with the Machine (which to make an unlikely comparison with younger artists, one could imagine the music of the New York duo Suicide mixed by Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton).

Sexolidad is one of Ferrari's most seductive instrumental pieces, representing a journey over the body, in which tonalities and their mix create “a particular harmonic climate [...]. What is important is the expression this pseudo-tonal atmosphere should bring out, as a sort of sensual, and even carnal, satisfaction”. The curious concept and its musical composition result in an extremely enjoyable piece which is continuously intriguing, evocative, dauntless, persuasive and highly satisfying, exquisitely performed here by the Ives Ensemble.

Digi-pack type cover with specifically retouched artworks by Jacques Brissot, whom Elica considers one of the greatest living visual artists, who has also directed films for which Ferrari composed the soundtrack and who also made the cover for the composer's Cellule 75 LP. It also includes a 24-page booklet with bilingual (French-English) versions of the integrated text from Sexolidad and the hot lyrics to the Love Song with the Machine.