Spirituality & Distortion is the newest addition to Igorrr’s musical madness, released on Metal Blade Records. Gautier Serre once again bring his music to another impressive level, with a complex but catchy album.
I just want to make the music I love, without asking myself if it's gonna be too complex or too far from what people like. I want to make the music which has sense to me, with no restrictions, like a big party with metalheads, electronics nerds, classical and baroque-heads and gypsy violinists getting drunk and joining together to bring the best of every genre — Gautier Serre
Initially influenced by the likes of Meshuggah, Chopin, Cannibal Corpse, Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Taraf de Haidouks and Aphex Twin, traces of these artists can be found littered across Igorrr’s discography, but Serre has never been interested in remaining static or merely recycling ideas, and his work has dramatically evolved accordingly. It deeply explains how Igorrr’s music is such an explosion of creativity while keeping a cohesive universe records after records.
In recent years, Igorrr has also become a collective, rather than the work of one man alone, which has brought a new level of intensity into the group live representations.
With 2017’s Savage Sinusoid, Igorrr more than proved to be a truly unique musical force – and 2020’s Spirituality And Distortion cements that well-earned reputation. Slamming together disparate musical styles ranging from death and black metal to breakcore, Balkan, baroque and classical music in a manner that is as unconventional and unpredictable as it is thrilling, Igorrr are unlike any other act, and Spirituality And Distortion displays just as broad a range of emotions as sounds. “Getting stuck in only one emotion is very boring to me; life is a wide range of emotions – sometimes you’re happy, sometimes you’re sad, angry, pissed off, nostalgic or blown away” states mastermind Gautier Serre. “Life is not only one color. These 14 tracks are a journey through different states of mind I’ve been through.”
At no stage was there any plan, embracing the freedom offered in the wake of achieving Savage Sinusoid and going wherever ideas took him, embracing a small army of specialist musicians to help him attain his vision. Importantly, like its predecessor, this is not a predominantly electronic record.
“The organization part has been more complicated as we had to fly traditional instrumentalists to our studio, so, lots of planes, trains and cars were involved to make it happen, but all the acoustic instruments have been recorded traditionally, with no help of the computer.”
These included violinist Timba Harris, bassist Mike Leon, pianist Matt Lebofsky, Oud player Mehdi Haddab, accordion player Pierre Mussi, Kanoun player Fotini Kokkala and harpsichordist Benjamin Bardiaux, among others. Vocally, the most prominent performer is Laure Le Prunenec, whose operatic strains are a longtime part of the Igorrr mix, while regular collaborator Laurent Lunoir also appears on a few tracks. Serre also invited Pierre Lacasa and Jasmine Barra back to the studio (known from their appearance on previous tracks like “Vegetable Soup” and “Cheval”) to appear on “Kung-Fu Chèvre” and got to realize a dream with one guest performer. “We had the honor to welcome my personal favorite musical hero on this album: George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher of Cannibal Corpse. He screams on the track “Parpaing”, and his legendary voice brings the heaviness this track deserved. George is like the final boss of death metal. Like on a video game you have the final boss who is the strongest, George is the best in death metal singing. Due to the extreme heaviness and violence of his voice, I found it very much coherent to contrast it with a cheap tune of 8bit music which is the least heavy music on earth. The contrast is beautiful to my ears.”However, lyrics are less important when he is creating, and often these are delivered in languages he does not even speak.”
“As with the previous albums, I’m entirely focused on the sound itself and how the sonorities of the voice speaks to the heart, not the intellectual meaning of the words.”
This album features a great number of talented guests such as :
Laurent Lunoir – vocals
Laure Le Prunenec – vocals
Sylvain Bouvier – drums, percussion
Benjamin Baŕdiaux – harpsichord
Erlend Caspersen – bass
Mike Leon – bass (track 3)
George Fisher – vocals (track 6)
Diego Delgadillo – lyrics (track 6)
Fotini-Asineth Kokkala – qanun
Alexandre Peronny – cello
Mehdi Haddab – oud
Pierre Mussi – accordion
Antony Miranda – sitar, percussion
Nils Cheville – classical guitar
Martyn Clément – electric guitar
Matt Lebofsky – piano
Benjamin Violet – strings
Timba Harris – strings
Track-listing
1. Downgrade Desert
2. Nervous Waltz
3. Very Noise
4. Hollow Tree
5. Camel Dancefloor
6. Parpaing
7. Musette Maximum
8. Himalaya Massive Ritual
9. Lost in Introspection
10. Overweight Poesy
11. Paranoid Bulldozer Italiano
12. Barocco Satani
13. Polyphonic Rust
14. Kung-Fu Chèvre
On June 16th, Igorrr – the brainchild of French musician and eclectic composer Gautier Serre – will release their new album, Savage Sinusoid, via Metal Blade Records. On this record, electronic manipulations, accordion, saxophone, sitar, harpsichord, mandolin and strings sit comfortably alongside ruthless blastbeats, chunky riffs, death grunts and soaring operatic vocals – and as chaotic as this might sometimes seem, there is no lack of heart behind everything thundering from the speakers.
Savage Sinusoid can be ordered in the following formats:
— Digipak CD
— Pale skin clear vinyl (limited to 500 copies)
— Cream/white splatter (limited to 200 copies – EU exclusive)
— Golden yellow vinyl (limited to 100 copies – Bandcamp exclusive)
— Tan-marbled vinyl (limited to 200 copies – US exclusive)
* Exclusive bundles with a shirt, plus digital options are also available!
To realize Savage Sinusoid as a completely sample-free record, Serre reunited with vocalists Laurent Lunoir and Laure Le Prunenec, along with drummer Sylvain Bouvier, and collaborated with more musicians than on any of his previous releases – one of those guests being Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan, who lends his vocals on “Cheval”, “Apopathodiaphulatophobie” and “Robert”. “Viande” also sees Teloch (Mayhem) contribute some guitar/bass work, while “Houmous” features accordionists Pierre Mussi and Adam Stacey (the latter of whom is in Secret Chiefs 3 – a project by Mr. Bungle’s Trey Spruance).
While Savage Sinusoid draws from a plethora of genres, Serre has no intention of baffling or alienating potential listeners. As he explains:”I just want to make the music I love, without asking myself if it’s gonna be too complex or too far from what people like. I want to make the music which has sense to me, with no restrictions, like a big party with metalheads, electronics nerds, classical and baroque-heads and gypsy violinists getting drunk and joining together to bring the best of every genre.”
Igorrr will give European fans their first taste of new songs this spring/summer, with more shows to be announced soon.
Track-listing
1. Viande
2. ieuD
3. Houmous
4. Opus Brain
5. Probleme d'emotion
6. Spaghetti forever
7. Cheval
8. Apopathodiaphulatophobie
9. Va te foutre
10. Robert
11. Au Revoir
Videos
Making of (part 1)
Making of (part 2)
Making of (part 3)
ieuD
Opus Brain
Cheval
Maigre
5 tracks — 2015
Born as a distorted and angry extension to extreme drum’n’bass, the always-changing genre known as breakcore later evolved into a dark and freakish companion to hardcore. Two decades after its first steps, it is again undergoing a transformation. Combining post-IDM production, humour and rave-like energy, current breakcore artists such as Igorrr and Ruby My Dear are at the forefront of a musical style which defies the year as much as it avoids the limelight.
There is no better pair than these two to explain where breakcore stands in 2014. On the one hand, Igorrr is undoubtedly the best known name for the genre, his tracks played far outside of its boundaries and his name spreading around every music scene. On the other hand, Ruby My Dear’s morphing of the hardest and trickiest tones with a rare human touch is leaving a mark on his peers. Their collaboration is a match made in a heaven for fans. It makes sense (and happened before with Ruby My Dear remixing Igorrr’s Whourkr project on the “4247
Snare Drums” album) and takes this sound forward.
“Maigre” (French for “thin”) is dense, varied and sharp, accurately symbolized by the sighthound on its cover. It took some time for its authors to mix their respective talents, but they managed to combine Ruby My Dear’s rapid-fire rhythms with Igorrr’s multi-instrumental madness. Add to the mix a heavy dosage of the former’s sub-basses and the latter’s disorientating metal riffs, you’ll get a record which accomplishes a lot in a surprising short amount of time, helped in this by the participation of Laure Le Prunenec and Laurent Lunoir (both Igorrr’s live singers) and of a few other well selected guests.
Igorrr and Ruby My Dear have come up with something fun and hard, but also impressively well recorded and produced, which asks for repeat listenings and which will clearly leave its mark on the scene.
1. Petit Prélude Périmé
2. Mastication Numérique
3. Tartine de contrebasse
4. Pizza aux Narines
5. Dixit Dominus
6. Sueur de Caniche
7. Dieu est-il un être
8. Sorbet aux Ongles
Spirituality and Distortion
14 tracks
Spirituality & Distortion is the newest addition to Igorrr’s musical madness, released on Metal Blade Records. Gautier Serre once again bring his music to another impressive level, with a complex but catchy album.
Savage Sinusoid is the third Igorrr’s studio album, released on Metal Blade Records. Completely sample-free, the album features vocalists Laurent Lunoir and Laure Le Prunenec, along with drummer Sylvain Bouvier, and showcases more musicians than any of Igorrr previous releases – one of those guests being Cattle Decapitation‘s Travis Ryan, who lends his vocals on “Cheval”, “Apopathodiaphulatophobie” and “Robert”, while we can see also Teloch, from Mayhem, performing the guitars and the bass on the track “Viande”.
A match made in heaven: Igorrr, well known for the madness of multi-instrumental epic breakcore, pairs up with Ruby My Dear, one of the finest and most imaginative producers of the genre. The result is an intense EP which seamlessly combines these two musicans’ own sounds and takes the listener on an impressive trip. Hardcore beats, metal riffs, growls, opera vocals, sub-basses, absurd samples, sudden breaks: all these and more are found in “Maigre”, not thrown aimlessly, but carefully wrought in an EP which might advance a whole music scene forward.
Hallelujah is not only the follow-up to Nostril, but also a definite step forward for Igorrr. An album which was for years in the making, it is the translation into tracks of very old ideas and the combination not only of styles, but also of many guest musician’s talent. Together with several new singers and musicians, Igorrr has perfected here the concepts he had touched in his previous albums, improving his production and mixing breakcore, baroque classical music and metal in an even faster, more coherent and crazier way.
Both from Igorrr solo and from his high-profile guests Hallelujah is the lorrrd’s concentrate, the exhilarating, mad result of a perfectionist’s tireless work.
Prepare for some spastic thrashing and epic vocalizing: Igorrr might very well be the great white hope of whatever-core. With Nostril, the French musician draws from his impressive recording experience to create a dense and particularly wild ride that puts enthusiasm and energy back in your stereo: fast beats, sudden breaks, majestic moments, the whole thing crystal clear and more detailed than the most roccoco paintings. Free of any recognizable influences, new and very fun: here’s quite a tremendous slap in the face from an act to follow closely.
Moisissure is the second official demo of Igorrr. A mangled maelstrom of classical coupled with modern synthesised and virtual instrumentation, resulting in a breakbeat-black metal-opera exercise in madness. Anything this original and fresh (there really is nothing even vaguely similar available anywhere) as this selection of eleven pieces of brilliant lunacy deserves great praise. Igorrr may be reinventing what he began previously, but it is evolving into something far cleaner, more technically accomplished and much, much darker – without a doubt, a demo worth listening for any fan of experimental (and practically unclassifiable) fusions of electronic music — David vander Merwe, Connexion Bizarre.
Poisson Soluble is the first official demo of Igorrr. These 8 tracks are a document of musical past and provide an in depth dive into the beginning of the musician universe. Classical baroque, cut up dubstep, metal sensibilities and sheer insanities are his today’s well known blend but at the time of Poisson Soluble, they were still cooking like bursts of magma on top of a giant volcano. Igorrr has now become an essential name for everybody into extreme music, and he shows us here how he got there. Unmissable.