New Needs Need New Techniques

"Andrea Massaria started playing guitar at the age of seven, studied classical guitar with Guido Percacci and Pierluigi Corona and switched to jazz and free improvisation in 1990. By now his collaborations are countless and he is considered at home and abroad one of the most important Italian guitarists. This makes it even more remarkable that this 'New Needs Need New Techniques' is his first solo album. Three totally different American artists inspired him for this album: Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg and Jackson Pollock. He dedicated three pieces to each of them and, as the title already indicates, Massaria doesn't limit himself to just the guitar. On the contrary, he uses a full arsenal of pedals and other electronics to build his sound world. Do we hear those three painters again? Not in a very direct way, but you can recognize some atmospheres, Massaria uses spoken recordings in 'RA3', something that fits well with pop art of course, in the pieces dedicated to Pollock we hear sounds that fit well with the dripping technique that made this artist so famous and the pieces dedicated to Rothko sound like atmospheric sound sculptures, something that comes very close to these mostly monochromatic paintings. In short, a very diverse album from an exceptional guitarist." Ben Taffijn for Nieuwenoten (nl)