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Fuzznaut Premieres “Sufferlove” Single Out This Week

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on February 21st, 2024 by JJ Koczan

Fuzznaut Sufferlove

This Friday, Pittsburgh drone guitarist Emilio Rizzo, otherwise known as Fuzznaut, will release the new single “Sufferlove,” as the first outing from the project since 2022’s Apophenia (review here) full-length. And like that album, “Sufferlove” cries out into empty space with solo guitar and unmitigated breadth, creating and inhabiting an atmosphere that draws the listener further across the five-and-a-half-minute expanse. Cycles of ‘riff’ bleed in amid the ambient sprawl, and with a title that perhaps hints toward its expressive purpose, an emotional crux is conveyed along with the depth of tone and the weight that emerges in the second half of the piece.

That’s a contrast — tonally, between air and earth — which Rizzo readily identifies in his own work, and which is audible in the track itself. It comes through immediately in the meditative vibe at the outset of “Sufferlove,” which echoes out not too far removed from Lamp of the Universe before finding and exploring its own space as Fuzznaut makes it sound much easier to do than it actually is, and the harder, lower-noted distortion strum that arrives at 1:35 broadens the scope of the nonetheless hypnotic piece, which cycles through the back and forth again before a thoughtful bridge leads to the more open-sounding progression — the air — to finish, interpreting a classic structure from what in another context might’ve manifest as verse/chorus/verse with a clarity of intent in following a different path.

I’ve done a few premieres for Fuzznaut at this point. Both the video for “5184” that you can see below the entirety of Apophenia that’s also down there streaming made their debut here. As Rizzo perhaps looks to move forward from the 2022 LP and headed to another collection of one sort or another, “Sufferlove” brings quick assurance of progression in sound, and one would expect no less.

Whatever it may lead to, “Sufferlove” is out Friday as a standalone single, and its patience, resonance and groove live up to that challenge of representing Fuzznaut post-Apophenia.

Enjoy:

Emilio Rizzo on “Sufferlove”:

Meditation is the practice of death. A practice of immersion and dissociation. Similar to shoegazers staring at their pedals and shoes. Are they shy or fully immersed in their music that all they can do is stare at the ground? Present and absent. Sufferlove by guitarist Fuzznaut is the sonic performance of creating a state of non return. As intangible as that might be, the latest single brings mind bending tones that are further grounded in shoegaze. However, the guitarist continues to inject crushing down tuned riffs in between the flurry of pitch bending vibrato, and fuzzed out drones. At 5:33 seconds one cannot help to be engaged in the flurry of tones, and either be lifted or grounded. Either way it’s a trip to another sonic dimension.

Fuzznaut
“Sufferlove”
Single 2/2024
Digital Release
Independent
Time: 5:33

Mixed and MASTERED BY Fuzznaut at Leafy Brain Sounds 2023-2024.
Artwork by Fuzznaut

Fuzznaut, “5184” official video

Fuzznaut, Apophenia (2022)

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Fuzznaut Premieres “5184” Video; Apophenia Out Now

Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

fuzznaut

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, solo drone guitarist Fuzznaut — né Emilo Rizzo — released his new album, Apophenia (review here), on Nov. 4. And you have to believe me when I say I know it seems like the world is full of drone projects. You’re not wrong. Between the fact that just about any phone on the market can double as a recording studio and that about a year and a half out of the last two years were spent in lockdown, yes, it is not uncommon to find the rigors and anxieties of our age translated into varying sorts of soundscapes, manipulated effects, and so on. But you saw the three words ‘solo drone guitarist’ in the first sentence above and your eyes immediately glazed over, you’re missing out.

Here’s why: the thing about Fuzznaut isn’t the novelty of the makeup of the ‘band.’. Because it’s not a novelty; drone projects abound, as noted. It’s the expression in the sounds themselves. Across Apophenia, and emphasized in the closing track “5184,” for which there’s a suitably atmospheric video premiering below, Rizzo ties his guitar not only to immersive and hypnotic progressions, but to a genuine and purposeful sounding setting of mood. He uses it to convey emotion — in this case, it’s homage born of admiration and tribute, and that certainly counts — and the song rings out with a construction that’s both easy to follow and deep-running enough to lose oneself within, if only for a couple minutes.

I’m reasonably sure the footage in the early part of the clip is of Pittsburgh, and if you take the visual subtlety that brings the viewer from floating around in the ether above the city into a venue before and during a show as a clue to the song itself also following something of a plotline, I think that’s probably the idea too.

The full stream of Apophenia, whether for meditative or deep-dive purposes, is at the bottom of this post. You’ll find the video for “5184” below, followed by some comment from Rizzo on its intent.

Please enjoy:

Fuzznaut, “5184” video premiere

5184 off the album Apophenia by Fuzznaut.

5184 the closing track of Apophenia. The main riff was written the day Eddie Van Halen died. It was a somber day in the guitar community and just felt the need to play and that just came out. During a part of the song, I tried to get some vibes as a nod to his tone. His influence is so profound that anyone who picks up a guitar, it would resonate. Overall, this album is about sitting with adversity, but not letting inside/outside negative forces devalue your struggle.

Apophenia written and recorded by Fuzznaut at Strega Sana Sounds March-July 2022
Mixed and Mastered by Erik Peabody at Viking Guitar Productions
Artwork by Fuzznaut

Fuzznaut, Apophenia (2022)

Fuzznaut on Instagram

Fuzznaut on Facebook

Fuzznaut on Twitter

Fuzznaut on Bandcamp

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Fuzznaut Stream Apophenia in Full; Out Friday

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on November 1st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Fuzznaut

Pittsburgh-based drone outfit Fuzznaut will release the 28-minute debut full-length, Apophenia, this Friday, Nov. 4. Following up 2019’s Form is Emptiness (review here) and the 2020 single “Haunting Mantra” (premiered here), the six-tracker is more definitively a first album in flow as well as runtime, which is still on the don’t-overstay-welcome end of short but for guitarist Emilio Rizzo, owner-operator and sole-proprietor of the project, it’s still plenty of time to lay out a course of expressive standalone riffing, marked throughout by changes in effects and maybe some layering, but almost exclusively centered around the chords and repetitions of the instrument itself.

With tracks on either side of five minutes — longest is “What You Seek, Seeks You” (5:45), shortest is closer “Seconds Between a Swing and a Hit” (4:13) — Apophenia evokes a meditative atmosphere quickly as the initial feedback of the leadoff title-track gives way to the first declining, established riff, not as slow or empty-space Americana as mid-period Earth, and obviously more sparse in arrangement since it’s just guitar, but definitely taking inspiration from the Dylan Carson oeuvre in tone and style, hinting in that regard even unto the David V. D’Andrea-style fonts and color scheme of the cover art, also by Rizzo. Clearly he knows what he’s going for.

Despite the fact that there’s just one instrument repeating parts, gradually building one progression on top of the one before it, a kind of natural movement through each piece, I don’t think it would be fair to call Apophenia — the title referring toFuzznaut Apophenia the fine art of making connections where there aren’t any, which I think applies both to reading too much inflection into a text message and to modern obsession with conspiracy theories — minimalist, since wherever Rizzo goes, whether it’s the stark spiremaking of “Parasitic Oscillation” or the Black Mare/Ides of Gemini-style tension of “What You Seek, Seeks You,” which follows, the feeling of movement is always palpable. If we’re meditating, that doesn’t seem to mean the world has stopped.

That sense of motion isn’t quite a sweep until “Hawks Over Fifth” marries a backing synth-style drone to a guitar line that’s reminiscent of the Westminster chimes or whatever grandfather clock happens to be in your memory association, and settles into that up and down pattern smoothly, offsetting with a lead in the midsection that feels duly bright before working into more open strum declarations to finish on the way to “5184.” Whatever the reference — is it Van HalenBlack SabbathDune? — the penultimate inclusion answers the landscape-making tendency of “Hawks Over Fifth” with a broader, chugging echo and a howling slow-lo in its second half, fading at the end having returned whence it came as though to reassure structure still exists.

“Seconds Between a Swing and a Hit” — a title that I immediately associate with baseball but could really be about any number of things, among them violence — is perhaps not as tense as the title might make one believe, but the rhythm of its component parts feels designed to drive toward the final interplay of solo and riff, which cuts off cold after swelling in volume but never going so far as to be a ‘grand finale,’ which would inevitably upset the careful balance Rizzo has worked hard to strike in this material. The meditative aspects of Fuzznaut‘s drone are prevalent in Apophenia, but the songs seem to reach out as well as within, and if the connection being imagined is between the listener and the songs themselves, I somehow doubt Rizzo would mind.

Never gonna be for everybody, but some will fall hard into it. Only one way to find out where you land, and that’s listening.

Full stream follows, with more from the PR wire after. Enjoy:

From the artist on Apophenia:
I heard the word Apophenia from a true-crime podcast intro in 2020. It is defined as the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things. The pandemic was at its peak there was isolation, and a dark uncertainty about everything. Apophenia to me resonated as the state of things at the time.

There are a lot of things in the world have a darkness and intensity to them that can be harnessed to create something that is grounding and affirming. This record is a vehicle of going through turbulent times, mourning, and using that pain into fuel to persevere. There are two specific songs that are tributes. The singer of Planes Mistaken for Stars died In 2021. They were a huge influence on me creatively, and there was always a riff inspired by them. I had wrote it way before Fuzznaut had been created, when I was learning guitar. Seconds Between a Swing and a Hit is a tribute and tonally trying to capture and honor some of that influence. 5184 the closing track of Apophenia. The main riff was written the day Eddie Van Halen died. It was a somber day in the guitar community and just felt the need to play and that just came out. During a part of the song I tried to get some vibes as a nod to his tone. His influence is so profound that anyone who picks up a guitar, it would resonate. Overall, this album is about sitting with adversity, but not letting inside/outside negative forces devalue your struggle.

Credits:
Apophenia written and recorded by Fuzznaut at Strega Sana Sounds March-July 2022
Mixed and Mastered by Erik Peabody at Viking Guitar Productions
Artwork by Fuzznaut

Fuzznaut on Instagram

Fuzznaut on Facebook

Fuzznaut on Twitter

Fuzznaut on Bandcamp

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Fuzznaut to Release Apophenia Nov. 4

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Fuzznaut

Pittsburgh’s Emilio Rizzo, the lone figure operating under the banner of Fuzznaut and perhaps underserved by the decided-unartsiness of the name, will release the project’s full-length debut, Apophenia, on Nov. 4. Shades of Earth’s drone-minded ways crop up almost immediately in the opening title-track, and the spaces Rizzo creates operating with just a guitar at his disposal are vast in the spirit of that band’s Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method without necessarily adopting the Americana bent. At six songs and 28 minutes, the album — the title of which refers to someone’s tendency to draw connections between things that aren’t necessarily related — is manageable despite the dug-in nature of the tracks and the owning-its-own-ambience taking place on “Parasitic Oscillation” or the later volume swell of “5184,” which is Rizzo‘s stated tribute to Eddie Van Halen.

You can hear Fuzznaut setting a course on these tracks, and they are duly encompassing. “Hawks Over Fifth” blends post-rock stretch with harder strummed fuzz, and “Seconds Between a Swing and a Hit” howls at the conclusion in a way that is both pointed and anti-ceremonial. There’s a fair amount to dive into, as Rizzo dives pretty deep himself.

No audio yet, but the PR wire shows some love and you can hear Rizzo‘s “Haunting Mantra” single (premiered here) from 2020 at the bottom of the post. Not entirely representative, but not nothing:


Fuzznaut Apophenia

Pittsburgh experimental and psychedelic doomgaze band Fuzznaut have announced “Apophenia”: a 26-minute expedition into sonic annihilation. With “Apophenia” Fuzznaut takes the listener on a journey of somber ambience, shimmering textures, and foreboding riffs.

Fuzznaut “Apophenia” will be available digitally on November 4th, 2022.

From the artist on Apophenia:
I heard the word Apophenia from a true-crime podcast intro in 2020. It is defined as the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things. The pandemic was at its peak there was isolation, and a dark uncertainty about everything. Apophenia to me resonated as the state of things at the time.

There are a lot of things in the world have a darkness and intensity to them that can be harnessed to create something that is grounding and affirming. This record is a vehicle of going through turbulent times, mourning, and using that pain into fuel to persevere. There are two specific songs that are tributes. The singer of Planes Mistaken for Stars died In 2021. They were a huge influence on me creatively, and there was always a riff inspired by them. I had wrote it way before Fuzznaut had been created, when I was learning guitar. Seconds Between a Swing and a Hit is a tribute and tonally trying to capture and honor some of that influence. 5184 the closing track of Apophenia. The main riff was written the day Eddie Van Halen died. It was a somber day in the guitar community and just felt the need to play and that just came out. During a part of the song I tried to get some vibes as a nod to his tone. His influence is so profound that anyone who picks up a guitar, it would resonate. Overall, this album is about sitting with adversity, but not letting inside/outside negative forces devalue your struggle.

Credits:
Apophenia written and recorded by Fuzznaut at Strega Sana Sounds March-July 2022
Mixed and Mastered by Erik Peabody at Viking Guitar Productions
Artwork by Fuzznaut

https://linktr.ee/fuzznaut
https://fuzznaut.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/fuzznautdoom
https://www.facebook.com/fuzznaut
https://www.instagram.com/fuzznautdoom/

Fuzznaut, “Haunting Mantra”

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Emilio Rizzo of Fuzznaut

Posted in Questionnaire on July 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Emilio Rizzo of Fuzznaut

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Emilio Rizzo of Fuzznaut

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I compose and perform instrumental music that is heavy and meditative. I have always played in bands growing up. Due to life constraints it wasn’t always possible to start a band, but I had begun seeing other solo artists and it inspired me to try solo instrumental music. I had also started becoming infatuated with guitar gear especially guitars and pedals. One rule I gave to myself was that if I were to spend money on this, I would also have to make something with it.

At first the idea was to program drums and do a one man band sort of thing, but I did not find that inspiring so I stuck with guitar. This ended up being the blueprint of everything that came after, and with limiting certain things I have to maximize other things. It all sounds like music, and I like how it challenges the listener to first question “ok so it’s just a guitar”.

Describe your first musical memory.

I was about 5-6 years old watching MTV (When they used to show music videos), and Collective Soul “Shine” was my favorite song. It had a great guitar riff and I would play the tennis racket in lieu of an air guitar. I just loved how it sounded. The melody was catchy enough, but something about that guitar riff just sat right.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I have two answers for this. First, was when I played my first show post-covid. I had a sense of how temporary all of this was and made a conscious effort to savor it. It was a cathartic performance and I felt a new connection with myself, the stage and the audience that was pretty indescribable. All I know is it flowed and is on of the reasons I work so hard is to capture that.

Second, a pleasant surprise is that people have reached out to me via social media, or at shows. Stating their music was influenced by mine, send me over there music, or I saw what you are doing and now I am starting my own solo project. It is an amazing feeling to inspire others.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I took some time to think about this one. A big one for me is the idea of if I were to play music it would have to be in a band. By that time I just finished grad school and had a 9-5 job and didn’t see much future playing music. It wasn’t until I started seeing heard demos on YouTube and getting into drone metal specifically Dylan Carlson’s solo record “Conquistador”. That showed me a type of solo instrumental artist that I wanted to be. Despite being one guitar in most of these cases there was still so much music being created. It was when this clicked I was able to begin crafting what is now Fuzznaut.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

To me it leads to evolution, continued learning, and honing what you do. It’s not like you’re shooting for perfection (nothing can ever be and if it is its fleeting at best). In all of my pursuits as Fuzznaut when it comes to writing, social media, merch design, video editing, etc. I am always learning something, and then learning how to do it better. At the end of all this it will hopefully resonate with others and then can inspire something else new. It can be endless if you want it to be.

How do you define success?

Success to me is just living the life you want to live the best you possible can, given the circumstance and situation. Another thought in regard to art is getting as close as you can to your intended output, from vision to creation, which is rare but something I always attempt to do.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Senseless aggression at a Social Distortion show. The band decided to play all ballads, fights would just start breaking out and people would be getting kicked out. Just too much negative energy and vibe killing when that happens. I get it if it were in the pit, but these were during the slower country stuff and it was so incongruent.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I would love to design fuzz pedals. I have some ideas in my head but I have no electrical engineering skills. I had bought a pedal building kit once, but I never followed through and ended up selling it. If I could collaborate with someone who knows what they are doing like Earthquaker Devices did when with Wata from Boris, and SUNNO))). That would be a bucket list thing for me for sure.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

This question reminds me of a quote Buzz Osborne said “Art is Communication”. It sticks with me because for me it’s about communicating what can’t be said. Sometimes it’s just me saying to the world I exist and I can only articulate that with the music I make. A side effect of making that communication is also being able to connect with others.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Finally snagging a PS5. I game casually and feel like it’s time to take the leap into next gen. It is a nice escape to wind down with a single player game and live in that world for a bit.

https://www.facebook.com/fuzznaut/
https://www.instagram.com/fuzznautdoom/
https://twitter.com/fuzznautdoom
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxP-YKZAc3U57WMnF0fbh4Q
https://fuzznaut.bandcamp.com/

Fuzznaut, Haunting Mantra (2020)

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Fuzznaut Premiere New Single “Haunting Mantra” out This Week

Posted in audiObelisk on October 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

fuzznaut

Pittsburgh one-man drone outfit Fuzznaut will release the new single Haunting Mantra on Friday, Oct. 30. It is a crowded pre-Halloween release date, to be sure, but one expects few among the multitudes will so effectively convey the paranoia and uncertainty of the right-now in which we’re living. Part X-Files soundtrack, part post-metallic atmospheric sludge tonality, part pure exploration, the 8:40 work from guitarist Emilio Rizzo follows the 2019 debut Fuzznaut EP, Form is Emptiness (review here), and though it is comprised of material from the same sessions, it feels less specifically Americana-gothic than the prior offering. That could be an affect of the way in which the song was built up from already-recorded pieces, but either way, the somethingelseness works to its benefit.

A clean creeper of a guitar progression — bass, drums, vocals, keys, etc. need not apply — if offset by dense distortion that carries a home-recorded feel as if to emphasize the notion that some projects were just made to exist in an age of quarantine. Rizzo isn’t out to put on a technical show, but there is a precise feeling to the tempo at which “Haunting Mantra” plays out, and the track’s title serves double-duty as a mission statement. The arrangement is of course sparse, but too restless ultimately to be minimal — Rizzo gives himself away as a writer of riffs in an underlying sense of structure to the track — and you can read in the track info below that the guitarist is playing toward notions of tonal weight and creating something “heavy” in the sense of heavy rock or doom while bringing that to a sound based on drone. Such stylistic aims don’t necessarily account directly for the mood in “Haunting Mantra,” but neither do they dismiss it.

It is perhaps the experimentation in “Haunting Mantra” that most resonates, at least in terms of concept, and the fact that Rizzo is willing to pull pieces apart and remake them in such a way only holds promise for things to come from Fuzznaut as his palette continues to expand, even if that just means working with different effects, loops, etc., to create varied atmospheres. One way or the other, the track is indeed a work of heaviness, and you can hear it premiering below ahead of the glut of offerings out this weekend.

Please enjoy:

“Haunting Mantra” is an 8 + minute sonic experience of echoing riffs and reaping heavy fuzz. The music bursts between lurking feelings of dread, and elation. These atmospheres take hold with pounding intensity. The original pieces were set for “Form Is Emptiness” sessions but were deconstructed and reformed to provide this current offering of earth-shattering tones.

Release Date: October 30, 2020

Music By FUZZNAUT recorded at Strega Sana V2.

Mixed and Mastered by Viking Guitar Productions

Fuzznaut, Form is Emptiness (2019)

Fuzznaut on Facebook

Fuzznaut on Instagram

Fuzznaut on Bandcamp

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Fuzznaut Premiere “Conjunction and Ellipsis” Video from Form is Emptiness EP

Posted in Bootleg Theater on March 19th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

fuzznaut

The debut EP release from Pittsburgh’s Fuzznaut, Form is Emptiness, is comprised of four tracks written for and performed by solo guitar. The project is the work of Emilio Rizzo, who brings a strong current of Earth-style meditative riffing to the 21-minute offering, which begins with “Form is Emptiness” and moves into “Emptiness is Form,” sounding less indebted specifically to HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method than many of the more Americana-minded entities who might take on a Dylan Carlson influence, but still capturing an emotional ambience even if, by its very nature, it’s something of a stark one.

Of course, that is to say, Rizzo‘s on his own throughout “Form is Emptiness,” “Emptiness is Form,” “Conjuction and Ellipsis” and the two-minute finale “Midnight and Shadow,” and in solo-drone fashion, the results are duly lonely. Without the anchor of drums, it’s tempting to float off on Rizzo‘s thickened tonal undulations, and I won’t necessarily recommend against it — Form is Emptiness is a short-enough journey at 21 minutes even if you sign up for the whole thing — but there are distinct riffs that emerge through the surrounding patterns of effects and atmospherics, and one finds that as the tracks play through, the more grounded rhythms, even without percussion, give the listener something to grasp onto where otherwise the music might simply drift.

He’s not the first to strike this balance, obviously, but Form is Emptiness is a first release, so it’s worth remembering that this is the point from which future work will spread outward, and in that capacity there are multiple encouraging factors here, whether it’s Rizzo‘s not giving in to all-out indulgence in the material or the fact that the blend of spaciousness and tonal weight he conjures here leaves himself an open context for which that future work might grow. That is, should he wish to add effects, instrumentation, whatever it might be, there’s room in the sound for all of it without it seeming out of place, and frankly, the emptiness sends a message unto itself as well.

You can see the video for “Conjunction and Ellipsis” — most of which was recorded live and is accompanied by scenes from around Pittsburgh — premiering on the player below.

Please enjoy:

Fuzznaut, “Conjunction and Ellipsis” official video premiere

Pittsburgh Doomgaze Fuzznaut Premier New Video “Conjunction and Ellipsis” Off The Debut EP “Form Is Emptiness”.

FUZZNAUT “Conjunction and Ellipsis” shot and directed by Fuzznaut entirely on the iPhone is in exploration in sound vision, and experimental video documentation. Taking scenes from Fuzznaut’s hometown, experimental video, and the first year of life performance. This video encapsulates the origins and development of the solo artist. That reflects the tones and textures of the soundscapes.

FUZZNAUT is the solo electric guitar project of Pittsburgh based composer Emilio Rizzo. Using the guitar as means to summon sequences that are a complex clamor of timbre and power ambiance. That engages the listener to discover ominous sounds from minimalist architecture.

Fuzznaut live:
May 22 Cattivo Pittsburgh, PA

Fuzznaut, Form is Emptiness (2019)

Fuzznaut on Thee Facebooks

Fuzznaut on Instagram

Fuzznaut on Bandcamp

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