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From WUR [1984-1993] to controlvoltage.org controlvoltage.org is a studio and live electronic music project started in 1984 by Roberto Raineri-Seith, a German-Swiss author living in southern Switzerland and Sardinia, expressing himself with a transmedia approach crossing electronic music produced with vintage analogue instruments, field recording, photography and writing. First recorded outputs, released until 1993 under the acronym W.U.R. (german translation of Karel Capek's drama "R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots"), were influenced by the live electronic scene of the 1970s, contemporary avantgarde composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio and Luigi Nono or the industrial and EM of the early 1980s (Einstürzende Neubauten, Coil, Nocturnal Emissions and Test Dept in particular). Current all-analogue productions are filtered through a Düsseldorf-School and dark ambient attitude, reminding more on artists like Conrad Schnitzler or early Kraftwerk. Most productions are conceived in collaboration with visual arts artists and presented in art-related spaces such as museums and galleries or in unusual venues not usually designed for musical performances. As a "analogue synthesizer guru", on a irregular basis Bob also lectures and held workshops on the analogue electronic music medium and organises events related to electronic music produced with vintage or modern analogue instruments. From 1988 to 1991 he was art director of the electronic and contemporary music festival "L'Altro Suono", at which the most representative exponents of the Swiss experimental electronic and electroacoustic scene of the time performed, such as Unknownmix, Nachtluft, Ernst Thoma, Andres Bosshard, Andi Guhl and Norbert Moslang, Knut Remond, Stephan Wittwer or Karl ein Karl.
Bob in 2023 and 1984. |
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Voices "Der Tessiner Roberto Raineri-Seith gehört zu den wenigen kulturellen Dissidenten in diesem sonst recht starren Landesteil. Erste Produktionen, die immer in einem visuellen Zusammenhang stehen, enstanden 1984: Industrielle Elektromusik zu Filmen, Video, Performances usw. [...]. Instrumental-Musik am Synthesizer lässt sich ja oft leicht auseinanderfädeln, das "wie" drängt sich unversehens in den Vordergrund. Nicht bei WUR: Die nervöse Sensation lässt das analytische Hören in den Hintergrund treten, warscheinlich, weil keine langweiligen Schlagzeugmaschinen verwendent werden, sonder gänzlich auf den Maschinenrhytmus abgestellt wird" [Rudi Tüscher, Calypso Now, 1985] "Nessun proposito, suoni. Dietro questa dichiarazione di non-intenti di John Cage si barrica Roberto Raineri-Seith quando l'incauto intervistatore cerca di indagare sulle finalità della sua ricerca musicale [...]. E tra il suono-materia e l'impastatore di suoni, tra i due campi, oscilla, con una decisa propensione ad invaderli entrambi, il terzo elemento della triade, la macchina, alternativamente produttrice di materia sonora grezza e manipolatrice della stessa. Arrivati alla macchina, il rifiuto di ogni messaggio si apre su un paesaggio inquietante, chimera o incubo a dipendenza dei punti di vista: per Raineri-Seith la diade uomo-macchina è un progressione nella quale il secondo elemento rappresenta il superamento del primo, arrivando così a WUR, sigla mutuata da una pièce degli anni '20 del drammaturgo ceco Karol Capek in cui il mondo viene ricreato, dopo lo sterminio, da una coppia di androidi" [Nicola Ulmi, RSI Rete 3 / Le Temps, 1989].
Bob performing "Natalis Solis Invicti" in the lecture hall of the Locarno high school, 1989. |
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Releases & live electronics as WUR [1984 - 1994] "Lob der Grausamkeit", C18, 1984 [distributed by ADN Records Milano and Calypso Now, Biel, out of print] "Lacrimae Christi", soundtrack for a video by Lorenzo Bianda about the swiss artist Mario Comensoli, 1986 [out of print] "Stahlruine", C26, 1986 [distributed by ADN Records Milano and Calypso Now, Biel]; buy an original on Discogs / listen / purchase on Bandcamp "Kn", ambients for an installation of swiss artist Franco Lafranca, galleria Arteria, Locarno, 1987; Listen / purchase on Bandcamp "Memorie Magnetiche 1>4", C40, 1987 [out of print] "Natalis Solis Invicti", mixed-media performance, Liceo cantonale Locarno, 1989 "Induratio Penis Plastica", live electronics at the happening "Obliquo in tenda" with Pro Helvetia, Locarno, 1989 "Soft Sector 48 TPI", live with Walter Stolz, Bar Sport Locarno, 1989 "Klarismus", ambients for an exhibition of swiss artists Daniel Maillet, Gianmario Togni and Massimo Verzasconi, Museo Elisarion Minusio, 1990; lListen / purchase on Bandcamp "Chant/Höhenstille" for flute and ring modulator, with Giuseppe De Giacomi and Sandro Marrama, Theatre of the Italian Embassy in Locarno, 1990 "All'inferno non bruciano" [hommage à Fortunato Depero], mixed-media performance, Teatro Paravento, Locarno, 1990 "Figurazioni siderali 1>9", for tape and live electronics, "L'Altro Suono 2" festival, Locarno, 1991 "Fecon MW 286", live electronics, Cantina del Negromante, Locarno, 1993 "Analog Technodelia", for tape and live electronics, at "Sabbione 1994", Val Bavona, 1994 "Kindertotenstimmen", for tape and live electronics, galleria "Sotto una buona stella", Locarno, 1994 For current productions please visit the "Works" page.
The "WUR robot", 8-bit artwork, 1987. |
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Contact Roberto Raineri-Seith, P.O. Box 404, CH-6601 Locarno 1 controlvoltage [at] bluewin [dot] ch |
