Resina is a collaboration between Marco Messina and Retina.it, both whom have been working the electronic circuit in Italy for a number of years. Messina has been the sound manipulator for 99 Posse and, more recently, part of Nous. Nous composed the soundtrack to Dentro La Tempesta, a reworking of Shakespeare’s Tempest where the modern hand of experimental electronic music reconfigures the words of the English playwright. The duo of Retina.it (composed of Lino Monaco and Nicola Buono) operate in Pompeii at the foot of Mount Vesuvius where they do improvisational work which has been previously released on Chicago’s Hefty Records. Opinio Omnium is the result of the meeting between Messina’s sonic craftsman aesthetic and Retina.it’s organic minimal techno improvisations.
“Muschià” sets the tone for Opinio Omnium with its steadfast beat and granular effects which caper and whisper about the solid tempo. Call it concrete micro-house as the dance floor aesthetic collides with the scattered detritus of glitch elements and tiny squawks of compacted field recordings. “Enchantillateur Digitale” squeaks and pops with machinery that is imitating bird calls while a sub-100BPM rhythm gets the room in motion. “Aitan” unfolds like a many-layered Thomas Brinkmann-esque flower, layers of textures gradually piling up on top of a precise beat. The sound effects of cows lowing in the opening minute only add to the pastoral texture of Resina’s work as if we were attending a house party behind held at an Italian villa in the rural country. “Jeninbophal” is spooky aquatic dub, a soundtrack to an underwater thriller complete with slow-moving thunder and jangling string samples.
Retina.it work the old-fashioned way: using analog equipment and twiddling knobs. They’re not unaware of the possibilities of crafting music through software; they simply prefer the more “hands-on” approach to their work. This adherence to organics lends warmth to their songs. The beats — while hypnotic and endless in their looped state — aren’t completely sterile. Instead of creating hyper-intense rhythm structures, they put their attention to the micro-elements: the tiny swirls of sonic grit which get under the beats, the collage of recorded voices which gather together to become a melodic line (in “Mundo Taku”), and the creaking of old springs and brushing of steel pipes which pervades “Lenticchie” as rhythmic accompaniment to dub-inflected synthesizer tones. “Toledo” takes it to the dance floor with a stronger kick drum and harder synth stabs, a club-friendly collision between rhythmic noise and the Basic Channel sound.
Resina brings a level of crackling chaos and noise to micro-house. The eight tracks of Opinio Omnium bristle with restrained energy and constant movement, a result of the trio’s emphasis on scattering noise and random elements across the stoic beats. If Einstürzende Neubauten put out a record inspired by the minimal techno flooding Cologne, it might sound a lot like Opinio Omnium.
Opinio Omnium is OUT NOW on Mousikelab.
