MB* + ICS (2) – Vir-Uz

La figura di Giobbe è fonte nel mondo filosofico di discussioni su rettitudine e calcolo, su rassegnazione e convenienza. Personaggio misterioso, monolitico e perseverante, ha ispirato un lavoro dalle analoghe caratteristiche, Vir-Uz, collaborazione a distanza tra Maurizio Bianchi, il più grande protagonista della musica industriale/elettronica italiana, e Andrea “Ics” Ferraris (Airchamber3, Ur) geniale musicista della nostra area grigia. I sette brani per laptop, electronics, lettore dvd modificato, basso e vinili riciclati spaziano dai solchi polverosi della memoir music di La Eternulo Prenis che rimanda al Bianchi più ispirato di Menstrum Regles, ai cupi droni di Severe Provata, a field recordings (il cimitero ebraico di Alessandria) e materiale riprocessato da Ferraris dal repertorio inedito di Ur, Luca Sigurtà e Luca Mauri.
Andrea Prevignano | Rumore

Notes specify that “The majority of the field-recordings you hear on this work have been taken inside the Jewish cemetery of Alessandria [..]“, this should be the right cognitive coordinate to pre-sense the main core of subtle esoteric feeling and mood of these instrumental recordings, to be taken like canon of a religious service, going from the echoing and soundscaping ambient of Pli Ol La Komencajn, Turmentaj Abscesoj, to the burning saturation and distortions of La Eternulo Prenis and Pro Lia Fido.
Four hands record, M.B. + Ics, alias for Maurizio Bianchi and Andrea Ferraris, – not exactly two novices, if you have ever catch anything from the italian underground/invisible experimental scene of last three decades, – they explore the boundaries of that land of harmonies surronding the nearby holyness of Silence.
Guitar noise scapes, drones, a cutting collage of samples and reverse sounds, an experience in searching for the absence of gravity: not for nothing, Vir-Uz ends with a final sound similar to a tombstone falling from the sky.
Paolo Miceli | Komakino ‘Zine

Nella discografia di Maurizio Bianchi del secondo periodo, quello del ritorno sulle scene dopo la conversione, il tema religioso è sempre stato presente e in questo Vir-Uz, in collaborazione col nostro Andrea Ferraris, l’antico testamento la fa da padrone dato che il disco è un concept album incentrato sulla vita di Giobbe. Vir-Uz fa parte della lunga coda discografica che sta esaurendo le pubblicazioni di Bianchi, dopo il suo definitivo abbandono dalle scene nel 2009. Diviso in sette brani dai titoli in esperanto, il disco descrive tutti i momenti della storia di Giobbe, dalla tentazione alla buia disperazione fino ad arrivare all’estasi, il tutto espresso con forte emotività che se da un lato ricorda i lavori ambientali più dark e kraut di Bianchi, dall’altro si avvicina ad alcune cose di Ferraris con Sil Muir. Dal punto di vista sonoro si fa un uso preponderante del drone, accompagnato da campioni (presi da Ur, Luca Mauri e Luca Sigurtà) e field recordings, registrati al cimitero ebraico di Alessandria, dove è stata anche scattata la bella foto di copertina di Edoardo Pasero. Lungo ma non estenuante, il disco scorre bene e anche se non riuscirà a convertirvi o a indurvi alla lettura delle sacre scritture, sarà comunque un ascolto appagante.
Emiliano Grigis | Sodapop

‘A phenomenal portrait of the human soul’, MB + ICS’s album Vir-Uz explores the trials of Job through the medium of modern classical music. Maurizio Bianchi is in underground terms something of a legend. A purveyor of religious noise, a dark seeker, a dramatic artist and this rare collaboration rates amongst his very best.
It’s testament to the greatness of this album that even its sarcastically overblown liner notes can’t ruin it. Meditations on Job and anti-semiticism have never sounded so joyous and the transposition of broken melodies and excruciating chordal progressions is at once disturbing and exciting.
Tonally the palette of analogue, circuit bent, sampled and pre-processed sounds gives the album a forceful presence. The meditations on this record seem to have been carefully thought out and then performed live in a single improvisational flow of screaming catharsis. It has the tang of being the most sublime moment of musical ecstasy when everything went exactly right. And whilst elements of the album might purport to be random, it embodies a deep symmetry echoing the structure, form and feeling of liturgical music.
The collapsing church atmosphere reaches its decaying zenith in “Falsaj Amikoj Sugestis” where choral voices, sputtering noise, feedback and other electrical waste zone in and out of orbits and buttress against other – each reaching height after height. The coda devolves into an entropic saw wave that filters into the brutal white light of “Pro Lia Fido”.
Guitar noise, looped feedback and chiming metallic ‘angelic’ pads. The penultimate musical trial subverts the idea of the marble relief, perhaps even of a God’s ability or will to be benign. In Vir.uz there is a suggestion that God’s role as a crucible for Job’s renewed faith is not altogether different to a torturer taking credit for a survivor’s strength.
The investigation of Job depicted here is not the work of a warm paternal figure, and the peace that reigns in the final piece “Pli Ol Komencajn” is almost of complete abdication of self, a permanent state of unease and displacement which is inexorably drawn into a peaking (both in terms of levels and emotion) tonal rush. As the jack is literally pulled from the machine we are told without feeling that this is the end – a dark and arbitrary finale to a phenomenal portrait of the human soul.
Kailas Elmer | Trebuchet Magazine

Vir-Uz is more than ambient. It is always difficult to categorize anything Maurizio Bianchi does (he’s the M.B). He’s a bit of an enigma, showing the link between industrial ambiance and outright aggressive noise. On Vir-Uz, while technically ambient, he does what he does best: he creates a tense sonic environment. Andrea Ferraris fits into this uneasy world perfectly, coming from an experimental/aggressive background. Since Andrea has worked with so many groups already (in fact his discography is quite formidable) he seems able to determine exactly where Maurizio wants to go.
The opening piece sounds extremely grainy. Without any lower-frequencies it nearly grates on the nerves. Little twitches and pieces of field recordings come in, along with unstable sounds indicating a sudden collapse. ‘Severe Provata’ is a violent piece. It is a harsh, edgy drone. Inside the drone noises billow in unable to control themselves. ‘la eternulo prenis’ has melodies hiding within the sheets of noise. Even hearing a few wisps of melody is fascinating and somewhat unexpected given the nature of the two collaborators. This track is rather beautiful for its mix of violence and tenderness. It’s probably my favorite piece on the whole album.
None of this is comfortable. All of it is extremely provocative. Even the field recordings are used in an aggressive manner. There are few (if any) breaks from this relentless tension. However this dedication to a specific mood is admirable. By refusing to ‘lighten up’ Vir-Uz creates an intense experience.
Beach Sloth

This is a collaborative work between the international acclaimed Italian artist Maurizio Bianchi and Andrea Ferraris [under the moniker of ICS] released by the label Farmacia 901 which is run by sound artist and graphic designer Fabio Perletta. The field recordings were mostly obtained inside the Jewish cemetery of Alessandria, also there is an improvisation of Luca Mauri and Luca Sigurta and a sample of Ur. ‘Vir-Uz’ contains seven long tracks which are inspired by the story of Job, a prosperous farmer. To prove his unwavering faith in God, Satan has stripped of all his possessions, his children, his house but he continued to trust in God. The relationship between this story and music are the long, dark soundscapes made of synthetic and analog sounds and in many passages of the album, several guitars apparently making a lot of distortion. The isolationist nature of this music is the perfect soundtrack for this story.
Guillermo Escudero | Loop.cl

The CD is credited as MB and ICS but we thought we’d introduce a few more characters in the mix so you could find ‘em easily on the site. Why?? cos we’re nice… that’s why. This is largely comprised of field recordings taken from a Jewish cometary in Alessandria. Both Maurizio and Andrea are experimental pioneers in the field of electronics so this is an interesting one to fritter time away with. It’s not for the faint hearted though as it’s not a particularly easy listen. Dark foreboding ominous sounds, strange electronic buzzing, strange noises crop up out of nowhere making this an unsettling and dark listen. As ever with headphones on you get truly immersed into the world the artist(s) are trying to take you and you end up with a much more intense deep listen. There’s a strange sort of beauty in the music and one that I suspect will bare itself under repeated listening. But if you like dark sounding electronics and strange drones then this is something that would be well worth checking out!
Norman Records

Progetto di coppia che vede in azione l’highlander del rumorismo italiano MB (Maurizio Bianchi) e il vulcanico ICS (Andrea Ferraris), artista coinvolto in molteplici imprese fra cui UR e Airchamber3. In Vir-Uz, CD-album rilasciato dall’etichetta romana Farmacia901, è la forza del drone’n'noise a fare da centro catalizzatore per 52 minuti di ascolti virali e magnetici, sorta di trip subliminale che traghetta di deriva in deriva ai confini dell’impossibile uditivo, laddove prendono forma anatomie di musica per il terzo orecchio: gamme subsoniche e nuclei di rumori-ombra, particelle di micro (psico) acustica e loops a larga scansione, corde riverberate e pattern di provenienza allogena, visioni e codici segreti per la mente.
Aldo Chimenti | Rockerilla Nov. 2011

Giobbe e il Diavolo. Giobbe e Dio. Giobbe e i suoi amici. Una delle figure bibliche più studiate, umane e terrene, il protagonista di questa lunga suite ad opera di Maurizio Bianchi e Andrea Ferraris. ‘Vir-Uz’, è una riflessione sulla dinamica dell’umano che si confronta con la divinità e con il peccato. Bianchi è un profondo conoscitore dei testi sacri e in questi sette movimenti riesce ad infondere in suoni e rumore la storia di un uomo che si è trovato a lottare con la tentazione di cedere alle strade facili della vita. Giobbe non soccombe alle seduzioni degli amici, rimane fedele al proprio credo nonostante la vita stessa sembri rivoltarsi contro di lui. Bianchi e Ferraris costruiscono oltre cinquanta minuti di sospiri rumoristi, dilatazioni temporali e salti nel tempo, fedeli ad una spinta sperimentatrice che fa della riflessione e dell’introspezione le pietre angolari di tutta l’architettura.
Industrial Revolution

Another work in the vast catalogue of works by Maurizio Bianchi, here a collaboration with Andrea Ferraris, also known as ICS. The majority of the field recordings used here were made inside the Jewish cemetery of of Alessandria, along with an improvisation held with Luca Mauri and Luca Sigurta, a sample from Ur. The whole thing deals with the encounter of the philosophy of Job (I assume the ‘me’ on the cover is Bianchi writing). Is it because I know it uses cemetery recordings, or is that really ghostly voices humming around? Its obviously not easy to say, simply because I already know. I don’t know ICS that well as I do know the music of Bianchi, but it seems to me the latter has had a lot to say in this. The seven lengthy pieces of music are quite dark, but at times also pretty noise like, with distortion underneath. I might of course be entirely wrong, but at times it seems like they use a lot of guitars in this music, although there is no such mention on the cover. I am not well aware of the dealings of Job, but I do know he was tested a lot by God, and this music is certainly the perfect soundtrack for such an ordeal. There is no light in the black picture of sound. Fine sturdy ambient industrial in true play here. Fans of Maurizio Bianchi will not be disappointed, unless you were looking for an altogether new outlook on music. Somehow I don’t think that will happen. But perhaps that is not necessary.
Frans De Waard | Vital Weekly 818