Genre defying Euro duo back with new LP

Alexander Hacke and Danielle De Picciotto, better known as hackedepicciotto announce new material and European tour dates.

Pic Credit: Mara von Kummer

hackedepicciotto [Alexander Hacke & Danielle de Picciotto] have shared a new track from their forthcoming album, The Best of hackedepicciotto (Live in Napoli), due out on double vinyl, limited to 500 copies with exclusive signed print, and digitally on 1 November 2024, via Mute.

The new album collates over 20 years of collaboration, experimentation and genre defying work over two live performances recorded at Auditorium Novecento, one of the oldest recording studios in Europe, and the new track to be shared, ‘Third From The Sun’, is a cut from their 2020 album, The Current, originally recorded in the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. 

This new collection of what the duo have dubbed Symphonic Drone is a mixture of industrial beats, electronic sounds with classical harmonies and melodies, with an added pinch of throat singing, Hurdy-gurdy and spoken word. Daniel Miller of Mute goes on to say that “their music is a genre of its own, something new and very intriguing.”

The Best of hackedepicciotto (Live in Napoli) showcases live interpretations of music from across their career. The album includes reinterpretations of tracks from all of their studio albums: Keepsakes (2023), a tender exploration of friendship and loss, The Silver Threshold (2021), their defiant reaction to the pandemic, Perseverantia (2016), which dealt with the artists nomadic lifestyle, Menetekel (2017), which embodies their collective despair at the state of the world, and powerful energy of The Current (2020), recorded by the Irish Sea.

For over 20 years Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) and artist, musician and filmmaker Danielle de Picciotto (co-founder of Love Parade) have been developing and evolving a symbiotic working practise together, with a deep intuition of the kind that has  distinguished a rare number of creative and romantic partnerships – think of the writers Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, the artists Lee Miller and Man Ray or heroes of independent filmmaking, Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes – each partnership underlined by a creative equality that allowed both artists freedom to explore and expand.

Individually, hackedepicciotto have been trailblazers from the beginning. Alexander Hacke started experimenting with cassette loops at 14 in the early 80s, then joined Einstürzende Neubauten to create music that would influence generations of musicians. Danielle de Picciotto, fascinated by early electronic dance music, founded the Berlin Love Parade in 1989, was the singer of one of the first cross-over bands in Berlin, The Space Cowboys and then joined forces with Gudrun Gut to create a feminine version of electronic music far ahead of its time. In 2001 Hacke and de Picciotto began collaborating, creating elaborate audio/visual multimedia performances in Berlin, before deciding to become nomads. The duo gave up their home and travelled the world, boldly defying convention and becoming a modern, musical version of Bonnie and Clyde, racing from concert to concert, and releasing albums at breakneck speed, until they were forced to lockdown in a studio during the pandemic in 2020. 

The Best of hackedepicciotto Live In Napoli is out on double vinyl and digitally on 1 November 2024 – Pre-order the album HERE

The Best of hackedepicciotto Live In Napoli Tracklisting (cat # STUMM512)

Hackedepicciotto – Official website || Instagram || Facebook

Mute – Official website || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || TikTok

About The Author

Andi Callen (Contributing Editor)

Original punk. Done everything there is to do in music, except run a record label!
Addicted to noise and taking photographs of live music.
Based on NW England, I’ve previously contributed to Louder Than War, MancAndi, The Punk Site, and Backseat Mafia, where I was Punk/Post Punk & Live Editor.
Part of the original review team when Rocksound Magazine first started.

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