BLACK ERA

Black Era came to light in Naples in the year 2004. A time of Chaos and Holy Wars, Twin Towers and Banks, Global Villages built with entropy, petrol, obedience, doubt. On the border of European civilisation, south of legality, between the Gulf that must be seen before dying and the poison that blinds and kills. To look the Beast in the eyes becomes a necessity, a need as impelling as breathing. Breathing, expressing, communicating.

Black Era came to light in Naples in the year 2004. A time of Chaos and Holy Wars, Twin Towers and Banks, Global Villages built with entropy, petrol, obedience, doubt. On the border of European civilisation, south of legality, between the Gulf that must be seen before dying and the poison that blinds and kills. To look the Beast in the eyes becomes a necessity, a need as impelling as breathing. Breathing, expressing, communicating. The members of Black Era come from different experiences with similar reflections and a common soul. Blob is made of metal, circuits, and Black. Within him are the origins playing bass with a plectrum, wah-wah and distortion, breathing Grindcore and psychedelia, a caustic mix. Then the experience as a sound technician, electronic machines, sound waves born and tamed in the studio, the charm and the evolution. Amongst other stories, a memorable page of Italian underground drum’n’bass with the band Nevrotype. And then the founding of Black Era. AllFuzz breathes dreams from another era, travels on a six-stringed time machine, a lysergic minstrel whose only drugs are chocolate and beer. Pink Floyd and Slayer make him take up an adolescent guitar, and in the musical scenario of Torre del Greco, a provincial desert, his path often crosses that of Blob. Barely out of their teens they play together in a thrash band inspired by Coroner and a year or two later they form a curious dark-psycho band called Shiva which, without ever recording anything, nonetheless leaves its mark in the Neapolitan clubs where it plays an alien sound for audiences that struggle to comprehend a similar approach to rock. DyDarshan strangles her sensual shyness with the velvet-gloved hands of her voice. Black music runs in her veins and vibrates in her vocal chords. She could have been a Ghetto-Girl but her soul is different, her anger is more intimate, her grief less superficial. Stevie Wonder, Afro-American rhythms and bass, the groove and metropolitan blues: these give Daiana’s lips their colour.

A perfect example of her talent can be heard in “Paura che Passa”, the debut track of the hip-hop combo “Co’sang” on the mythical compilation CD “SpaccaNapoli” by the Clan Vesuvio crew. In the year 2004 destinies cross, ideas converge, language is elaborated and strategy is decided. The record industry is in crisis, music travels along new highways, the Message has found a new Medium. With friends from Mou and Jambassa the project “A Quiet Bump” is born: an Italian net-label with a new approach. Productions protected by Creative Commons rather than Copyright, and hybrid releases that include cut-cost digipaks with original graphics or the possibility of downloading the entire album free: the choice lies with the listener. After 18 months of rehearsals, concerts, discussions, cigarettes, frequencies and distortions, the first album makes its appearance: “Point of No Return”. Difficult to define; from an indistinct point that lies somewhere between dark atmospheres, reminiscences of trip-hop and metal sampling, lyrics full of grooves, accusations and anger, the Black Era sound emerges and begins its march towards a greater awareness. The reaction of the press and the public is as enthusiastic as it is unexpected. Those who see Black Era playing live are struck by the metallic fog and the extraordinary stage-presence of DyDarshan.

Those who listen to them on CD find it hard to compare them to another band. A year later sees the release of “The Tunnel”; an ep that pre-announces the evolution of the Black Era sound towards new and darker shores. A few months later the full-length CD “Then” arrives on the scene: 15 tracks pushing the band well beyond its origins in terms of darkness, psychedlia and distortion. Another conceptual step forward, this time the dark sparks are enflamed by the doubts and anxieties of he who has attained consciousness and knows that he must shout out loud - even against the wind. "this production could come out from the most famous hands." (www.triphop.hu) "this little italian miracle." (www.rockshock.it) "a powerful black burst that seduce already from the first one I listen" (www.sonicbands.it) _________________________________ Black Era is a member of IMIsound Independent Musicians from Italy User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..