M.B. + Barnacles delves into a weird, woozy, and wonderful world on the feral “Sidereal Decomposition Activity”. Employing large dollops of distortion, off-kilter rhythms alongside an industrial edge, there is a physicality to the sound that works wonders. Hypnotic to its very core the way the rhythms unfurl lets the album a sort of ‘waking dream’ sort of scope. Everything surrenders to the percussion for it serves the sound well. Noise, rock, classical, experimental electronics, all of these are filtered to create a realm that has a great physicality to it. The melodic progression further lends it a disoriented fervor to it as it evolves in a graceful, almost stately at times sort of fashion. By merging all these influences together, they create a living, breathing aural universe.

Things open on a high note with the powerful noise of “Infinity Cosmic Eruption”. Coming in and out of focus, there is a threat that rests at the very periphery of the piece. Gradually the piece starts to buildup in a way that feels outright majestic at times, with grooves going for a heavy-set presence. Opting for a lighter touch of sorts the dreamy psychedelic rock of the title track “Sidereal Decomposition Activity” serves as the easy highlight of the entire album, at times feeling so loose and free. Much loopier and hard to pin down “Astral Fall Dynamism” embraces the noise. Hyperactivity reigns supreme on the stately closer of “Unearthly Armagheddon Energy”. On “Sidereal Decomposition Activity” M.B. + Barnacles delivers a work that has a playful, joyful sort of spirit.

http://www.beachsloth.com/m-b-barnacles-sidereal-decomposition-activity.html

For Sidereal Decomposition Activity, Uggeri works from a wider palette with newly created sounds, alongside contributions from the legendary artist Maurizio Bianchi. The two have collaborated at various times since 2007, so it is no surprise that their unique styles end up complementary, with Uggeri focusing on the rhythmic and chaotic sounds, and Bianchi, in full new age mode, leaning heavily on the synths and electronics. "Infinite Cosmic Eruption" opens the album with Uggeri’s noisy, loop-heavy din.  The rhythms are there but more processed and sparse compared to his solo material. Bianchi contributes some spacious, droning electronics that nicely fit with his current work, but still the final product feels faithful to his classic material as well.

This nod to classic M.B. is especially prominent on "Sidereal Decomposition Activity," with its wobbling distortion and Bianchi's decrepit, decaying keyboard passages.  The dour, bleak electronic sound is the focus, as Uggeri's rhythmic loops are subtly blended in and out, at times taking the stage more aggressively but never as to overshadow the electronics.  "Astral Fall Dynamism" is a bit more disorienting in its distant mangled voice loops and plucked string patterns.  The result is an abstract, less structured piece of material.  Concluding song "Unearthly Armagheddon Energy" takes the album out on an especially strong composition.  From its noisily static opening and depressive melody, the two pile on the sounds, rhythmic and processed, coming together as almost song-like and traditional, but in their distinctly idiosyncratic way. Building to a dramatic crescendo and then stripped back like the post apocalyptic fallout after a cataclysmic explosion.

Matteo Uggeri’s loop-heavy, abstract sound sculptor approach to music as Barnacles nicely ties these two records together that, in some ways differ greatly from one another.  With Air Skin Digger being limited to just treating and remixing previous works, and Sidereal Decomposition Activity having major contributions by Maurizio Bianchi, the two albums start from notably different concepts self-imposed constraints. While the two may not sound entirely similar, Uggeri's style leads to a synergy of sorts, resulting in two distinct albums that are both essential and complementary to one another.

http://www.brainwashed.com/

ReGen Magazine is proud to present an exclusive stream of what Artoffact Records’ Jacek Kozlowski refers to as “One of the coolest albums Artoffact is releasing this year.” Sidereal Decomposition Activity, a collaborative effort from legendary Italian composers Maurizio Bianchi and Matteo Uggeri, under the moniker of M.B. + Barnacles , releases on May 4 and is available for pre-order now on Storming the Base and Bandcamp.

Presenting four extended tracks of “cosmic music,” the album shows the two composers exploring a dynamic and almost psychedelic blend of throbbing beats with swells of analog noise to create what is described as “an uncompromising trip through space,” and “a neurotic trip” that is sure to please all fans of experimental electronic music.
Kozlowski further states that it was “a real honor to work with such legends.”

http://regenmag.com/news/regen-exclusive-artoffact-releases-collaborative-album-from-m-b-barnacles/

Comments by fans on Discogs and Bandcamp

VXGASSATTAK: Stunning release. Perfect in every way. One of then best of works to hold the name MB since the Second Death limited release.

https://www.discogs.com/MB-Barnacles-Sidereal-Decomposition-Activity/release/11887618

Kristiancarter: Superb pulsating concrete industrial ambience.
Andy Via: MB -- with drums?! They make it work; the electronics sometimes lurking behind the ponderous beat, then coming to the forefront.

https://mbbarnacles.bandcamp.com/album/sidereal-decomposition-activity

IBS Store/Audioglobe (product description)

Il primo disco del duo italiano Bianchi-Uggeri con l’etichetta Artoffact, un nuovo esperimento musicale in grado di far evadere l’ascoltatore dal suo corpo, lasciandolo vagare nello spazio a occhi chiusi, guidato da suoni e rumori particolarmente ipnotici. Quattro brani in cui l’eccletticità e l’esperienza dei due musicisti vien messa in bella, esperienza che sicuramente non manca a M.B., forte di una collaborazione passata, tra gli altri, con Merzbow, Dissecting Table e Ryan Martin.

https://www.ibs.it/sidereal-decomposition-activity-cd-maurizio-bianchi-barnacles/e/0628070634323

Musica in 200 parole

Anche in questa avventura Matteo non ha intenzione di porre l'accento su sensazioni particolari: Barnacles nasce per viaggiare a 360° nel vasto panorama musicale, per cui non sorprendevi se all'interno ascolterete sussulti tribal-techno miscelati a strumenti veri e propri, o (ultra)suoni e versi ricavati da chissà quale angolo remoto della natura. Tutto si fonde alla perfezione grazie anche all'apporto degli ospiti, che in questo caso sono gli stessi altri componenti degli Sparkle In Grey. Atmosfere da film horror, alte e basse frequenze, e tante percussioni: vero e proprio elemento cardine per un esperimento più ... terreno.

Si eleva ad una natura più trascendentale invece, il terzo disco, a cominciare dal titolo. Con Maurizio Bianchi il risultato è originale ed estraniante. L'aria è fitta di rumori e manipolazioni, ed alcune volte pare di subire tutto ciò vivendo l'esperienza d'ascolto in incontrollabili continui (s)balzi temporali. Ascoltare questi brani è come fluttuare storditi tra passato e futuro, per poi cadere miseramente nell'ultimo vortice nero intitolato Unearthly Armagheddon Energy (vi lascio immaginare il risultato).

Con queste (tre) premesse spero grandi cose in futuro, anche perché considero Matteo uno dei manipolatori contemporanei più interessanti, prolifici e versatili, capace di mantenere un livello di qualità sempre alto.

https://200parole.blogspot.com/

Andrea Prevignano, Rumore

Andrea Piran, Chain D.L.K.

It's almost a decade that Maurizio Bianchi, which needs no presentation for readers of this zine, and Matteo Uggeri, mostly known as a member of Sparkle in Gray, collaborates in some form. As their previous collaboration this are based on relatively quiet framework where the ambient textures of the late M.B. are introduced in a more constructed sound building.
While many could expect an harsh noise wall, "Infinity Cosmic Eruption" introduces the listener into a release where ambient music is bound in a rhythmic cage that is at the crossroad between hip hop and dub, so it's impressively dilated in time and takes in the background the noisy element which is used to create a subtle sense of movement in an apparently static rhythmic development; its quiet ending introduces "Sidereal Decomposition Activity" whose catchy noisy and almost psychedelic melody is underlined by the rolling beat interrupted when it's time for a break prior to the final dreaming end. The metronomic beat of "Astral Fall Dynamism" is the set for the dialectic between noise and folk guitar melody of the first part of the track while the second one tries to bury the melody with synthetic layer only to close the track with menacing oscillators. The crescendo of "Unearthly Armagheddon Energy" is as linear as it's ended leaving only the element that creates tension without the elements that has rhythm or mass.
Moving towards a more developed music style rather than a impressive mass of sound or quiet ambient, this release shows two artist that are willing to evolve rather than simply publish another record. Recommended.

http://www.chaindlk.com/reviews/?id=10565

Steve Mecca, Chain D.L.K.

M. B. is Maurizio Bianchi, and Barnacles is Matteo Uggeri, two leaders in the modern Italian electronic industrial avant-garde. Bianchi (in case you didn't already know) is a pioneer of industrial music going way, way back to the earliest 1980s. To list his credits and collaborations would take more space and time than I have available. Matteo you may know from Sparkle in Grey, some of whose works I've reviewed here in the not too distant past. The first collaboration between these two came about in 2007 with the release of the album 'One Single Sound' . On this recording MB provides analogue noises, drones and melodies, while Matteo utilizes beats, keyboards, field recordings and Tibetan bells. Drum work is done by Simone Riva and Cristiano Lupo. As MB describes the music of this work: "Astral melodies are excavating in the eruption constriction, while a neurotic fall scratches extemporaneous sidereal manumissions. The salubrious dynamism is compatible with the invisible decomposition but a paranoic infinity recalls an overcast activity for a cosmic relativity. Unearthly diagnosis cheers the outward for a screaming Armageddon, grinding through our nocturnal energy in the consolidate universe."

The album is comprised of four long tracks between 8 and 13 minutes length. Opening track "Infinity Cosmic Eruption" begins with sustained cymbal(s) or gong(s) ringing out and some thumping around as well as some other unidentifiable bits of sound. Out of this comes a heavy rhythm on drumkit with a sustained harsh, cutting drone. Most of the harsh portions of the drone eventually subside over time replaced by some noisy electronics. Various electro-acoustic sounds can be heard, often echoed off, as the piece deconstructs in a piercing, whistling drone after the drums drop out. Title track "Sidereal Decomposition Activity" has loopy abstract semi-melodic electronics over a beat that sounds Native American. Over time the rhythm gets jumbled through sonic manipulation and loses its straight path morphing into something more freeform. All the while these improvised electronic sustained tones keep right on playing. There is somewhat of a psychedelic ambience to it all, and when the drums return in a different pattern, I'm reminded of some of the Krautrock experiments of the 1970s.

The end of this track with its spacey, echoey electro-drones moves seamlessly into "Astral Fall Dynamism" and I suspect that the ebow guitar is largely responsible for some of those sounds. Here everything is mixed into some type of strange brew with elements of electronics, plunked and rapidly fingered stringed instrument(s), amongst other sonic effluvia. It's a dense, abstract porridge of psychedelia obviously intended to be mind-blowing. As with the previous, the looped electronics/noise drone blends seamlessly into the next (and last) track "Unearthly Armagheddon Energy". Heavy orchestral strings, fizzy noise and a rudimentary rhythm that seems to turn into a chugging steam train. The string pads on this one remind me a lot of Tangerine Dream's use of them, but on which album I can't remember. Nostalgic, at any rate. The whole thing had me thinking of Kraut rock experimentation of the 1970s as a pastiche of the genre. I don't know if that was intentional or subliminal, but the ethos seems to be there. This is certainly not an album for everybody. There is no concession to commercialism in any regard, and although I wasn't hearing anything that I haven't heard before in one way or another, it still makes for an interesting listen.

http://www.chaindlk.com/reviews/?id=10561

Mario Biserni, SandSzine

Secondo e terzo capitolo di un progetto scaturito dalla mente vulcanica di matteo uggeri

Superata la fase della nascita e dello studio dell'ormai noto mostraceo marino, Uggeri giunge al secondo atto del suo progetto arricchendo di fatto quello che era stato l'one single sound del primo CD. Le immagini della confezione, riprese da un vecchio libro sul cannibalismo, secondo le note stanno a rappresentare l'azione di Barnacles che «cannibalised the source sound, which were made by other musicians», ma finiscono con il rendere l'idea di una musica molto più ricca, ritmica e tribale rispetto a quella del disco precedente. Pur non pregiudicando mai quel gusto melodico, essenzialmente pop, che è caratteristico di Matteo Uggeri, la giungla dei ritmi finisce con il rappresentare l'elemento caratteristico e trainante del disco, cosiccome nel precedente lo era stato la ripetitività minimalista di matrice dark-ambient.

Nel CD in collaborazione con Maurizio Bianchi le atmosfere, pur conservando uno sfondo tribale, sono appesantite e si sposano con più decisione alla tradizione industrial (macchiata però da suggestioni orientaleggianti). "Sidereal Decomposition Activity", a differenza dei suoi gemelli che appaiono ben compatti, è un disco ricco di contrasti, a testimonianza di una lavorazione a quattro mani. Sfondi percussivi degni di una cerimonia tribale si contrappongono a celestiali figurazioni d'impostazione cino-nipponica. Melodiose aperture classicheggianti fanno da contraltare a sequenze meccaniche che paiono derivare dai ritmi di una catena di montaggio o a brighe noise come dal sollevamento di schiavi in catene. E, di nuovo, l'ingegno minimalista è dietro la porta.
Direi, comunque sia, che i tre CD vanno goduti nel loro insieme.

http://www.sands-zine.com/recensioni.php?IDrec=2230

Patrick Bruneel, Luminous Dash

Maurizio Bianchi (M.B.) en Matteo Uggeri (Barnacles) ontmoetten elkaar voor het eerst in 2007. Barnacles, die vorig jaar het mooie One Single Sound uitbracht op Boring Machines, maakt pas sinds dat album muziek onder die naam. Voorheen werkte hij vooral samen met een indrukkend lijstje anderen: Controlled Bleeding, M.B., Telepherique, Deison, Luca Sigurtà, If,Bwana, Giuseppe Ielasi, Andrea Serrapiglio, Bob Corn, Nicola Ratti, Mukjika Easel en OvO. Kortom, iedereen die er in de Italiaanse experimentele scene een beetje toe doet.

Maurizio Bianchi maakt sinds 1980 de ene plaat na de andere, een quasi onafgebroken stroom aan releases die zich heel dikwijls in het noisegenre bevinden. Dat mag je ook letterlijk nemen, want hij houdt, net als Merzbow, wel van een paar cd’s lawaai gemaakt met minimale middelen. In de grote hoeveelheid releases bevinden er zich net zo goed drones, noisy ambient of dubby kosmische deuntjes.

Barnacles, die het naar eigen zeggen een beetje had gehad met veldopnames, drones, kraakjes en microgeluiden, begon in 2017 aan een nieuwe muzikale weg, uiteraard vol veldopnames, drones, kraakjes en microgeluiden, maar aangevuld met nihilistisch aandoende dub. Laat dat nu net zijn waar M.B. ook nog eens zin in had.

Vier lange nummers zijn het resultaat. Door denderende, met minimale middelen in elkaar gezette dubby kosmisch aandoende stukken, waar herhaling van industrieel aandoende geluiden mooi opboksen tegen drones, gepiep en ander lawaai.

Sidereal Decomposition Activity is dansbare muziek voor zij wiens hersencellen weigeren het begrip dansen te doorgronden, wiens ledematen houterig zijn als Pinokkio (Italiaanse voor stukje pijnboom) maar die met veel plezier wegdromen in hun luie zetel, vergezeld van een avontuurlijk stuk muziek.

https://luminousdash.com/portfolio-items/m-b-barnacles-sidereal-decomposition-activity-artoffact-ob/

Paolo Bertoni, Blow Up