Impulse Translation - Synchronia [TerraFirm 9]
My Utopian Sci-Fi Serial / Record Label Rides Again
The 9th release on TerraFirm is out now so I thought I’d take the opportunity to unpack my feelings on the project and give some insight into its genesis and execution. Honestly, like most of what’s posted to PT, this will be for my benefit as I perform mental taxonomy on the petrie dish of undifferentiated thoughts, impulses, emotions and inspirations that have been swimming around my fish bowl brain throughout the process of releasing this record. Thankfully, the writing-as-form-of-psychic-disentanglement approach has proved at least a little entertaining to people reading Press Test, so I forge on!
TerraFirm 9 is the work of Ennio Colaci and Fabio Corcos, best known for their long-running Minimono project and curation of Bosconi Records. Minimono and Bosconi started up in the mnml heyday of the mid-aughts, their sound and signings reflecting the time. Nearly two decades later the Florence boys and their label have expanded and evolved to encompass a Technoid 12” by A Guy Called Gerald, ruff and raw House under their Bosconi Sound System (BSS) alias, Detroit Techno from Dan Curtin, Alexander Robotnick’s contemporary Italo and the improvised melodic mania of the Bosconi Gang Band. Signings from legends like Paul Johnson, Gary Romalis, Rei Loci, 100Hz and Gareth Oxby give the Bosconi soup a well-rounded umami that few contemporary labels can boast.
The genesis of our TerraFirm record was the release of BSS’ Spellbound EP in 2019. Dance music is generally formulaic and simple. That’s facts. I’ve also dedicated my life to dance music. So, to stay engaged (and sane), I’ve made a point of searching out records with unique elements that sets them apart from the pack. Novel, bizarre, out-of-place or amateurish sounds break the monotony, add much-needed weirdness, shake up a listless dancefloor and generally keep me interested in this music. Usually one wonky element is enough but everything in Spellbound hit different. There is no artifice to the record. Lacking high-falutin concept, self-aggrandizing personal branding or irony, the record is to be taken at face value. It’s a simple exercise in adventurous, alien club music channeled directly from the collective BSS id onto wax. It’s the sound of three friends having a blast twiddling knobs without much concern for the end result, no matter how brilliant that result is. It’s unabashedly joyous and totally unselfconscious. It’s weird, genre-defying, sometimes challenging and one of the best records in recent years.
The guiding principle for TerraFirm has been to reintroduce the experimental, utopian vision of of Detroit Techno into current club music. Some records convey this foundation more than others, particularly the first three releases by Placebo, Flora FM and Earthman. After more digestible (and successful) follow ups by Liquid Earth and Vytamin, my contrarian impulses set in and had searching for a release more connected to the experimental roots of the label. Spellbound ticked all the boxes so I gave Fabio a shout. I was a bit intimidated approaching such an experienced and accomplished duo, but Fabio quickly agreed and after receiving less than 10 demos we landed on the tracklist for Synchronia. It was an effortless and exciting process. After putting out 20+ records and pursuing an equal amount of still-born projects, I firmly believe the ones that flow with such ease are the ones meant to be.
The end result is a singular record that embodies the TerraFirm ethos, connects the dots with previous releases and pushes the label into entirely new territory. Italo indebted riffs a la Earthman’s ‘Lemon Duck Phase’, stochastic jak rhythms of Placebo and the melodic extravagances of Flora FM and Vytamin are all present. But Synchronia’s spiraling, ecstatic synth crescendos and intertwined, fluorescent riff wyrms are elements out of an Italo-futurist fever dream, unlike anything I’ve heard before. These outrageous synth explorations may be equally indebted to the virtuosic shredding of Metal guitarists and the expansive vision and song structure of Prog Rock, both genres Fabio and Ennio pulled inspiration from in the writing process.
Synchronia marks the end of the first iteration of TerraFirm. Looking to the lore built by Underground Resistance and Drexciya, I attempted to weave a similar Sci-Fi narrative through the sticker text on each release. This felt like a much needed means of reintroducing Techno’s futurist origins in 2017, but futurism is alive and well in 2023 (and those stickers are stupid expensive) so TerraFirm wraps up its mission here. Synchronia (the opposite of Dyschronia, for all my Mark Fisher heads) ends things on a positive note:
Synchronia: The physical is in natural relation to the temporal. Matter progresses harmoniously through Time. The future, having been halted in an improper place, is once again where it ought to be.
Returning to the label roots in another way, Synchronia is vinyl only. Hit your local shop or the label Bandcamp for your copy.
PS. Bosconi Records is currently celebrating its 15th year and 50th release with two Minimono EP’s, Half Way Trough Pts. 1 & 2, both out now (check their Bandcamp). Massive congrats to Fabio and Ennio! Here’s to the next 50 <3
