Moggi (Piero Umiliani) – Tensione – LP

Piero Umiliani (under his mysterious Moggi moniker) weighs in with another AWOL gem within the Sound Work Shop vaults, 1979’s stressful library composition “Tensione“.

Here, among the fragmented cognitive ruins maestro Umiliani goes resolutely left field and off track with an intra-personal exploration of the disturbed inner psyche within the human condition. Distressed electro beacons are unleashed as de-tuned predatory Carpenter-esque synth patterns come to the fore (check Clavinet Suspence for primal audio blastings to a lost unnamed 80’s slasher movie).

By the late 70s the dwindling economic growth of the Italian film industry’s infrastructure eradicated the need for orchestras. With the electric eighties buzzing on the horizon, Umiliani was quick to capitalise on this cultural shift utilising his Moog synthesisers to tap in to changing musical zeitgeists via cost cutting experimentations for TV, adverts and small low budget productions. Downsizing studio tools to his own advantage, the maestro creates “Tensione” as a black mass BBC Radiophonic laboratory freak out via Ron Grainer’s warped, disorientating synthetics.

Followers of the esoteric and strange can finally dig in via Black Sweat Records‘ lavishly created reissue featuring original artwork, master tape Laquer cutting and Umiliani’s personal autobiographical notes on the project.

Viva l’uomo!

Black Sweat Records

Additional information

Listen Here: Moggi (Piero Umiliani) - Tensione