Read full review in Italian by Caesar on Darkroom Magazine

There are works that don’t entirely belong to the time in which they were created. They remain suspended like restless entities, waiting to be evoked when the world is ready to listen to them. “Über Artaud” by Capricorni Pneumatici is one of these. Composed between November and December 1987 and released on cassette by the band the following year, this work resurfaces today like a wreck laden with hidden energy, finally in its definitive version: a black vinyl that seems more like a magic seal than a simple sound object.

Capricorni Pneumatici, an Italian collective shrouded in mystery since their emergence in the underground scene of the late 1980s, construct here a veritable electronic ritual dedicated to Antonin Artaud and his apocalyptic invective “Pour en Finir Avec le Jugement de Dieu” (1947). While Artaud’s radio broadcast was censored for its blasphemous fury and its radical critique of Western civilization, Capricorni Pneumatici sublimes its spirit into pure sonic matter, without voice or images, like an echo from an invisible theater.

The Yamaha DX7, an iconic instrument of FM synthesis, becomes the medium through which to evoke this liturgy: metallic drones, ritualistic pulses, fractured harmonics, and resonances that seem to breathe in an inner space, sacred and menacing at the same time, emanate from its circuits. Here, the digital coldness dissolves into a hypnotic trance, reminiscent of the sonic alchemy of Throbbing Gristle and Nurse With Wound, but I also detect the influence of the French band Les Joyaux de la Princesse, perhaps due to the French recitation. You get the impression of walking through the corridors of a ruined cathedral, where industrial echoes mingle with dense silences, as in an initiatory journey where each frequency is a step toward the unknown.

The work unfolds in several sections, alternating between tension and suspense, culminating in the renewed “Conclusion,” revisited in 2024. The insertion of the missing segment doesn’t betray the time that has passed; rather, it seems as if that piece had remained suspended, waiting to be evoked, closing a circle begun in 1987. The result is a listening experience that is not limited to the esthetic dimension, but becomes a transformative experience, like a sonic ritual that accompanies the listener beyond the boundaries of everyday life.

The edition curated by Vasopressin, limited to 150 copies, enhances the relic-like character of “Über Artaud”: black vinyl, meticulous mastering, and an enveloping sound that conveys the full physicality of a work conceived to be felt more than heard. It’s not just a simple archival document, but a fragment of the hidden history of the Italian underground, which today vibrates again as if it had never really disappeared.

Listening to “Über Artaud” means accepting an invitation to a sonic séance, where time shatters and the shadows of Artaud and Capricorni Pneumatici merge into a single, dark breath. A vinyl that doesn’t illuminate, but lights torches in the dark.