A few years ago at the dawn of their career,
Elektro Guzzi,
one of the most popular groups in contemporary techno, played on
A38
. The drums-guitar-bass trio produces beautiful, smart and captivating
minimal techno
with a set of entirely analogous instruments and a few basic effects - no computers or other tech gadgets. A darkly gleaming, bubbling and very much live performance: this is Elektro Guzzi, coming to A38 to promote their latest record, released in the summer.
The play on words in the name
Elektro Guzzi
(comes from the name of famous Italian motor manufacturer Moto Guzzi) says it all: the trio plays sophisticated, smart, somewhat downtempo dance techno, but the most important thing is that they do it with completely analogous instruments and effects.
Drums-guitar-bass
: the analogous instruments and effects lend a very special atmosphere to Elektro Guzzi’s music; lots of reverbs as well as guitar and drum effects turn ice cold, mechanic techno into a more “human”, warmer and more organic sound, which the inventive Austrians put their own twist on, producing almost homemade effects. For example, they stick a broom on the snare drum to generate characteristic reverberating techno sounds.
It is a kind of
artisanal techno
that has brought great success for Elektro Guzzi. It is no accident that the band ended up with one of the biggest labels in the genre, Berlin-based Marco, which released the most recent album of the trio last summer.
Observatory
is a large-scale and elegant summary of the trio’s career, soon to celebrate 10 years. It is like standing on a hilltop lookout spot where you can see both the natural landscape and the starry skies from.
