One of the many stories about this first album that I am most fond of is the one about the great American guitarist Dale Miller. Dale bought the cd on CdBaby and wrote to me to give me his impressions: he was struck by the story contained in the booklet and compared it to the myth of Blind Joe Death created by John Fahey, a true honor. I then had a chance to meet Dale in person during one of his many stays in Venice and even the joy of doing a short jam together. Here is his original review on CdBaby:
“Hip Ancient Blend”
A great CD featuring the etherial, eclectic and other-wordly tunes of the Venician composer Heracleum Ipoteiss. Though few know of H.I., and some even doubt his existence in this space/time sphere, these interpretations by Unfolk (led by Allesandro Monti) should wake up the world to his true genius. The music brilliantly blends the classical musics of India and the West with some surprisingly modern sounds. (Dale Miller)
RIP Dale, American guitarist and friend.
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“Splendid Music”
(Judy Dyble – original singer with Fairport Convention)
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“…Finally, independently and preceding the New York City/Los Angeles/commercial TV music manifestations of un-folk, in 2006 Italian mandolinist/violinist Alessandro Monti released Unfolk, a mostly acoustic collection of musical synthesis in the vein of East-meets-West. It blends actual and pretend ethnic music sort of like John Paul Jones’s mandolin work does on Led Zeppelin’s “Battle Of Evermore” & “Gallows Pole”. It also evokes Celtic jigs much like Kate Bush uses them on her Hounds of Love and Aerial, or John Cale’s amplified viola pretty much for the last four decades on its western side of the ledger, and on its eastern side, the ragas of Indian classical music, Arab music and early Venetian lute.”
[from the original WIKIPEDIA entry: Un-folk, recently replaced by Anti-folk].
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(...) Alessandro Monti is a musician from Venice. From what I read he was involved as a musician or producer on many productions, like ‘The Wind Collector’ and ‘Master Cylinder’ by Caveman Shoestore. He is a man who works carefully and patiently on his own solo projects. His main instrument is the mandolin, an instrument that is not often heard. This instrument was developed in Italy a few centuries ago. The instrument also found its way into Carnatic music from India. That is why asked myself whether it is coincidence that some of pieces on the ‘Unfolk’ album have an Indian touch. He creates imaginative world or ethnic music. All instrumental. With very carefully and detailed arrangements and well-balanced sound spectrums. More than composing his talents are about arranging, creating fine textures and combining acoustic instruments and electronic sounds. ‘Unfolk’ is a collection of 11 these instrumentals that travel between imaginary and real worlds of ethnic music. This is typically a record that is indifferent to all hypes and modes in popular music. Tapping from traditional music Monti creates a timeless and universal music. But also rock elements occur, for instance in the playing of guitar maestro Alex Masi. The pieces are built from layers of instruments and sounds, great to have this beautifully produced gem available again in a remastering by Jon Astley.
[Vital Weekly]
credits
released January 27, 2021
UNFOLK / ALESSANDRO MONTI
(diplodisc / stella*nera joint release: no cat. number on the original disc, but it is in fact diplodisc 001)
1 ALTROVE
Cretan tubular bells – A.M., Processing - Riccardo De Zorzi
2 IL SOGNO DI DEVI
Acoustic Guitar – Riccardo De Zorzi, Electric Violin – Marco Giaccaria, Mandolin, Electric Bass, Electric Guitar, Synthesizer – A.M.
3 REGIONI DI PIETRA
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Treatments – David Mora, Tabla – Bebo Baldan, Mandolin – A.M.
Electric Guitars & Final mix – Alex Masi, Tumbek, Darbouka, Rattle, Shaker, Ghatam, Tabla – Bebo Baldan, Mandolin, Effects – A.M.
6 ALMANACCO DEL GIORNO PRIMA
Drums – Bebo Baldan, Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – A.M., Violin – Marco Giaccaria
7 RAGA DEL FIUME ELETTRICO
Electric Guitar solos – Alex Masi, Tampoura – Bebo Baldan, Tabla, Duggi, Bells, Mandolin, Electric Bass, Effects - A.M.
8 DA UNA STAGIONE LONTANA
Ghatam, Shaker – Bebo Baldan, Mandolin – A.M., Tin Whistle, Flute, Fiddle – Marco Giaccaria
9 STEREOSTUDIO N.1
Electric Guitar, Synthesizer – A.M., Tabla, Percussion – Bebo Baldan
10 FRICKE OUT [original mix]
Flutes – Marco Giaccaria, Kalimba, Effects – A.M., Electronics – Gigi Masin
11 FINE DELL'INFANZIA / OSCURA PROFEZIA
Raagini Digital Tampoura , Mandolin, Electric Bass, Distorted Guitar – A.M.
The 1st Unfolk album was recorded at various studios and locations between 2003 & 2005, except track 9 (1999) and was originally dedicated to my parents Rosetta & Remo.
PRODUCED BY ALESSANDRO MONTI for Diplodisc, 2006
Cover artwork: "Concerto" by Alberto Martini (1920), courtesy of Dott. Giorgio Anderloni.
THE LOST OPUS OF HERACLEUM IPOTESIS
This cycle of important recordings represents an attempt at putting order for the first time to the enigmatic work of the great musician and theoretician from Venice. The greatest challenge encountered firstly in the process of restoration has been the lack of care in which the original manuscripts had been kept, often damaged by varying temperature of the location in which they were stored in addition to meteorological and astronomical events. The latter are considered to be the biggest culprit: the infamous K meteorite fallen on earth suddenly in the XIII century had rendered unreadable certain fragments which appear to be essential in the decoding of the work. The general atmosphere of many of the pieces has been recreated with the aid of an extremely sophisticated software program capable of scanning the memory of persons and objects portrayed in the paintings and miniature art of the period: such an emotive process has thus revealed a mysterious and fascinating world. In fact the great theoretician had appeared and vanished on a regular basis in various time periods leaving no trace with the exception of his rather hard to pin point compositions difficult to date and very rarely performed. The frequent use of pseudonyms on his part had furthermore complicated the task. Regardless of these holes in the time sequence the density and breadth of his works has greatly influenced all of his contemporaries creating a point of reference and an aura of myth. Also, with the extraordinary discovery of a pre-edison type of audio recording done on a wooden medium still fairly well preserved it was possible to come even closer to the original concept. This medium, covered in wax heated at the appropriate temperature in order to be able to have sounds impressed on it and cooled immediately after the process, has been studied and decoded to the point of revealing its most intimate essence. The philological research has finally reached an advanced stage thanks to all the attention given to the smallest of detail. This prototype of multi tracking device appear to have been invented by the artist in order to make sure both arrangement and exact sonorities of the pieces are correct, something which was impossible to do in early music. through a rather primitive amplifier assembled for the occasion magical notes which were thought to be forever lost now reappeared as through a form of incantation, cleaned from the dust of time. Other never seen before works have recently been recovered inside a forgotten drawer: it's the rare and extremely valuable collaboration with the Anonymous traveling musician. This new digital medium allows us today to have an accurate interpretation of the lost work of Heracleum Ipotesis and brings us closer to the understanding of one of the most fascinating musical languages of all time: unfolk.
[Original text included in the CD edition - English version]
Alessandro Monti under the Unfolk moniker released:
"Unfolk+Live Book", "The Venetian Book Of The Dead",
"spiritDzoe" (on Diplodisc), "Intuitive Maps", "File Under Oblivion", "monti" (on MP& Records), plus: "Intonarumori: Ieri ed Oggi" (on ReR Megacorp), "Miniatures 2020" (on The 62nd Gramophone Co.), "Micro Culture" (on Nuova Explora).
Unfolk was also included in The Wire Tapper CD series....more
Great companion release to WE ARE NOT ON THE MOON YET: not exactly a remix, but a totally different interpretation of the same stems in real time: revolutionary method & enjoyable work! Unfolk
A science fiction suite with movie-sound depth, featuring action, robots, the endless reaches of space, galaxy formation, Brownian motion, hallucinatory drifting, and sleep: recommended album! Unfolk
The second chapter was recorded during 2 long years and features many originals and unexpected tributes to Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath and Sun Ra. Unfolk
A melancholic haze that, if you let it in, will grab your ears, hold you tight, and won't relent, not until you've broken. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 28, 2014
