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| Sixty minutes of evocative beats; ITS#SEVEN soundtrack |
| September 18, 2008 |
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 Saturday night ...some minutes before 10 PM...the fashion show is the climax of the two day event in Trieste... ITS#SEVEN is celebrating the talent of the finalists in fashion design, the catwalk is surrounded by darkness, the lights are down, and a voice-off invites the late comers in the crowd to take their seats...
What better tune then "Total Eclipse of the Sun", by German legends Einsturzende Neubaten to give an intense and emotional kick-off in the expectations-dense atmosphere ...the song seems into translate into music that moment of breathlessness breath seconds when the first outfits hit the catwalk.
The sound just sneaks in, finding its way into the seating area, oozing from the speakers filling the entire venue, underlining the high-impact moment of the first collection.
 Almost an hour later, the voice of Radhiohead?s frontman Thom Yorke and the beats produced by Berlin based Modeselektor (from Germany to Germany...) are the finale of the soundtrack, accompanying the creations of the last finalist, Yuima Nakazato.
Between the two songs an entire musical journey takes places in less then sixty minutes...
As with past editions, the choice of songs that form the ITS Fashion Show soundtrack starts even before the pre-selections jurors decide who the selected finalists are in April. An amazingly large number of songs are carefully sifted through in winter, without any genre boundaries: from movie soundtrack to clubbing-oriented dancefloor rough beats, from emotional indie-tronica to obscure songwriters, from mainstream artists to underground names (it is an added pleasure to share such hidden gems...).
The Electrosacher dj collective, together with Barbara and Michele from the EVE team, spend long winter nights in "listening sessions" and have the task of matching the idea the collections evoke to the music the fascinations from the collections (as the sketches are finally revealed).
 The flux is a matter of balance, with the rhythm unexpectedly accelerating and slowing down, and instruments and digital rhythms intersecting, rock flavours and electronic textures blending...
Sasha Funke's "Mango", Matthew Dear's "Deserter", Parov Stelar's "Shine" propel the crowd onto the far dancefloors in Berlin or Vienna, while delicate harmonies like those of Ryan Tongue and Mum amplify the dreamy atmospheres recalled by some of the outfits.
Guitar riffs have their own space, in MGMT and LCD Soundsystem songs, while different versions (provided by the genius skills of Sixtoo and Squarepusher) surprise and re-invent classic tunes originally done by Goblin and Joy Division.
The musical sequence is a second trail running parallel to the strong visual impact of the collections, the two senses unite and fuse in an unique sensation which seems to be more than the sum of the two parts.
A loop from Shawn Lee's cover of "Hey Ya" multiply the joyful sensations of the prize-giving ceremony, while "No Car Go" by Arcade Fire fits the moment the ITS family takes the catwalk perfectly ...like a ritual of good fortune to let everybody find their personal promised land.
Lights on, it is time to chill out on the quay, and music once again fades into the background; the Electrosacher dj stops his live mixing, leaves the consolle on the side of the stage, and heads to the bar for hiswell deserved drink, the night goes on... |
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