The star of experimental electronica musician Chris Ianuzzi continues to be on the rise with his latest release. The consistently challenging and entertaining 2-song offering of ‘Distant Suns’ and its B-side ‘Wild Side’ will not fail to grab your attention and make your brain itch with its uncommon textures, gratifying production, and inquisitive musical passages.
Based in New York, Chris Ianuzzi is perfectly content in being a musical fringe genius. With his releases gaining more and more attention, we see an experimental artist blooming and becoming more and more bold in his expression of what can only be described as wild musical ideas. Untethered -in his own words- is an ample description of Ianuzzi’s work. With little regard to conventions, you can guarantee that each Chris Ianuzzi song will give that satisfying, head-scratching sensation as they bloom with one bizarre idea after another.
There can be no denying that Ianuzzi’s music is not for the uninitiated. He is the epitome of anti-pop, and he seems to thrive in being so. For me, and for fellow experimental music lovers, a big part of the thrill of the genre is in the nature of the experiment, and how out there they can be, without being actively off-putting or alienating. You can say that we seek a feeling of being alienated, but in the same place with the artist, not isolated in a microcosm of musical discomfort, and that is a trick Ianuzzi is fluent in. Discussing ‘Distant Suns’, the first song of the two, can not be done without mentioning an underlying celebratory sensation. Perhaps it is started by the flittering synth melody that outlines the chords, accompanied by a hasty, pounding beat. ‘Distant Suns’ and its oozing, warped synth lines manages to create a sci-fi atmosphere that outlines a space race somewhere in the distant cosmos. ‘Wild Side’, the wilder of the two pieces, nearly relinquishes all conventional notions of melody, installing in their place Ianuzzi’s harrowing vocals, solid grooves, and stabbing synths, on top dramatic, barely perceptible chords. The output is clearly a less approachable cut than its younger sister that precedes it, while being the more ambitious of the two, and clearly the one with more experimentation.
Chris Ianuzzi’s fantasy sound-verse seems to be expanding with each release, and he seems to grow bolder and more curious as to what boundaries he can cross next. An entertaining release from one of electronica’s less conventional names.