Act noir
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Act Noir is an Italian/Danish electro-psychedelic-rock band, widely influenced by different music styles (ambient, post-rock, prog-rock, Darkwave...).
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[edit] History
Sergio Calzoni (electronics) formed Act Noir together with Stefano Nieri (guitars) to explore music soundscapes far from the electro-symphonic-bombastic moods of Alma Mater, Sergio's former group. Soon afterwards the newborn band found in Michele Gozzi (bass) and Claudio Pilati (drums) the right chemistry to drive the “rhythmic-groove-engine” of the group.
The music trajectories of Act Noir focus on Darkwave, trip-hop, psychedelic, ambient with techno and prog-rock hints...
From 2001 up to 2003 Sergio lived in Denmark. Thanks to his home-studio set it up in a weird-container-house and to the broadband connection, Sergio managed to continue a virtual collaboration with his italian friends/musicians. Through an ad on a local newspaper Sergio met Nicholas Hill, the singer of the space-rock band The Universals. His outstanding vocal contributions tinge the Act Noir sound with dramatic shades of living pathos.
During the "danish exile" Sergio started a side-project called arTra, by means of which he composed a sonorization for the performance/installation "Nika Is Dead" based in Copenhagen. The proposed music was an almost two hours assemblage of brand new experimental-ambient pieces, and several unfinished tracks taken from the Act Noir archive. A seven minutes movie with excerpts of the music score has been edited of such installation, it can be downloaded for free at the following link: Nika Is Dead.
The first Act Noir CD-demo "Cosmo Minimized E.P." was issued on 2003. The demo got very positive reviews and feedbacks by radios, magazines and web-zines all over the planet.
In autumn 2003 Act Noir remixed "Distance", a track composed by the Italian cult band MonumentuM. The remix features both in the Italian compilation "k:goth" (with some of the best dark/goth underground realities), and in "Metastasi" album containing rarities and remixes of MonumentuM.
In December 2005 Act Noir signed a record deal with My Kingdom Music, an Italian-based label willing to release the debut CD "Automatisme Psychique". On March the 3rd, 2006 the album was issued worldwide.
[edit] Band members
- Sergio Calzoni - electronics
- Stefano Nieri - guitar
- Michele Gozzi - bass
- Claudio Pilati - drums
- Nicholas Hill - vocals
[edit] Discography
Albums
- "Automatisme Psychique" (2006)
CD-Demo
- "Cosmo Minimized E.P." (2003)
Compilations
- "k:goth" (2003)
- "Metastasi" (2003)
Other works
- "Nika Is Dead" performance/installation (2002)
[edit] External links
- www.actnoir.com - Official site, including music and informative resources.
- www.myspace.com/actnoir - MySpace mirror page.
