Techno History: Leo Anibaldi and "The sound of Rome"

The history of Techno had a lot of interesting places. Chicago House, Detroit Techno, Rotterdam Gabber, Berlin "Bunker" Hardcore... "Tunnel" Trance in Hamburg or the Junglist rude-boys-inna-London massive.

A lesser known spot might have been "The Sound of Rome". Rome? Yeah, the Romans were true Techno pioneers, too.
The sound of rome was way different in many ways from the "mainland" of Techno... I'd say it was even farther apart than Dutch Hardcore was from Detroit.

Raiders of The Future

Early Doomcore?

And this time I want to talk about one of its artists, Leo Anibaldi. Especially his early releases.

In his music, there are, of course, the straight elements of Techno and House. Electronic 4/4 beats, frantic percussion, lotsa acid bleeps and blops... "hypnotic", repetitive, looped. Often even quite minimal at it!

But, and that's the big "but", there also is a lot of... "other stuff"... in his tracks.
He did compositions that feel like Ennio Morricone on Ergot (for movie soundtracks that never came to be...?)
Tracks that sound like maniac caveman beating on drums... in a huge cave.
Even "weirder" stuff (most prominently on his albums).

Ritmicida

Early Speedcore?

My favorite, though, are tracks that are indeed closer to original Detroit, or past contemporaries such as Unit Moebius and Rude 66. Monotonous dirty little techno anthems. Droning on and on in their rhythm, but feeling like they got sent from Alpha Centauri. And being very Leo and being very Rome - simultaneously.

Beyond that, there are snippets of spooky, horror ost type sounds that make me think "goblin" or "suspiria"... well, how could it be elseways, in Rome?

The Story Become

sounds for movies that never were

Afterwards he was picked up by the likes of Rephlex; the sound changed more to IDM and other genres.

But, as we look at the early "sound of rome" here, this is beyond the scope of this feature.

Further listening:

1. Darkness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnlPu4fA9AQ
2. I'm Really Sick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNArz9DHOV8
3. Fantasy Re Edit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATv0JdDePyc
4. Acid Pop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-uwuw5yIMI
5. 1972 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4ABTnhEs8Y
6. Fusion 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpu4nSd77jI
7. Translation 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVZMNSAe1Y
8. Modulazione https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbC329EykEY
9. After 30 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=905YV4Jry5w
10. Muta 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YovwALdRaEQ