Power-works 1986-88

For the first time on CD archival recordings by Ethnic Acid:
the exclusive double CD "Power-Works 1986 -88".
Featuring a selection of the most powerful tracks, taken directly from the original master tapes, this release represents a major milestone in the history of underground noise music.

Ethnic Acid is/was the nom de plume of British noise musician Anthony Di Franco, who is currently a member of the legendary UK band Ramleh, and previously of Skulflower, AX, JFK and Novatron.

The recordings presented on this double CD span the years 1986 to 1988 when, while still a schoolboy, Anthony was carving out a singular identity as a electronic/acoustic noise musician recording for labels such as Broken Flag and Birthbiter (UK), Disciplines Productions (Italy) as well as his own JFK imprint. Obscure and arcane, this music has only been available to the most dedicated hardcore noise fanatics – until now.

Listened to back-to-back Power-works 1986-88 almost comes across as the “hidden reverse” of the Aphex Twins original “selected ambient works” LP: both artists were contemporaries, working on their own forms of electronic music in their respective bedrooms at around the same time, but that’s where any similarity ends:

The music on Power-works ranges from blistering electronic noise (“Severed from life”, “Heatflash 2”), through to harrowing guitar, vocal and feedback drone works (“Il papa”, “Spirit”, “Angel of death”) to dark-ambient atmospheres (“Reduce this distance”). The variety and dynamic range of the music is breathtaking and, considering the increasing number of contemporary noise bands in circulation today, this music is and was totally ahead of its time. By fusing elements of industrial power-electronics into guitar based noise rock, Ethnic Acid dissolves the barriers between the genres to spawn new, mutated, musical hybrids.

Listening to this music one can understand why, at the age of 16, Di Franco was promoted to the ranks of one the earliest incarnations of the band Skullflower, lending his ultra-heavy guitar and bass distortion to albums like “Form destroyer”, “Ruins” and “IIIRD Gatekeeper”.

Anthony Di Franco is currently a member of the avant-electronic/rock group Ramleh, alongside Broken Flag founder and noise-music pioneer Gary Mundy. He also records under the names AX and Novatron."

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