Carlos Giffoni - Biography
Venezuelan Carlos Giffoni is relatively new to the international free-improvisation scene, but he’s already made some bold waves. Sine waves, pardon the hideous pun, because free-form agents of chaos are a dime a dozen when they’re blowing out their guts on reeds or brass; Giffoni guides his intuition through oscillators and synthesizers and homemade electronics. He’s also a madman when he’s got a heavily processed guitar in his hands. The titles in Giffoni’s discography may not be the easiest to hunt down and snare, but some small measure of his gifts can be assessed with a glance at the names of the artists with whom he’s collaborated to date: Nels Cline of Wilco; Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth; laptop pioneer Pita; Japanese noisenik Merzbow; Illusion of Safety’s Jim O’Rourke. That such company holds Giffoni in esteem speaks well of his future prospects. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s the life of the party: Giffoni is the founder and curator of Brooklyn’s No Fun Fest, and multi-day extravaganza of shrieking, howling clangor that has hosted the likes of Smegma, Borbetomagus, and other elder stateswomen and men of the international noise conglomerate.
One of Giffoni’s best releases put him on the map. It was a mere three-inch CD released by the astute musicians James Elliott and David Daniell on their late Antiopic label, but North Six (2004 Antiopic) featured the trio of Giffoni, Lee Ranaldo and Jim O’Rourke. That’s enough to grab some attention, and the contents didn’t disappoint. It’s an old-fashioned, white-noise freakout, and Giffoni rises to the occasion on guitar and electronics. His sound can be belligerent, but he keeps it under careful rein. It bolts when he gives the word, not a moment sooner. This sort of discriminating ear and sense of patient resolve makes him an ideal collaborator for both Ranaldo and O’Rourke. Too often, on the noisy battlefield of free improvisation, valor is the better part of discretion. Giffoni knows otherwise.
There are a slew of additional collaborative efforts featuring Giffoni, although, again, many can be elusive. Graduation (2004 Free 103.9 Dispatch Series) is an LP featuring Giffoni with Nels Cline and Chris Corsano; he teamed with Norwegian extremist Lasse Marhaug on the limited Lesbian Brunch (2004 Gameboy Records); he worked with Scottish artist Dylan Nyoukis on Chewing Smoke (2004 Imvated Records) and again with Make No Mistake About It (2004 Ecstatic Peace), in which he and Nyoukis were joined by Thurston Moore. Numerous out-of-print CDR titles feature notable performers including Jorge Castro, Dino Felipe, Chuck Bettis, Pita, Smegma, and Metalux. An early solo effort worth seeking is Welcome Home (2005 Important Records).
While Giffoni has the requisite skills, attentiveness and flair for interplay needed to coast endlessly as a sidekick, his best efforts are his most recent solo outings. When left to his own figurative and literal devices, Giffoni manages to sound far more unique and invigorating, and while he indulges in his share of amps-to-eleven rampaging, he’s also taken to exploring rhythm with more finesse, occasionally lapsing into beats and even flirting with propulsive grooves. Arrogance (2008 No Fun) is the most intriguing of the lot, as it meanders from white light to black noise to rainbow-electronic beauty. Several other recent releases also merit scrutiny: Adult Life (2008 No Fun) relies on oscillators and thus evokes 60s-era experimentalism; Claustrophobic Wreck (2009 Ultra Eczema) is a reasonably interesting pairing with Hive Mind; Severance (2010 Hospital Productions) continues the themes of Adult Life. Carlos Giffoni seems to be developing himself as a cottage industry, cultivating connections in the music world as a performer, promoter, record producer and erstwhile label honcho. Expect productivity and longevity.