Occulto Night w/ Mai Mai Mai + René Margraff at West Germany / Friday, 26.06.2015

Some more swimming in the ocean depths: the third electronic episode of 2015 season proudly presents the very first liveset of Mai Mai Mai in Berlin – Rome based project known as part of the Italian Occult Psychedelia scene and a Berlin based musicians that will be performing again in town after a long time: the synth guru René Margraff.

httpv://https://youtu.be/IttlQ_hR1T8

Since childhood, Mai Mai Mai followed his parents around Europe and the Near East, assimilating the different cultures, atmospheres and sonorities of the places he was involuntarily taken to. Short periods of time which were intense enough to leave indelible traces.

This project is the transposition of those experiences into music and sounds: a mix of drone and ambient, steamy technoid rhythmics, percussions, field recordings and sound-scapes which lead us to ancient and arcane ages, on the border between east and west.

httpv://https://youtu.be/8dVW9wXsoq0

After the debut Theta LP, out on Boring Machines (2013) and mixed by Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu), Delta (Yerevan Tapes, 2014) is his second release and second part of his journey across the Mediterranean Sea, through hidden memories, old unconscious and sounds of past experiences, put together and mixed today using tapes, synths and sequencers.

In the meantime, a collaboration with the producer LUNAR LODGE (LL/MMM – 12″ out on Love Blast / Instruments Of Disciplime) makes him exploring more and proper industrial and dark techno sounds: all done with genuine analogue equipment (909, 707, MS20, Opera 6, Pro-One…). May 2015: PETRA (One Sided LP out on CORPOC) comes out as an appendix to his Trilogy about the Mediterranean.

René Margraff is a German, Berlin based artist who released albums on labels such as 12k and Analogpath (as pillow diver) and presented his debut under his real name “phasen” on Home Normal last year. He moved away from the guitar focus of pillowdiver.

You never know where the sounds originally come from as René likes getting lost in the sample by turning it upside down with a variety of tools. The source for the monochromatic drone and noise might have been by Karen Dalton, the melancholic pad sounds might have been by Slayer before… his experimental/drone/ambient/noise/folk set will open the evening.