Black Era has been one of those bands that dragged me into the uprising netlabel scene a few years ago, and they are one of the reasons why I call myself a Creative Commons evangelist ever since. The motivation behind the Italian band is deeply rooted in a spirit of sharing and collaboration, and Black Era is also one of the few bands on the scene that doesn't shy away from calling itself political.

I had the pleasure to talk to Blob a while ago, who's responsible for the synths, sounds and the recording process within the trio. He confirmed that "the name, the iconography, and most of all the emotions that fuel the band are deeply political driven." But Black Era doesn't want to represent a certain movement or political direction: "Our point of view is quite simply honest and human", he explains.

The members of Black Era are also part of a team of dedicated musicians and music lovers who founded one of the finest netlabels around, the wonderful 'A Quiet Bump' label, five years ago. Since then, 'A Quiet Bump' has become one of the leading sources on the scene, focusing on Trip Hop, Dub and Digital Roots. You won't regret exploring their awesome back catalogue, which also holds six releases of Black Era by now, and I can't recommend every single one of them more.

Their latest one brings back the soulful vocals of Dy Darshan, Black Era's wonderful lead-singer. She didn't work with the band on their "Mute EP", which was released almost exactly a year ago. And although the production was as good as ever, I certainly missed Dy's warm, hypnotizing way of singing, which also acts as a kind of counterweight to the electronic arrangements of Blob and Alfuzz, who is playing all the guitar parts on the band's releases.

"How Pierced?" showcases Black Era in top form, celebrating their digital Trip Hop with some dubby and Electronica-esque borrowings, sharp lyrics and deep vocals. Like all of their other releases, "How Pierced" shines with the band's extraordinary drum programming skills and deep, organic bass play. I really like the fact that all of the five tracks reflect an almost traditional songwriting style. Combined with the unique sound programming of Blob (among others, he uses an old Juno 106, whose OSC is broken and thus spits out the weirdest effect sounds you can think of), Black Era's sixth release is a highly approachable yet original piece of music, that perfectly fits into the band's line of works, but also manifests its power to reinvent itself even stronger than ever.

Black Era clearly continues to be one of the flagships of the netaudio movement. Don't miss any of their releases, especially not their latest one.

Black Era - How Pierced? | Black Era | Black Era on MySpace

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Update: You'll find an in-depth interview with Black Era on my digital magazine audiovoltaics.cc now. Please come over!