Band : Germanotta Youth
Album title : The Harvesting Of Souls
Label : Wallace Records
Distributor : Mandaï Distribution
Release date : January 2011
Release : CD

Taking their lead from Ciccone Youth, who named themselves after Madonna (real name Ciccone), this Italian trio took their name from contemporary Pop icon Lady Gaga (who's real name is Germanotta).
None of the musicians involved in this project is at his first outing, as Massimo Pupillo on the electric bass is also active with Zu, Reeks on synths and sample machines is also active with Nohaybandatrio (also ex-Inferno), and drummer Andrea Basili also plays with Hastur. The band brings music which they themselves dub as 'Fast & Furious Instrumental Cybergrind Techno', and which they see as something in between The Locust and Aphex Twin, Genghis Tron and Venetian Snare or, “Cybergrind meets Techno meets powerful and impossibly tight rhythms”! In other words: something which was right up the alley for the people at Wallace Records, whom released the trio's debut album in October of last.

Luckily for us, the Italian label has good ties with our own Mandaï, who've started the distribution of the album in January. Luckily, because to those among us into experimental and seemingly chaotic but organised noisy sounds, the album is a real gem! Through the use of some vocal samples [like the crowd babble in album opener “Neuropolis” and the wackily named “Indie Rock, Fuck Off”, or vocodered stuff like in “Neuro Psyonic Activity” (which sounds like a sax was used in it), the clean background chanting in “Blackfriars Bridge”, and the screams in “Honey Bee Depopulation Syndrome”] you occasionally get the impression of a vocal band, but actually everything is of course instrumental. Now actually, the 'Fast & Furious' tag doesn't always hold, as both “Blackfriars Bridge” and album closing tracks “Draconian Measures, A Letter To Lady Gaga” (with a length of 6:52, easily the longest track on the album) and “A Closer Look Into The Mind & Soul Of Pope Benedict XVI” (easily the longest track title!) have calmer openings (and passages).

I feel fortunate to be able to tell you that at (www.) myspace.com/germanottayouth there's 3 tracks off the album for you to listen to. Fortunate, because some synth part in the posted title track strongly reminds me of something I cannot put my finger on. Nevertheless, I'm sure it's ripped, or otherwize unconsciously “covered”. The point is, I've been wrecking my brains to try and remember where I knew that particular synth section from, and would like to ask our readers' advice in order to find out its origins, see? The thing is, how many of you have the stomach to listen to this type of music (those who do should by all means check out the live medley video posted at YouTube)? Personally, I love what this band does, because it's a clean and clear step away from the usual humdrum we're confronted with on a daily basis. Oh my, and with that daily business I'm only talking about the stuff I get in touch with through the website, because of course I hardly have any time left to listen to what's out on the Pop charts! Hell, I cannot even say I ever consciously listened to a Lady Gaga song!

Anyway, in early February GY started their international tour in support of their album, starting in Holland and Belgium (where they played at Liège's Magazin 4 on the 12th). No idea at this moment where they'll be off next, so check out your gig calendars!

90/100

Tony.