Eraldo Bernocchi
Encyclopedia
Eraldo Bernocchi is an Italian musician, producer and sound designer.

History

Bernocchi's musical career started around 1977 at the age of 14, when Eraldo started playing guitar with independent punk bands. In short order though, he found that he felt the medium was too limited and he started moving towards experimental electronic-based music. In 1985, together with Paolo Bandera and Luca Di Giorgio, he created the audio conceptual project Sigillum S, an ongoing project that exists to this day. Concurrently between 1987 and 1992, Eraldo also worked as a general manager for tourism in the Far East for a leading wholesaler company. This position enabled him to travel frequently, bringing him in contact with other musical expressions and cultures, as well with eastern shamanic traditions. This had a deep influence on his future work. During this same period, Sigillum S also became an international cult act and Bernocchi started branching out into other musical ventures, such as (what was initially a solo project) Ashes
Ashes (band)
Ashes were a hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C. The band was known for their heavy guitars and female vocals.Ashes featured musical contributions from Matt Squire, who is a multi-platinum music producer, and Brian McTernan, who went on to play in the D.C...

.

In 1993, together with his wife, the visual artist Petulia Mattioli, Eraldo created the cultural project Verba Corrige Productions. VCP's aim is to provide different artistic forms a permanent laboratory where the interaction between all these forms would be complete and limitless.

Soon after the creation of VCP, Eraldo expanded the cadre of musicians he would work with to include such as sonic-terrorist Mick Harris
Mick Harris
Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....

 (of Napalm Death
Napalm Death
Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...

, Scorn
Scorn (band)
Scorn was an English electronic music project. The group was formed in the early 1990s as a side project of former Napalm Death members Mick Harris and Nic Bullen...

, and Lull), James Plotkin
James Plotkin
James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer, famous for his role in bands such as Khanate and OLD, but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has performed guitar duties for bands Phantomsmasher and Scorn and continues to remix tracks for bands such as KK Null, Nadja, Sunn...

 (of Old
OLD (band)
OLD was a grindcore / industrial metal band from Bergenfield, New Jersey, signed to Earache Records...

) and bassist/producer Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

. These collaborations have up to this day provided an array of releases and shows. Along with the aforementioned artists, the last 15 years have seen collaborations with musicians and artists including Harold Budd
Harold Budd
Harold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....

, Russell Mills
Russell Mills (artist)
Russell Mills is a British artist who was born in Ripon, Yorkshire, UK in 1952. He paints, creates multimedia installations, designs stage sets and lighting and has produced record covers and book covers for Brian Eno, the Cocteau Twins,Michael Nyman, David Sylvian, Peter Gabriel, and Nine Inch...

, Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....

, Raiz, Almamegretta
Almamegretta
Almamegretta are a SKA /rap/dub/world/reggae group from Naples, Italy. Their lyrics are in Napoletano. Their music became quite successful, leading to remix work for Massive Attack. Adrian Sherwood also remixed their album "Sanacore".-History:...

, Thomas Fehlmann
Thomas Fehlmann
Thomas Fehlmann , is a Swiss-born composer/producer who currently lives in Berlin, and has been active in electronic music as far back as the 1980s. He is currently active on the Kompakt record label based in Germany...

, Zu
Zu (band)
- Biography :Hailing from Ostia, a town near Rome, Zu are an atypical trio made of drums, electric bass, baritone saxophone and electronics. Formed in Rome in 1997, they began as composers and players for theatre performances. The band is composed of three members: Luca Mai on baritone saxophone,...

, DJ Olive
DJ Olive
DJ Olive is an American disc jockey and turntablist active in free improvisation, jazz and illbient music. He is often credited with coining the latter term....

 and a host of others.

The late 1990s into the 21st century also saw Eraldo composing film music (such as in 2000 for the Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores , is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directed several avant-garde pieces until 1989.In that year, he directed his...

’ film Denti), as well as work for advertisements. Additionally, Eraldo created music for national television for Europlis, Telecamere, and Elisir
Elisir
Elisir is the ninth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in late 1987 on EMI Music.The album was recorded after the 1986/1987 European Park Hotel concert tour and includes new interpretations of six songs from the singer's earlier repertoire as performed on the tour, as well as...

. He has also been involved in the sound design for a number of art installations including those done by Petulia Mattioli and Russell Mills.

Presently Eraldo has a number of projects both completed and ongoing including Black Engine (Eraldo + ZU, and featuring Mick Harris
Mick Harris
Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....

 as second live drummer), production and remix work for Ephel Duath
Ephel Duath (band)
Ephel Duath is an Italian progressive metal band, formed in 1998 in Padova, Italy. They have had a constantly changing line-up with guitarist and songwriter Davide Tiso, being the only original member. To date, they have released one demo, four studio albums, and two remix albums...

 as well as other collaborations ongoing with Laswell, Kondo and others.

Sigillum S

The project Sigillum S was created on 23 December 1985. It has had, since the beginning, the aim to be totally against the logic of the "band". It was conceived as an open structure in which people could work and research different subjects.

Formed by Eraldo Bernocchi (guitars, electronic treatments, voice, and programmation) Paolo Bandera (electronic treatments, bass, and voice) and Luca Di Giorgio (keyboards), the project has always been a double faced creature, mixing together on the same level precise ritual and ethnic aspects with a noisy music.

Since the beginning, Sigillum S had as path to be followed the knowledge and the total war against any kind of limit or taboo, refusing any kind of relationship with political/religious structures. During the first 10 years they toured quite extensively through all Europe and Canada, taking on stage a multimedia attack based on videos, slides and artworks used as a part of the stage.

Having pared down along the way to consist of only Eraldo and Paolo as core members, they collaborated with different groups in different situations, like: Ain Soph, The Sodality, Gerstein, Iugula-Thor, Dive, Outoff Body Experience, the sculptor Milo Sacchi, the multimedia/artist PM.Koma and many others.

After a slew of releases through their first 15 years, they released the album Abstraction on Daft Records. This proved to be their last release for a number of years. In 2007, Verba Corrige announced the completion of 23/20, a celebration of the history of Sigillum S. The release was done in two different formats (Digipak CD and gatefold vinyl) featuring different track lists and sequences for each. The release featured all new material and collaborations with artists such as Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....

, Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

, SH Fernando/WordSound, Prof. Shehab/Baboon Records, Martino Nicoletti, Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, the band Zu, Xabier Iriondo, Ephel Duath, various members of Crisis, Mark Solotroff, Thomas Fehlmann, Gudrun Gut, Andrea Marutti, Claudio Agostoni, and many others.

Ashes

Ashes
Ashes
Ashes may refer to:* The Ashes, the Test cricket series between England and Australia* The Ashes , the rugby league Test series between Great Britain and Australia...

 was started in 1990 as a solo project. The basic idea was to produce works that would be out of context for Sigillum S, as Ashes
Ashes
Ashes may refer to:* The Ashes, the Test cricket series between England and Australia* The Ashes , the rugby league Test series between Great Britain and Australia...

 is a very personal project, based on a strong individual introspection. The first release was recorded between 1990 and 1992, finally being released on the newly founded Verba Corrige label. This release, entitled Ashland was based on the guitar treatments, which are often used as a mantra for newly born mind paths.
1996 saw Ashes
Ashes
Ashes may refer to:* The Ashes, the Test cricket series between England and Australia* The Ashes , the rugby league Test series between Great Britain and Australia...

 grow beyond the context of a solo project to include the bass and production of Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

 and vocals of Raiz from Italian group Almamegretta
Almamegretta
Almamegretta are a SKA /rap/dub/world/reggae group from Naples, Italy. Their lyrics are in Napoletano. Their music became quite successful, leading to remix work for Massive Attack. Adrian Sherwood also remixed their album "Sanacore".-History:...

. After a silence of almost 10 years, the project returned with a new album called Unisono, expanding on the core trio to include contributions from Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Antonio Denti and Paolo Mongardi.

SIMM

SIMM was a short-lived beat and bass oriented project in a slightly similar style to Mick Harris
Mick Harris
Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....

' Scorn
Scorn
Scorn is a feeling of contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.Scorn may also refer to:Music* Scorn * Scorn of the Women, an album by Weddings Parties Anything* Scorn Defeat, an album by Sigh...

 project, whom Eraldo had played a batch of live shows with. The project released one full-length release on Mick Harris' short-lived Possible Recs label as well as a 12" on the same label. Additionally, the moniker provided some tracks for a few compilations from around the same time period.

Somma

The Somma project was conceived by Petulia Mattioli and Eraldo Bernocchi. The concept behind Somma is the real interaction among different cultures with the aim to contaminate and explore ancient traditions connecting new electronic music and technology with jazz, dub, and mantric concepts.

Unlike several so called "world music" issues and experiments, Somma aims to have real interaction between different worlds, both sonically and visually. This approach rejects the traditional meaning of the moniker "world music" and avoids ethnic cliches, proposing that each event held be different, where participants will be building a sonic and visual ritual using both ancient and modern tools. Ranging from acoustic to electric to electronic, Somma aims for the creation of new rituals for a contemporary age, the interaction of the sacred and dub, a digital mantra for a new sacred ground.

Entirely improvised, every event/concert of Somma ties together two theoretically distant worlds using interaction between eastern and western musicians who look for a different concert/event for each performance. Tibetan culture is not at all used as a folkloristic or curious event, as too many times happens in the west, but as living part of the creative process. Visuals are also totally improvised and constructed in real time according to what is happening musically on stage to close the circle erasing any difference between past and future.

Since 1996 Bernocchi and Mattioli involved well known New York producer/bass legend Bill Laswell and start to work on the first studio recording of the combo together with 7 Tibetan monks. The album, Hooked Light Rays came out for Low Records, a division of Pete Namlook's Fax
FAX +49-69/450464
FAX +49-69/450464, known simply as Fax Label, is a German record label that releases ambient music and other kinds of electronic music. It was started in 1992 by Peter Kuhlmann and has since released hundreds of titles, with artists as notable as Klaus Schulze, Atom Heart, Bill Laswell, Geir...

 label, gaining positive reviews. In 1998 the album was reprinted by Felmay/New Tone an Italian label specialized in traditional/modern musics.

With the encouragement of Musica 90, one of the most renowned booking/production agencies in Europe, Somma's first public appearance took place on November 26, 1996 at Teatro Regio in Torino Italy in front of 1600 people.

Line-up:

Eraldo Bernocchi - treated guitars and electronics

Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

 - bass

Petulia Mattioli - stage design and visuals

Oz Fritz - sound engineering and space dislocations

7 Tibetan monks - vocals, horns, bells, drums

In 2001, on occasion of the official visit of H.H. The Dalai lama, Somma performed in Trento at the Centro Santa Chiara theatre, in front of a gathering 2000 people.

Line-up:

Eraldo Bernocchi - treated guitars and electronics

Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

 - bass

Petulia Mattioli - stage design and visuals

7 Tibetan monks - vocals, horns, bells, drums

Stefano Cecere - visual assistant

Hamid Drake
Hamid Drake
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He lives in Chicago, IL but spends much of his time traveling around the world for concerts and studio dates....

 - drums

Gigi
Gigi
Gigi is a 1944 novella by French writer Colette. The plot focuses on a young Parisian girl being groomed for a career as a courtesan and her relationship with the wealthy cultured man named Gaston who falls in love with her and eventually marries her....

 - vocals

Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....

 - trumpet

Raiz - vocals

Oz Fritz - sound engineering and space dislocations

This show was released as part of a limited edition delux package set in 2007 on Verba Corrige.

Somma continues to grow and expand, most recently playing on May 28, 2007 at Teatro Dal Verme in Milan adding Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Nils Petter Molvaer and the vocal group Faraualla to the mix.

Parched

Parched is Bernocchi's new ongoing ambient project combining synths and guitar. This project involves Eraldo Bernocchi and Davide Tiso
Davide Tiso
Davide Tiso is a guitarist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He originates from Padova, in Italy, but currently resides in Berkeley, California. He is a member of extreme metal band Ephel Duath, a band he started in 1998...

, guitar player and founder of Ephel Duath
Ephel Duath (band)
Ephel Duath is an Italian progressive metal band, formed in 1998 in Padova, Italy. They have had a constantly changing line-up with guitarist and songwriter Davide Tiso, being the only original member. To date, they have released one demo, four studio albums, and two remix albums...

 (1998). The aim of the artists in this collaboration is to avoid to reveal who they really are and the music they are part of to see and read how a potential audience could react to their music. Until now, they have made one track together, called "One".
The band is also collaborating with the two film directors Christophe Thockler and Florian Guillemin on the soundtrack for a short film currently in post production.

RareNoiseRecords

In 2007/2008, it was announced that Eraldo and two partners created a new record label to be based out of the UK, called RareNoiseRecords. Now down to Eraldo and Giacomo Bruzzo, the label officially began releasing albums at the end of the first half of 2009. The initial slate of releases kicked off with the debut release of Meditronica a project by Ashtech
Ashtech
Ashtech is a producer, bass player and solo artist. His style combines original dub and urban electronica and it is uniquely characterised by the flavor of his heavy dubby bassline which features strongly in all of his productions.He moves the first steps in music very early as a dj, approaching...

 and Polcari which also featured the talents of Raiz, Eraldo Bernocchi and Dub Gabriel. Other releases through the end of 2009 include The Mantra ATSMM, a Method of Defiance live album and DVD from 2007 featuring the then line-up of Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

, Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...

, Dr. Israel, Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....

 and Guy Licata, the long-awaited Buckethead side project Death Cube K's Torn From Black Space
Torn from Black Space
Torn from Black Space is Buckethead's sixth album under the anagram Death Cube K, released on October 15, 2009 through Rare Noise Records.-History:The first news about the album came from an interview with drum & bass producer Submerged:...

and Parched, an atmospheric guitar project from Eraldo and Davide Tiso
Davide Tiso
Davide Tiso is a guitarist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He originates from Padova, in Italy, but currently resides in Berkeley, California. He is a member of extreme metal band Ephel Duath, a band he started in 1998...

.

As 2010 opened, a live recording of a 2007 show from Somma (held back from 2009 due to perfecting artwork issues) was released, the long talked about Charged
Charged Records
Charged Records is a street punk record label that was formed by Jake of The Casualties in 1998. The label has released albums from Antidote, The Casualties, The Agrestix, and The Virus, among others.-Notable artists:* The Casualties* The Virus...

 release featuring (aside from Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....

 and Eraldo) Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

, drummer Guy Licata was still being worked on and the label released albums and/or EPs by Italian groups Echo and The Mantra ATSMM. Other releases slated or just release are archival and new Sigillum S material, a Meditronica remix album and album by Brainkiller
Brainkiller
Brainkiller are an international jazz/prog/psych trio consisting of trombonist Brian Allen , keyboardist Jacob Koller , and drummer Hernán Hecht .-History:...

, jazz/rock trio featuring Brian Allen, Jacob Koller and Hernan Hecht. Future releases (end of 2010 to mid 2011 and beyond) will include Percy Howard
Percy Howard
Percy Lenard Howard is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys in 1975. He was an unlikely star for the CowBoys in Super Bowl X.-Early years:...

's Meridiem with Haroun Serang, Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...

 and Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...

, a dub-techno project by tatar DJ Marat Shibaev (a.k.a. Martin Schulte) called "Silent Stars", a live reconstruction of Bitches Brew by Animation (Bob Belden
Bob Belden
James Robert Belden is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and producer. He is noted for his Grammy Award winning jazz orchestral recording titled The Black Dahlia. He is also a past head of A & R for Blue Note Records.Belden was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in...

, Tim Hagans
Tim Hagans
Tim Hagans is a jazz trumpeter and composer.He has been nominated for Grammys for Best Instrumental Composition for "Box of Cannoli" from The Avatar Session ; and Best Contemporary Jazz CD for Animation*Imagination and Re-Animation .He grew up in Dayton, Ohio...

, Scott Kinsey
Scott Kinsey
Scott Kinsey is a keyboardist best known for his work with the jazz fusion group Tribal Tech and for his contributions to soundtracks for major motion pictures, notably Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve...

, Matt Garrison
Matt Garrison
Matthew Garrison is an American jazz bassist, son of Jimmy Garrison.He is noted for playing his signature series Fodera bass and for having created and developed a pizzicato technique which uses four fingers...

, DJ Logic
DJ Logic
DJ Logic is an American turntablist active primarily in jazz and with jam bands.Kibler was born and raised in The Bronx. An early interest in hip hop led to his using the turntables, practicing often. Kibler was also interested in funk and jazz music, and began collaborating with various musicians...

 and Guy Licata), an electronica/neo-folk record by OWLS (Tony Wakeford
Tony Wakeford
Anthony Charles "Tony" Wakeford is an English folk and neoclassical musician who primarily records under the name Sol Invictus.Wakeford lives in London and is married to Sol Invictus violinist Renée Rosen....

, Eraldo Bernocchi, Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari), a studio recording by Harold Budd
Harold Budd
Harold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....

, Robin Guthrie
Robin Guthrie
Robin Guthrie is a musician best known as co-founder of the Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has played guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and other musical instruments, in addition to programming, sampling and sound processing...

 and Eraldo Bernocchi, a new EP and album by The Mantra ATSMM. Future MOD releases as well as a previously mentioned live Gigi w/ Material release have moved to another new label (which has Giacomo's involvement) called M.O.D. Technologies.

External links

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