Origin Rome, Italy Website vonneumann.net | Years active 1999–present | |
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Genres Experimental rock
Post-rock Labels Ammiratore Omonimo Records; Ebria Records; Homemade Avantgarde; Freeland Recordings. | ||
vonneumann is an experimental/post-rock band formed in 1999 in Rome, Italy. The band is named after the mathematician Johann von Neumann. The full name of the band should be written in small caps and with no spaces in between; it contains no less than 4 ns. vonneumann can also be abbreviated with nn and should be always referred to as singular (one entity).
Contents
History
vonneumann is the re-incarnation of a previous band called Arborio which was active from 1992 until 1998, when it disbanded, only to form again the year after with its same members. The decision to change name was to underline the necessity to change style and direction of music. As Arborio had developed a very tight math-rock style, its members decided to try a new approach: it would all start from improvisation, thus setting a radical change with the past.
In 2000 vonneumann releases its first demo/album l'invariante.tmp (self-produced, Ammiratore Omonimo Records) receiving positive reviews from the Italian underground magazines and e-magazines, notably from Blow Up. The following year vonneumann records a short EP pulcino angolare [o plurale - EP]. The same year vonneumann signs with Freeland Records (same label of Gorge Trio, Colossamite) and in 2002 releases jaser/lægo (Freeland Records), its first non-selfproduced album. Jaser/lægo is welcomed by the underground press as a landmark in the Italian free-rock panorama and is distributed in all Italy. On March 2002 Blow Up dedicates a long article on the international free-rock scene, associating vonneumann to the likes of Boards of Canada, Dntel, Piano Magic, Slicker and Velma. Consequently, vonneumann embarkes on a tour across all Italy.
The following 2–3 years vonneumann was involved in soundtracks for local theatre shows, working mainly with Francesca Staasch.
In 2006 vonneumann releases its third full-length switch parmenide (Homemade Avantgarde), a concept album based on Zeno's paradoxes and skateboarding. The album is very well released by the underground press, but gets little distribution due to the limited resources of the label. No gigs were ever played of the album.
Following switch parmenide vonneumann decides to work on two twin albums, one of pure improvisation and one of purely written music. This is a deep change in the composition modality, as all the previous works were always a combination of the two elements. In order to remark this change, vonneumann also decides not to record in house the "written" album, but to go professional. Summer 2007 is thus devoted to the recording of il de' blues, currently unreleased. The album was recorded by Ivan Rossi and mastered by Giovanni Versari, from the Nautilus studio.
At the same time, vonneumann mixed and mastered by itself the "improvised" album il de' metallo and, after signing with Ebria Records, it was then released early 2009. il de' metallo was reviewed extremely well by major Italian magazines and was rated album #2 of the month by Blow Up magazine.
After a long break, vonneumann is now working on a new concept album.