BELLOWS

BELLOWS is the project of Giuseppe Ielasi and Nicola Ratti. With top-end electro-acoustic sensitivities and superior improvising skills—not to mention a handful of acclaimed, respective solo excursions—they make pieces that vary from drone to musique concrète to glitch and other electronic concoctions.
Using an extremely complex range of sounds—from tape loop recordings,to fractal beats, to acusmatic sounds, to analog electronics—Bellows’ performances are completely improvised and site-specific, totally detached from their radical and uncompromising approach to recording. During the performance, the depth, intensity and diversity created by the two musicians define a shared “sound space” that goes beyond individual expectations.
Continuously drawing an hypnotic maze with albums on Boomkat Editions, Entr’acte, Shelter Press and Latency, Bellows inaugurated in 2019 the Decouple ][ Series for OOH-sounds, sharing first split-vinyl [OOH-010] with NYC duo Georgia with extended tracks of futuristic eclecticism and avant-garde fourth-world.
Undercurrent is their new LP announced on Oren Ambarchi’s Black Truffle out next September 9/11.

NICOLA RATTI

Born in Milano in 1978. Musician and sound designer active since years in the experimental felds. He has performed live in Europe, North America, Russia and Japan and his albums had been released by labels such as Where To Now?, Boomkat Editions, Shelter Press, Room40, Students of Decay, Die Schachtel, Entr’acte, Senufo Editions, Holidays Records, Anticipate, Preservation. He is currently working with Giuseppe Ielasi with whom he formed the project entitled Bellows.
Since May 2015 he is one of the founder and curators at Standards, an experimental sound research gallery located in Milano, in 2016 he founded Frequente, an art organization based in Milano devoted to sound art and experimental performances.
He is a founder member of NeitherSound, a Milan based company active in design and sound productions for exhibitions, performing arts and movies.
He’s currently working as live sound director and sound technician with Romeo Castellucci–Socìetas and with Silvia Costa as musician and sound designer.
His last album “Continental” has been released by Students of Decay in July 2019.

www.nicolaratti.com

GIUSEPPE IELASI

The scope of his interests continues to widen, ensuring that you never know quite what to expect when the latest Ielasi release – and there have been many over the last years – hits the deck.’ — (the WIRE, 2011)

Born in 1974, he grew up in the south of Italy and now resides in the outskirts of Milano with his wife and kids.
Ielasi is an electro-acoustic composer with a long respectful carreer that began in the 1990’s. From an initial practice as a free improvising guitar player he moved towards the careful manipulation of recorded sounds, completely abandoning the instrument in the mid 2000’s to explore minimal electro-acoustic abstractions or rhythmic and groove-based music, using tape loops, turntables, sampling and other electronics– he is also one of the most sought after mastering engineers in Italy.
He became involved in a nascent Milanese Improv scene that included Domenico Sciajno and Alessandro Bosetti, a scene he helped nurture by co-founding a succession of labels, chiefly Fringes and Bowindo.
Over the years his music has grown increasingly conceptually focused, despite his constant fascination with sound always providing the compositional trajectory. It’s not just Ielasi making decisions about sound: it’s as if sound is making decisions for Ielasi—thus finding him reluctant to paint himself in a conceptual corner.
He mostly plays solo, but also in Bellows (with Nicola Ratti), Rain Text (with Giovanni Civitenga) and in duos with Enrico Malatesta, Kassel Jaeger, Andrew Pekler and collaborates regularly with film maker and photographer Armin Linke (also editing his films). He has released records on 12k, Entr’acte, Senufo Editions, Dekorder, Holidays, Error Broadcast and a few other labels. He runs experimental music label SENUFO EDITIONS since 2010.
In his last work “Five Wooden Frames” — just out via Taylor Deupree’s label 12K— once again the guitar has become the main focus, both as an instrument in the traditional sense and as source of sound material.

www.senufoeditions.com

OOH-sounds

Florence-based electronic label OOH-sounds [over our heads] is run by Pardo, co-founder of dub/electronic outfit Casino Royale.

Since 2016 we have released music by Shit & Shine, Bellows, Peder Mannerfelt, Shelley Parker, Georgia, Andrea Taeggi, Wesqk Coast, Jesse Osborne-Lanthier, Dale Cornish, Sim Hutchins, Oliver Coates, S P A T I A L, Holy Similaun and Voronoi among others.

OOH-sounds runs a monthly residency on Noods Radio UK http://noodsradio.com/residents/ooh-sounds and curated for Musicus Concentus the Florence experimental festival Hand Signed 2016 / 2017 ( Philip Jeck, Peder Mannerfelt, Valerio Tricoli, Beatrice Dillon, Mark Fell, Masayoshi Fujita, Kassel Jaeger, Nicola Ratti, Andrea Belfi, Bill Kouligas, Sam Kidel, Oliver Coates, Rian Treanor). https://hand-signed-series.tumblr.com

http://ooh-sounds.com/