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GLACIAL MOVEMENTS RECORDS: an interview with Alessandro Tedeschi by: S:M:J63
Glacial Movements Records is a relatively new label based in Italy and although it has only three CDs to its credit so far (one compilation and two single artist albums) it has already achieved a fair amount of attention and success and will be building on that with a couple of new releases already planned for the new year. The label specialises in releasing icy cold ambient pieces inspired by our polar regions by some well-known ambient artists, in quality packaging with absolutely beautifully atmospheric imagery gracing the covers taken by international photographers that impart a haunting sense of the loneliness, desolation and fragility of those ice-bound parts of the world that very few of us will ever get a chance to visit. Glacial Movements is, like many such labels in this area of music, a one-man operation and the man in question here is NETHERWORLD’s Alessandro Tedeschi – what ensues below is a brief interview about the label conducted by email with him followed by reviews of all three GM releases to date.
S:M:J63 – What prompted you to start the label in the first place and when did it come into existence? AT - Glacial Movements was born in the spring of 2006. I created the label because I have always been attracted to and fascinated by icy, cold and isolationist landscapes like, for example, the wastelands of the Arctic and Antarctic. The purpose behind Glacial Movements is to describe – through ambient music – these kinds of landscapes which are incredibly difficult and inhospitable for mankind.
S:M:J63 – Was it a personal experience of the polar regions that inspired you to create the label? If so, where did you go and how did it change your perceptions of this environment? AT – Last summer I went to northern Norway and whilst there I went on an excursion to the Jostedaalsbreen, the biggest glacier in Europe. It was an incredible experience for me... when I was there I made a lot of recordings of environmental sounds like the noise of the ice and the cold wind, and I also took some wonderful photos too! After this excursion, the perceptions of my musical approach changed – now I feel a very quiet and lonely sense of peace... and now my mission is to describe it through my music!
S:M:J63 – Was the setting up of the label prompted by environmental concerns at all? AT – Yes sure, one of the goals that I have in mind for Glacial Movements Records is to help protect the Arctic and Antarctic areas – and I think it’s an original way to bring it to people’s attention and I hope that it will be successful! Currently I am collaborating with international photographers who create some incredible images for GM (see the cover artwork for “MORKETID” & “TIME FROST”, both of which are by Bjarne Riesto) and then in return they use my music as a sonic backdrop to exhibitions and shows devoted to icy themes. These are undoubtedly good ways to help people realise that these icy regions need preservation!
S:M:J63 – Following on from the last question, what do you hope to achieve with Glacial Movements Records? Are you trying to raise awareness of issues surrounding the environment and exploitation of one of our last great wildernesses? AT – Conceptually Glacial Movements is a way for me to freeze the world – I want another ice age to cover the planet with ice because we are destroying our wonderful planet through ‘technology’ – we are too material as a species and it seems the most important thing for many people is power! Another ice age will make life difficult for us and quite possibly there will be few men left as a result but this will be a way for nature to reassert her rule just like it did in ancient and pre-historic times. Musically I would like Glacial Movements to become one of the most important experimental record labels in the world, creating good sound-scapes and quality CD packages/artwork and releasing music from great international artists. But all of this will take time!!
S:M:J63 – Do you think that this theme of ‘glacial movements’ is limiting or is it a question of one theme with many interpretations? AT – More than a limit, I think that this idea is a SPECIFIC musical concept. Yes I know that what I am doing is not for everybody, but for me this isn’t the most important point! I know that there are people in the world who are very interested in the ideas and the music, and to date I have received a lot of good feedback from every part of the globe about what I’m attempting to do. I don’t want Glacial Movements to just simply be a record label, I would like it to be a new way of seeing and connecting with the icy realms. And I think it’s an interesting thing that each artist involved with the label has his own vision of and musical approach to the ice-bound world... and I am planning new releases from artists who each a have very different approach to making music!
S:M:J63 – How do you see the label developing? What other related and intertwined themes will the artists be exploring in the future? And what exactly is being planned for the label in the near future? AT – Every day, I see and feel that Glacial Movements as a label is growing and developing because I am working very hard on it. I’m finding new distributors and I am involved in a lot of promotional activity related to the label, sending CDs to the best specialist magazines and radio stations in the world. After the publication of “CRYOSPHERE” in 2006 and my own “MORKETID” and RAPOON’s “TIME FROST” (both 2007) I have two great releases planned for the new year! In the first half of 2008 my friend the Italian ambient artist OOPHOI will give his musical vision of a new series of releases under the umbrella title of “WURMS”, named after the last great glacial era in Europe which ended about ten thousand years ago. It’ll consist of a single track which slowly evolves over the course of an hour and it describes in sound this particular era when the colour white, silence and ice held sway on our planet. Then, in the second half of 2008, I will be releasing a new full-length CD by LULL (Mick Harris of SCORN) and that’ll be a great honour for me! I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Alessandro for taking the time to answer my questions.
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