Armenia: electronica, visceral electronics, experimental, dark revolution

Live recorded at Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art, Villetta Dinegro, Piazzale Mazzini 4 - Genoa, on February 22, 2020, just before the announcement of the exceptional public measures established in Italy to fight COVID-19. Unpublished tracks recorded for the first time.
Performance ("Dressing with Nakahara") of DOLLWORLD (microenvironments) with ARMENIA.
The performance is inspired by the Japanese artist Jun'ichi Nakahara (1913-1983): illustrator, graphic designer, editor of several women's magazines, creator of clothes and dolls. He was an important figure during the twentieth century in Japan due to the wide diffusion of his work. In the first half of the last century with his illustrations he defines a character that will continue in female manga representation, the so-called "big eyes" he drew on slender girls with delicate features. After the Second World War, he contributed to mitigating the suffering of young women, creating magazines that taught them the precepts of aesthetics, fashion and home furnishings, providing them with elements to resist and renew themselves. Emblematic is the 1960 image of the girl who combines the oriental features with those of Audrey Hepburn.
DOLLWORLD is the production acronym of Angela Mambelli: she uses mini rooms and miniature objects, manipulated on stage and filmed by a micro camera.
ARMENIA is an independent electronic musician, part of the Genoese underground scene for many years, combining an instinctive and intuitive approach with the meticulous care of an enveloping and emotional soundscape. Serial repetition and at the same time the search for difference are two dominant stylistic figures. Attention to the perception of the world and the interpretation of Essence transpires through individual compositions. He experiments with contemporary dance and the contamination between styles and disciplines.
A show within TINY JAPAN VIBES, a cycle of events by Duplex Ride.
Instruments: Novation LaunchKey 61 USB midi controller, Roli Seaboard Block, Novation Audiohub 2x4 audio interface, Ableton Live software.
Digital recorder: Tascam DR-40.

Music: Armenia. Cover artwork: Gloria Fondacaro. Cover photos: Engin Akyurt (through Pexel) and Stefano Locci.

On YouTube

“Armenia JUST BEFORE THE EARTH STOPPED US (Live)
2020 - Sperimentale, Elettronico, Crossover

Just before the earth stopped us is a disc that collects five tracks recorded by Armenia in April 2020. The recording of the performance in question takes place at a museum of Oriental Art, to be precise the Chiossone of Genoa.
The performance is inspired by the work of Nakahara, Japanese illustrator of the twentieth century, precursor of that pictorial style known as "big eyes" which then resulted in the manga. Slender physiognomies and magnified eyes that referred to the female population of the second post-war period of Japan.
Armenia's music accompanies another performance, that of the visual artist Angela Mambelli aka Dollworld, creator of miniature worlds: the musical tone changes continuously, throughout the duration of the disc and this choice involves a continuous change of mood and feelings it causes in the listener. We pass from a slow, purely introspective rhythm to a tighter one that, without ever going further, increases the strength of the tracks.
The voice used for Beauty (Okinawa) carries a very strong hypnotic power and makes the song a unique journey. The sound of the Japanese language contributes decisively to sculpting the soul of the disc, full of implicit or explicit references to the country of the rising sun and to all that the idea of Japan brings forth in our western hearts.
Armenia contributes to making this performance a memorable event, with truly valid traces of great evocative power; active since the early 80s, he proves to be a versatile artist and makes this recording extrapolable from the performance context and able to stand on his own, for a more unique than rare listening experience.”

On YouTube

To my great honor and pleasure, Giorgia has created the "Ballet" version of "Engage Me" with me! Thanks to her cleverness and grace!
Kamancheh played by Amir Mofrat (Iran)

On YouTube

On YouTube: CONDIZIONA MENTI - Première (Official Video) - Armenia with Giorgia Ponticello, Mattia Moro

On YouTube: Condiziona Menti - Promo by Luca Brondi

On YouTube: Condiziona Menti - Promo

On Bandcamp

On Bandcamp

On YouTube: ALMA (REMASTERED) - A New Beginning

On Bandcamp

I listened to wedding gig! Another faceting of your music, every time is like a polyhedron that reveals one of its faces, but each one always different from the others, this change is progression, even if your style, your soul is preserved. I liked the guitar used as a "tool" to make music. The texture you've created for Andy is more powerful than usual!!
E. D.

The Wedding Gig
Live recorded in Montanesi (Italy). July 28, 2018.
Two musicians and a contemporary dancer and choreographer. Three independent artists who are also friends and relatives. The marriage in Genoa of one of them (Armenia) and the invitation to a free performance at the wedding party, totally improvised, without rehearsals. This is how "The Wedding Gig" was born, live recorded in Montanesi (Italy). The emotional and energetic mix of an unreleased international trio that blends visceral electronics, experiments on electric guitar, noise with the bodily expression of the dance. A purifying ritual of the place and time.
With Andy Moor (electric guitar, born in London, EN, from Amsterdam, NL), Armenia (electronics, from Genoa, IT), Valentina Campora (dance, born in Genoa, IT, from Amsterdam, NL).
The excellent Andy Moor (born 1962) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Moor_(The_Ex)] began his musical life in Edinburgh, Scotland playing guitar with Dog Faced Hermans, an eclectic group that mixed post-punk energy with traditional tunes and improvisations. In 1990 he moved to the Netherlands after an invitation to join Dutch band The Ex. In 1995 he began another group, Kletka Red with Tony Buck Joe Williamson and Leonid Soybelman, fusing traditional klezmer, Greek and Russian songs with their own styles of playing.
Moor's own background is rooted in the post-punk Britain of the 1980s, but in more recent years he has collaborated with many musicians from varied backgrounds and disciplines. Many of these collaborations are duos, with amongst others Cypriot composer Yannis Kyriakides with whom he performs a set of rebetika songs (urban Greek tunes from the 1920s and 1930s), French sound poet Anne James Chaton, ex bass player from Dog Faced Hermans Colin Mclean, who now works with electronic music and live sampling, Brooklyn-based DJ, producer and writer DJ /rupture, and Lebanese Paris-based saxophonist Christine Abdelnour.
Moor has also begun composing soundtracks for films, working former Dog Faced Hermans vocalist-turned filmmaker Marion Coutts, with Iranian filmmaker Bani Khoshnoudi and US experimental filmmaker Jem Cohen. His latest projects include a quartet with Ken Vandermark, Terrie Ex and Paal Nilssen-Love called Lean Left, a trio with Berlin-based artists and musician Alva Noto and Anne James Chaton called Decade and a trio project with Anne James Chaton and Thurston Moore called Heretics. In 2013 he began a duo project with John Butcher. Moor lives in Amsterdam at present and continues to be a full-time member of The Ex. He is a founding member of the music label Unsounds, in Amsterdam, with Yannis Kyriakides and Isabelle Vigier.
Music for Armenia (http://www.armeniamusic.it), based in Genoa (Italy), is a tool for describing and understanding through time. It's movement and stillness. Sound but silence. Electronics and computers are intended to be wonderful tools facilitators of creativity. It's since the early 80s that he makes experiments with the timbre of synthesizers and samplers. He has written and performed songs initially as a duo, with his sister Luisa Armenia. After the natural decreasing of the driving force of Distesa, Armenia is increasingly dedicated to electronic solo productions. After a very long absence from the scenes, "A New Beginning" is the work which he has published and presented to the public and to the Internet in 2011. 2013 becomes the year of the return to live concerts and attention to the experimental and expressive use of images.
He collaborated in 2016 with dancer and choreographer Alekseij Canepa and his "Kseij Dance Company". They presented together at "Teatro Rina e Gilberto Govi" in Genoa the Italian premiere of "IO È" show, which represents the transformation of mechanical man into machine and they have replicated the entire performance in Budapest in 2017. He has also collaborated in 2017 with Fulvio Guidarelli (stage name Lisfrank), a pioneer of Italian synth wave, active since 1980 within the rising underground turmoil of Italian electrodark.
Valentina Campora (https://www.facebook.com/Safe-Piece-212436116257568/) graduated in 2005 at the Modern Dance Department of the Theaterschool of Amsterdam and in 2009 at D.A.M.S. - Disciplines of Arts, Music and Entertainment - at the University of Litterature and Philosophy of Genova, Italy. She has danced and collaborated, with among others, Erik Kaiel, Jakop Albom, Cristina Planas Leitao, Heather Ware and Andy Moor and is an active participant and collaborator in the Amsterdam music and dance scene. She has been involved in several dance research projects at Danslab in Den Haag (NL). From 2008 to 2014 she worked with Gabriella Maiorino, with whom she developed some of the basic tools that she uses in her workshops. In 2013 she co-founded the dance company Clancarnal together with Gabriella Maiorino and Adrian Sneeuw. Currently she works as freelance.
Digital recorder: Tascam DR-40

TINY JAPAN VIBES by Duplex Ride
Museo d'Arte Orientale Chiossone
piazzale Giuseppe Mazzini 4 - 16122 Genova
free entry
MEMO ticket:
https://armenia2020.eventbrite.it
the exhibition of Armenia is at 16:30

ARMENIA is an independent electronic musician, part of the Genoese underground scene for many years, combining an instinctive and intuitive approach with the meticulous care of an enveloping and emotional soundscape. Serial repetition and at the same time the search for difference are two dominant stylistic figures. Attention to the perception of the world and the interpretation of Essence transpires through individual compositions. He experiments with contemporary dance and the contamination between styles and disciplines.
Within "TINY JAPAN VIBES", an exhibition curated by Duplex Ride.

SEQUENCES by Duplex Ride - CONDIZIONA MENTI - PREMIÈRE
Museo di Sant'Agostino - Sala Puget
piazza di Sarzano 35/R - 16128 Genova
free entry
MEMO ticket:
https://armenia-condiziona-menti.eventbrite.it
the exhibition of Armenia is at 17:00

"Condiziona Menti", work presented here for the first time, comes from a textual idea by Armenia that rotates around the concept of dogma. Once the idea has been transposed into music and action, an original suite of dance and performance whose style ranges between contemporary and contamination has been created by Giorgia Ponticello and Mattia Moro.

Syntax, constructivism, contrast, duality, symmetry and also alchemy are some key concepts useful for reading this multidisciplinary work that comes from a collaboration with multiple heads, hands and feet.
The sound part is enriched by the participation of the dancer Giorgia Ponticello whose young voice reads the founding text several times as a doggerel:

"Conditionings
They are these
They are those
They are yours
They are mine
Dogma
Repeated association
Repeated influence
Confer properties
To the substance
Impress minds
Unthinkable idea
Radical idea
Acceptable idea
Rational idea
Widespread idea
Legalized idea
Confer properties
To the substance
Conditionings
They are these
They are those
They are mine
They are yours
Dogma"

Giorgia's voice, filtered and treated, accompanies the performance devised with the dancer Mattia Moro.
This is their interpretative vision:
"Each of us has its own identity that makes him feel unique. We all have the same frailties that make us feel as one human community. Social conventions stigmatize or emphasize uniqueness by using them to accentuate the superficial differences that lead to a common thought. We are so different but so alike. Shades of multiple personalities, we are influenced by what surrounds us for fear of not being accepted by others. We are afraid of diversity, when in reality this is our only escape's chance.
In performance, shoes become a symbol of conditioning."

The overall show will be presented live in premiere by playing and interpreting the three tracks/movements of the suite: "Dogma", "Sintassi Della Lingua Madre" and "Divide Et Impera". "Condiziona Menti" EP will be published soon after on Bandcamp.

Giorgia Ponticello (27/04/1998), as well as student of "Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti", is dancer and teacher of hip hop and contemporary dance. She was dancer in the emerging Kseij Dance Company of Alekseij Canepa and she's currently member of "Cohesion Crew" directed by Laura Bergaglio and Federica Loredan of Studio Danza Alla Poilova.
Mattia Moro (28/10/1994) is dancer and teacher of hip hop, electronic musician for Kseij Dance Company of Alekseij Canepa, deejay. He is currently member of "Cohesion Crew" directed by Laura Bergaglio and Federica Loredan of Studio Danza Alla Poilova.

Photo shoot by Roberta Fognani.

The first part of the live set will also see the participation of ALMAKARMA. ALMAKARMA is a music and video project. It was born from the meeting of the musician/singer Ivano Baldassarre with the photographer/videomaker Salvatore Mei and Enrico Scheri who takes care of the graphic image of the team. The songs, as well as the videos inspired by them, are permeated by a strong component of inner and spiritual research.

From the synchronicity of the meeting between ALMAKARMA and ARMENIA a fortunate collaboration has recently started with the re-elaboration in "song" format of some tracks by ARMENIA, including "Engage Me", now "Vita". The common ground that unites these artists has roots in a research that even before being musical is connected to the endless questions that the evolutionary path of awareness presents us. An EP in collaboration is in preparation.

Armenia is an electronic musician who combines a very instinctive and intuitive approach with the meticulous care of an enveloping and emotional soundscape. Musical structures are usually simple and strong. Serial repetition and search for difference at the same time are two dominant stylistic figures. Attention to the perception of the world and to interpretation of the Essence transpires from each composition.

On YouTube: Condiziona Menti - Promo by Luca Brondi

On YouTube: Condiziona Menti - Promo

RIDE by Duplex Ride - with ALMAKARMA
Casa Della Musica
via M. Boccanegra 15 - Darsena - 16126 Genova
free entry
the exhibition of Almakarma and Armenia is at 21:00

From the synchronicity of the meeting between ALMAKARMA and ARMENIA, a fortunate collaboration has recently started with the re-elaboration in "song" format of some tracks by ARMENIA, including "Engage Me", now "Vita". Armenia will participate in the concert, contributing to part of the repertoire that will be presented. The common ground that unites these artists has roots in a research that even before being musical is connected to the endless questions that the evolutionary path of awareness presents us. Armenia recently released "The Wedding Gig", emotional and energetic, with the excellent Andy Moor (TheEx) playing the electric guitar.