Let me show you outer limits, subhuman obsession, transmutation of the flesh, a new art… – Death SS
Author: Joanna d’Ark
Fasten your seatbelts – we begin our journey into the multicolored universe of Bad Sector. Date: Nov 9; Location: Old Monastery, Wrocław. Our pilot is Massimo Magrini, a musician and scientist who works as a researcher at the Italian National Research Council (CNR). He focuses on digital signal processing and gestural devices for human-machine interaction, and teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Pisa. This unique combination of skills makes him an original musician, as he’s been weaving his professional expertise into his music.
But before we embark on the voyage with Bad Sector, let’s spare a moment for the dark industrial band Pale, which performed just before the Italian artist. Conversations with concert attendees revealed that Pale was a pleasant surprise, prompting me to include the band in this article. For the Swedes, it was an opportunity to present their fresh album Where The Silence Speaks, released on vinyl and in digital form, featuring six tracks, most of which were performed at the concert. Although this is the band’s first LP (their single Beyond The Pale was released a year ago), the musicians have many years of stage experience; Håkan Paulsson and Joakim Engström played in the legendary Swedish band Sanctum.
The Wrocław setlist opened with Break of Dawn, drawing listeners into an intriguing mix of industrial sounds and contrasting piano/keyboard melodies. This track captured my attention and is, in my opinion, the most musically interesting piece on the album. The next track, Bottomless, exudes strong, raw energy. The musicians touch on socio-political and ecological themes, addressing suffering and death (hence the cover). Sometimes you just want to escape – they claim, and this sentiment can be heard in the fierceness emanating from the lyrics and screams. Chains of Steel, while still a dark, dystopian song, offers a more melodic approach, speaking of human bondage and resilience, of rising from the ashes. I invite you to listen to this compilation, it will appeal to fans of strong sounds and combinations of industrial with a hint of metal.
I would like to draw attention to the beautiful album cover design, which depicts photographs of a dead bird. It is the work of the talented German visual artist and photographer Stefan Alt, who has been behind the ant-zen label since 1993 and also accompanied the musicians during the festival.
Bad Sector – architect of the sonic universe
Alright, we are back on board with Bad Sector, and Massimo Magrini takes the helm. In moments, this modest, polite man undergoes a metamorphosis: his gaze becomes cold and robotic, his movements are precise, like a finely tuned machine. The first notes of the track Electa resound, and the Italian himself has no idea what joy he brings me by starting with this piece. This is one of Bad Sector’s most sensual tracks.
It begins with minimalist sounds, then musical layers unfold… November, Lima, Sierra, Quebec, Kilo, India, Foxtrot… The sound of mechanical samples spoken in a male voice is overlaid by a female voice, reciting the passwords of a standardized phonetic alphabet used to transmit information via radio. They evoke images of old sci-fi films in which a sinister artificial intelligence, before performing annihilation, speaks in a sweet feminine voice (interestingly, it is almost always a woman). And such is the dichotomy of many of Bad Sector’s songs: clinical coldness coupled with hidden vulnerability, coarse sound blended with subtle melodiousness. And this is fascinating. Or at least it will be for people like me, who wore out books by Dick or Lem, cut their teeth on sci-fi VHS tapes, and love all those analog curiosities in new technology or “more human than human” AI themes.
Electa builds to an orgasmic crescendo, then fades out; the last notes split like an atom – and again we hear the sounds of the alphabet password. This is Motol, a thematically related track to Electa, albeit from a different album (Storage Disc 3, 2016). The two tracks interlock beautifully, and Massimo, with the grace of an android conductor, begins to make specific movements with his hands, as if conjuring up tones dancing in the air. It generally looks as if he’s playing the theremin, but without the theremin.
For those who are curious (and I’ve heard several times, „What is he doing?”), I’ll explain that he uses a device that, analogous to a mouse, utilises hand and finger movements as input but does not require hand contact or touch. That’s one of the reasons why it’s worth hearing Bad Sector live – the music takes on a completely different dimension; the sound is very spacious within the post-monastery walls, and on top of that, the artist not only does his own DJing, but also brings an element of technological performance to the stage.
With the track Darion, we return to Cephus (2015), which pleases me because it is one of my favourite Bad Sector discs. Achtung! Sechs, sieben, eins, null… As we navigate through the cosmic soundscape, we encounter a mysterious transmission from number stations, which have been used since World War I to send encrypted messages in the form of groups of numbers or letters. Again, this is another treat for fans of old technology and the analogue interweaving with digital sounds.
CCEM (Storage Disc 2, 2018) fills the air with the sound of a heartbeat; the screen displays ECG recordings, X-rays of the human body, and animations of the brain pulsing in sync with the rhythm. It’s another piece that, from restless loose sounds, slowly takes on a ‘danceable’ form, with a strong industrial/EBM beat. The audience falls into tranquillity with Mutua Mutazione (Reset, 2005), ending with a spacious and emotionally piercing melody.
RSAA (first, legandary album Ampos, 1995) is a harmonious yet somewhat sad song, featuring quiet whispers and breathing; one of those tracks where, when you close your eyes, you feel as if you’re looking at a post-apocalyptic landscape through a spacesuit on a contaminated Earth, while in the distance green trees appear, and you can almost hear the birds singing…
As I listen, at one point I notice another figure on stage. She emerges from the darkness, moving with feline grace, subtly illuminated by a single sharp glow of light. I’ve been waiting for this moment because I recognised Marianna Miozzo before the concert – I’ve had the opportunity to see her on stage before. She is a professional contemporary dancer, performer, and educator of somatic movement and improvisation, who has been collaborating with Massimo since 2022.
Marianna describes herself as someone who sees the body as a dynamic element that transforms and responds to the atmosphere, and you can experience this as she wonderfully complements the Bad Sector performance. Her intuitive dance is full of contrasts: once powerful, once subtle; with Massimo, she simply transforms into sound, weaving a story of yin and yang, vulnerability and strength, the warm touch of humanity amidst the coldness of technology. Just beautiful.
I’m the abnormal… The different being… That’s Abnormal, a cover of a track by Death SS, an Italian horror-metal band. Then we hear industrial Pan (Storage Disc 1, 2007), and our cosmic journey through sound comes to an end. As we finally reach our destination, the atmosphere becomes a little gloomy, like the last song of 2001: A Space Odyssey has just played out… but the echoes of Bad Sector’s performance will reverberate long after the lights go out.
In conclusion, let me put it this way: if Massimo Magrini were a computer, he would be the 9000 series – the most reliable machine in the galaxy. Not a single note from Bad Sector has made a mistake or distorted information. Despite the name, this act is, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error ; ).
Setlists:
PALE: Break of Dawn, Path of Flames, Bottomless, Yes, So Depress, Chains of Steel, Where the Silence Speaks, Beyond the Pale.
BAD SECTOR: Electa, Motol, Darion, CCEM, Mutua Mutazione, RSAA, Yela (extract), Abnormal, Pan.
Follow Bad Sector:
https://www.facebook.com/badsectoritaly
Follow Pale:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064194274762
New album: https://ant-zen.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-silence-speaks
