In 2010 Italian wide-screen electronica group port-royal celebrated 10 years as a band. For the occasion they have teamed up with the n5MD imprint yet again for the release of a career spanning double album. “2000-2010: The Golden Age Of Consumerism” collects all of the band’s rarities, compilation appearances and remixes in one unabbreviated package containing close to 3 hours of music . Disc one includes the long out of print Kraken EP, tracks from the Magnitogorsk split with Absent Without Leave, the Honvéd EP, and the band’s many compilation appearances. Disc 1 also boasts two unreleased tracks. One which features port-royal siren Linda Bjalla (aka Izumi Suzuki) on vocals. The other comes in the form of a brand new extended version of Günther Anders originally heard in brief on the Onda Drops Vol. 2 compilation. Disc two features all remixes that the band has conceived over their decade together. Felix Da Housecat, Ladytron, Millimetrik, D_rradio, Bitcrush and Jatun among others get the port-royal remix treatment. This disc showcases the band’s deftness in the production of the various sub-genres of electronic music they are known to encompass. “2000-2010: The Golden Age Of Consumerism” is a wonderful retrospective that shows the band’s musical growth, emotional dexterity and unique approach to electronic music.
Hailed by fans and critics alike as the next evolution in post-millenial post-rock, port-royal’s boundless, sandbox approach to the genre fuses elements of ambient techno, shoegaze, and melodic IDM, recalling at times the mid-90s output of Orbital and Aphex Twin while indebted to the guitar-driven aesthetic of genre forebears Mogwai and Sigur Ros.
During a boredom-relieving conversation at a castle party in the hills of Genoa, childhood friends Attilio Bruzzone (guitar, synths, programming, vocals) and Ettore Di Roberto (piano, synths, programming, vocals) discovered a mutual affection for the likes of Joy Division and Mogwai and, in July 2000, decided to put their ideas down on tape. The two were soon joined by Ettore’s brother Michele on drums and, in early 2001, sampler/programmer Emilio Pozzolini. Adopting Michele’s suggested moniker ‘port-royal’, the quartet released their first EP, Kraken, in March 2002 on Genoa’s Marsiglia Records. Kraken’s unique blend of melancholy acoustic melodies, glacial ambiance and crisp, glitch-tech beats received limited attention outside Italy but set the template (and stage) for the band’s critically-acclaimed debut full-length, Flares. Released on UK label Resonant Recordings in March 2005, the record was recorded and produced over a three-year span in the band’s homemade studio and live with the help of line-up addition Guilio Corona on bass/samples. With frequent slow-burn builds that often cut their engines and change course before hitting escape velocity, Flares dynamic epics seem content in the hazy, indeterminacy of the stratosphere, favoring subtle textural shifts to the dramatic sturm und drang of traditional post-rock.
