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Sounds out of sight
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Listening to Alessandro Cortini’s solo work, it’s clear where Nine Inch Nails, with whom he played between 2005 and 2008, got a chunk of its present sound. Still, don’t expect Blindoldfreak to sound like NIN’s long-lost stepchild. Cortini has his own musical vision that goes beyond rock star ambitions, which he’ll be presenting in Surround Sound this weekend. Cortini handled keyboards on the Live: With Teeth and Lights in the Sky tours, and contributed to the independent release Ghosts I–IV. It was those very sessions, which allowed for an uncanny amount of creative freedom and productivity for such an established band, that inspired him to hit the studio on his lonesome. Even beyond his electronic-alternative band Modwheelmood, Blindoldfreak offers the listener the opportunity to close their eyes and sit inside the experience. Cortini threw his works, both structured and experimental, on his Web site, blindoldfreak.com, and the ensuing interest led to a small Canadian tour and lectures at universities such as Concordia, where he gave a lecture and performed last Friday. Mirror: So how did Trent Reznor take the news of you leaving Nine Inch Nails? Alessandro Cortini: Well, I gave him plenty of time to figure it out. I think he was a little disappointed, but I think he understood. It didn’t have anything to do with him. It’s not like I left NIN for a better gig that pays more money, it was more a situation of me being at a point in my life where I wanted to try something different. Part of the decision came after working in the studio with Trent. I realized it was so great to work in a studio environment and be creative, as opposed to playing live, which is creative to a certain extent but tends to be the same thing over and over every night. But the Ghosts I–IV sessions were some of the best moments of my life. M: You balance your career with university lectures—that must bring something different to your music. AC: Yes, I talked yesterday [at Concordia] and it went really well. What institutions are interested in me talking about is the fact that I use a lot of analog interfaces as opposed to software. It’s not that I prefer them, I like the power that software has, but to a certain extent it’s more exploitable if you have an analog interface. The Buchla, the machine that I have, is an analog design but has a CPU, and all the connections, you do by hand. So it’s a different approach. Most of the time when I talk, it’s about how important it is to me to use an interface, to commit to a certain setting as opposed to doing everything on a computer where every sound comes from a mouse and a button. M: Compared to NIN, what’s Blindoldfreak all about? AC: It was something I did while on tour. It had a therapeutic effect, not trying to achieve songs, just creating sounds and texture. I just decided to put a Web site up with that stuff. I’m sure a lot of people will be disappointed because it won’t be what they expect. But right after leaving a band like Nine Inch Nails to doing something like this, it’s definitely refreshing. WITH ZÏLON, RANDOM TRANSFER AND |
