We Buried Ourselves Deep Inside the Roman Noise Underground with Not Not Fun's Italian Stallion Mai Mai Mai

When you were younger, all those years ago, did you, like me, develop a slightly unhealthy obsession with the Romans? Did you spend hours thinking about Nero and vomitoriums and the establishment of Africa Proconsularis? At night, did you slip into a deep sleep only to dream of Mark Antony and Marcus Aurelius? Did you demand dinners of dates and honey? Oh, you did? Great. That wasn't just me then.

Rome's a bit different these days—the centurions are, sadly, long gone. Still, a city can't live inside its own history without ossifying and asphyxiating itself inside a museum exhibition, so let's forget about Romulus' creation and think about the Rome that exists here, in the terrifying, disorientating, deeply unpleasant present.

One musician acutely aware of how worlds collide, how the then and the now are locked in an eternal jostle for cultural dominance, is Toni Cutrone. Cutrone, who runs esteemed noise label NO=FI, currently works as Mai Mai Mai, and it's under that name he's hooked up with one of America's leading avant-imprints—the ever reliable Not Not Fun—to release one of the year's most furiously punishing and endless interesting records, Phi.

Co-released with Italian label Boring Machines, Phi is the third part of Cutrone's Mediterranean trilogy of albums, a series of records that situate themselves somewhere between the gnarled abrasions of the midwest noise scene, the darker and more haunted end of the avant-folk spectrum, and what's been (fantastically) termed "Italian Occult Psychedelia." This is music that's a perversely perfect fit for an age in which absolutely nothing makes sense

We advise you turn the lights off, blast Phi—which is streaming in full below—as loud as you can, and read our interview with Cutrone, which is just down there. Embrace the terror. You'll feel better for it in the end.

THUMP: Britt tells me you're a "Roman noise omnivore" – is that a fair assessment?
Mai Mai Mai: I actually smiled when I read it! A nice and picturesque way to describe me. I have a couple of ideas about its meaning: on one hand, it's connected with the methods of Mai Mai Mai itself, eating up ethnic and folkloric music from the Mediterranean area (for Phi, especially South Italian and Greek), library music, Italian 60's/70's soundtracks, rhythmic electronics, psych vibes, thrown into a personal and noisy mix of all those ingredients.

On the other hand he knows I'm involved in a bunch of different projects, in different aspects of the music world. As a musician I've been active for years with many experimental bands and projects, primarily as a drummer but also working with synthetic rhythms, acoustic instruments, and electronics. For over a decade I've run a label called NO=FI Recordings, mostly focused on the Roman experimental scene although I've worked with people from all over the world too, like Mike Cooper, Heroin In Tahiti, Ensemble Economique, Ancient Ocean, Gianni Giublena Rosacroce, and Neptune. I run a venue in Rome as well—with a few close friends—called DalVerme, which has become a sort of headquarters for local experimental music, and an essential space for Italian underground music in general.

So, "omnivore" might be understood in this sense, as busy in every side of the music "business." But he is the only one who knows the full meaning!

How did you hook up with the NNF squad?
It was around seven or eight years ago that I started following NNF for their great releases and attitude. It was a really good discovery! Year after year it happened that I shared the stage with different musicians on NNF, and we had the pleasure of hosting several of their artists at DalVerme while they were on tour: Gnod, High Wolf, Maria Minerva, Umberto, Peaking Lights, Sun Araw, Ensemble Economique.

But I think the first time I got in touch with them was because we bought some NNF releases for a distro we used to run, and via email we started talking about bunch of different things: touring Europe, touring the U.S., local scenes, bands and labels and so on! After this, we were in touch often, for one reason or another. Britt told me he was really into Mai Mai Mai so as soon as I recorded the new album I sent him the rough mix. Let's say that, since it's coming out on NNF, he probably liked it! I am really glad that I'm working with NNF and again with Boring Machines for this album, the label that released the beginning of the Mai Mai Mai trilogy (Theta - LP, 2013), and who's putting out the vinyl version of Phi. It's a great team!

Where does your music sit within the Italian underground?
There's a very active scene here, full of experimental and weird stuff, located in the eastern part of Rome: the so-called "Roma Est." In 2011 a kind of manifesto for this scene came out, a compilation called Borgata Boredom - Music and Noises from Roma Est. A small D.I.Y. community based in this district took control of its own momentum and started opening small venues, clubs, and performance spaces, creating fanzines, shooting films, establishing new collaborations and importing/exporting great music. Venues such as DalVerme and Fanfulla are the headquarters of this scene. For sure I can say I am part of it, since it's a daily relationship that's been going on since the beginning.

About Mai Mai Mai in particular, it's mostly connected with another local scene, which years ago got termed "Italian Occult Psychedelia" because of a series of shared traits: psychedelic atmospheres, a classical Italian mood inspired by spaghetti westerns, Giallo and horror movies, a sort of "Mondo Aesthetics" (related to the Italian "Mondo" tradition in film). There was also a rediscovery of the local psychedelic legacy of the past, musicians such as Franco Battiato, Nuova Consonanza, Aktuala, Futuro Antico, and obscure italo-prog.

By the way, I am very honoured to have Lino Capra Vaccina playing on this album (on the last track, "Akea"). I grew up listening to his fantastic album Antico Adagio and all the releases he made with his bands Aktuala and Telaio Magnetico. To give some more examples, other I.O.P. bands include Father Murphy, Heroin In Tahiti, In Zaire, Mamuthones, La Piramide di Sangue, and Cannibal Movie. Simon Reynolds once discussed with Valerio Mattioli from Heroin In Tahiti (who's a journalist himself) the possibility that the bands connected with the I.O.P. represent a parallel version of England's hauntology aesthetic. Their conversation is quite interesting and you can read it on Reynolds' blog.

In addition, I'm closely connected with the electronic music scene and the more experimental side of the clubbing scene in Italy, which is growing a lot. In fact I'm collaborating with the techno producer Luciano Lamanna, doing darker tracks of noise and industrial beats using only analog and modular synths, which has opened the the way into an other world.

Phi is out now on Not Not Fun/Boring Machines