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still - i - pan - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: Techno / Electro - Electronics

1. Haile Selassie Is The Micro-Chip
2. Bubbling Ambessa [Afrikan Messiah Riddim]
3. Nazenèt [Wasp Riddim]
4. Don't Stop [Wondo Riddim]
5. Rough Rider
6. BANZINA [Banzina Riddim]
7. Gozpaal [Mustard Riddim]
8. Still Sound Boy Test {Interlude}
9. Mangrovia

Shapeshifting through his vernacular worlds of sound and imagery, Milan artist and musician Still (Simone Trabucchi)'s practice is defined by a unique, nomadic approach. Previously known as Dracula Lewis, a project developing his personal take on ‘folk’ music, he has accumulated a number of releases on various seminal labels, alongside running Hundebiss Records.

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His new moniker, Still, follows the unearthing of the histories that connect his hometown of Vernasca to Ethiopia and Jamaica, explored under his visual arts project Invernomuto as an in-depth fieldwork leading to ‘Negus’: a series of sculptures, installations, a book, and a long-feature experimental documentary screened at Unsound 2016.

'Negus' revolves around a cleansing counter-ritual performed by Lee "Scratch" Perry in the Vernasca Square where 80 years earlier, an effigy of Haile Selassie I was burned. The documentary then follows a trajectory connecting Italy's overlooked colonial past seen through personal history to a reverberation of symbols in Ethiopia and Jamaica. Within Still, he connects these research threads, evolving their sonic and linguistic aspects further, where ‘computerised riddims’ sustain a shared gospel channelled through a polyphony of voices.

Six Milan-based African-Italian vocalists ands ingers voice a complex, overarching past that is both communal and individual. Using the medium of language, the record is multi-layered with meanings, contemplating the historical weight of words. Both the city and the studio became workshops for the shaping of their complex network.