In between progressive, Rock in Opposition and contemporary music, finally the debut album of composer Stefano Giannotti. A 'variable geometry' ensemble, innovative and independent from commercial logic, searching for a metaphorical 'dry land' . Special guest: Thomas Bloch.
"Dry land is made of islands, continents to explore, where as we explore them we might be able to find familiar places, but also strange, unusual ones. Our land is areas where things happen not exactly straight: there are backgrounds of creative research and contamination. Observatory is a kind of laboratory, many of the musicians who took part in it are young and trained to contemporary art in a long enough, tiring, but fun path." Thus Stefano Giannotti introduces us to his project OTEME - Observatory on land: a workshop, open to the connections between the various musical and cultural areas, characterized by eclecticism and especially by elasticity, movement, an independent area, free from the logic of the markets. The debut album "The Disenchanted Garden" is a first, and full testimony.
OTEME is a chamber ensemble whose amplitude and texture vary depending on the songs and the language adopted: The Disenchanted Garden is a courageous and poliedrical experience which display different souls. From progressive art-rock to the achievements of classical and contemporary classical music, from songwriting to musical to the rigors of Rock In Opposition: unusual instruments (componium, teponatzli, the glass harmonica played by the authoritative Thomas Bloch, already guest for Radiohead, Tom Waits, Gorillaz, John Cage etc.), humor and surrealism from Battisti - Panella to Stravinsky, from King Crimson to John Cage. Giannotti says: "The idea behind the Garden is the creation of songs not meant to be disposable; in almost all of the tracks the listener seems to stand still but moves, or vice versa, just because there isn't a tonic and dominant, but it moves about in ways soiled by curiosity dissonance and sound."
Stefano Giannotti (1963) is a composer from Lucca, Italy, much admired abroad - particularly in Germany - for its long experience in the field of radio art: the OTEME experience is complementary to his work, with a particular attention to the 'union between cultural and popular, for an idea of renewed listening. "Music, sometimes even the educated kind, favors the idea of an immediate play: most of the productions have a strong impact noise but little substance, because thanks to technology and busy life, we have become accustomed to superficiality, listening to music while you do other things. Much contemporary art based his thinking on the multiplicity of impulses: partly I adhere to this view, but I think it would be nice to start listening again."
stefano giannotti oteme.com