Since the dawn of everything, perpetual nomadism cannot be compared to the concept of simple wandering but rather to the voracious attempt to increase order and individual and collective knowledge. Cemento Atlantico – the electronic project of the Italian producer and DJ Alessandro “ToffoloMuzik” Zoffoli, from Cesena – acts as a dromomaniac to give a broader meaning to the present that surrounds him. His new album Dromomania is out today 21th June, 2024 via Bronson Recordings on CD, vinyl and all digital platforms, following the debut instant cult classic Rotte Interrotte of 2021.
Cemento Atlantico‘s logo is made up of the initials “C” and “A”. According to him: «The letter ‘A’ indicates the first Ocean I crossed, the Atlantic one, while the letter” C – represented by a crescent Moon, with no political or religious reference – symbolizes rebirth or the advent of a new life in many ancient and modern cultures».
Dromomania thinks of music as a collective ritual, with an international vision expressed in an intimate and artisanal way. All is based on the recalculation of traditions in a network of analogue and digital languages. Once again, field recordings are the starting point of each track: these are not trivial sound souvenirs but sources capable of telling a real story. Documents that try to respect other cultures, sharing an emotional value amplified and supported by concrete beats.
Heterogeneous yet compact in its approach to house, future garage, post-dubstep and world music, Dromomania is an album that is both darker and more rhythmic compared to Rotte Interrotte. Cemento Antico says: «In Dromomania the bass lines are overbearing. I wrote Rotte Interrotte in a particular historical period, due to the limitations of the Covid-19 pandemic. That album was my escape route, to convince myself that that absurd moment would be over, so I turned the pages of my “audio travel memories” and tried to relive them by sharing their imagery. Dromomania has brought me back on the road, finally free again, but it is also a darker work: the pandemic made me open my eyes to many aspects. In fact, I believe that the pandemic was the only crisis in history that did not give rise to a cultural revolution, but fueled ignorance and conflicts. In many situations the worst side of humanity has emerged, so I wanted to treat my productions with a less “chill” attitude. As if I had turned up the volumes on wars and arrogance. I would like the complaint to be alive, I would like to attract attention by making me feel louder”.
The first excerpt and opening track Garawek Khaos marks the first stop in Thailand, which takes its name from a coup orchestrated in 1932: the “people’s party” overthrew the absolute monarchy announcing the rise of a golden age, but those who are still protesting argue that this golden age has not yet arrived. The second single El Que Puede Hablar is a drum’n’bass acceleration with flutes that takes us back to the legendary stories of an ancient Aztec emperor worshiped as a divinity and the third single Danza Negra transforms the dance of the indigenous people of Monimbó, in Nicaragua, into an electro-dance explosion with ethno-pop melodies: poetry of sound, mysterious masks, tribal percussion and a marimba from the edge of the lagoon for fighting and dancing in the name of liberation. The brand new and majestic focus track The Land Of Lions moves just like the lions depicted in the coat of arms of Bulgaria, between rebellious grime, field recordings of sinuous stringed instruments typical of the Balkan tradition and voices recorded during a choral rehearsal session inside a Russian Orthodox church. Even the shape of the state on the maps resembles that of a running lion, an animal so recurrent in the country’s culture that its name was given to the most imposing bridge in Sofia, the Lion’s Bridge, in honor of the martyrs executed for decades due to the local riots. Dromomania was mixed by Andrea Cola at Stone Bridge Studio in Cesena and mastered by Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher) at La Distilleria, Bassano del Grappa.
In Dromomania the point of arrival is the reconstruction and sharing of an ever wider map. The landscapes dictate the sound flows, that translate into thought. Overthrows of state power, devotional rites, rebellions, legends, abuses and questions chase each other rhythm after rhythm, citing history through the space-time coordinates of Thailand, India, Bulgaria, Mexico, Andalusia, Romagna, Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama. Enjoy your trip!
