RECORD TURNOVER 80s HITS #73
I stumbled upon this archival release from RVNG Int.’s reissue sublabel Freedom to Spend almost by accident. Burn the Night / Bruciare la Notte: Original Recordings, 1983–1989 collects unreleased music from the Italian minimalist composer Tiziano Popoli, who was active in Bologna in the 80s. According to the label his moral compass “found direction during a post-graduation trip to India in 1979”. Popoli looked back on it as journey full of “confirmations and illuminations, but also of disillusion and, I believe, of personal growth”. Back in Bologna, he promoted “the potential of music as a community-building agent, and advocated for the perception shifting advantages of its avant-garde”.
Popoli released an album in 1985 called Scorie, but this compilation interestingly avoid’s his commercial releases to focus solely on recordings for installations, theater, and radio broadcasts. The videos that accompany the release are stunning. As heard on the recordings, Popoli was a pioneer of sampling, using mainly the Yamaha DX7 and a TR909 drum machine.
The double-vinyl, which is all but sold out, includes an optional limited edition 45 on gold vinyl, with the previously unreleased “SW Radio Stations” and “Monica (Nap on Train)”.
