Mirco Magnani is an Italian composer, author, producer, and video artist, and a co-founder of some bands during the 1980s and 1990s: Minox, Technophonic Chamber Orchestra, and 4D Killer. Since 1984, he has been producing music and multimedia events with the 1980s new wave band Minox, and since 1986, he has also been part of the independent record label Industrie Discografiche Lacerba. In 1996, he co-founded the independent label Suite Inc., which he ran until 2006. Mirco has worked on releases for his labels and performed on stage with Steven Brown (producer of Minox’s 1986 album “Lazare”), Blaine L. Reininger, Luc Van Lieshout of Tuxedomoon, Lydia Lunch, Krisma, Mad Professor and Sainkho Namtchylak. He has also been remixed by Murcof, Nobukazu Takemura, The Gentle People, Daedelus, Ken Karter, Retina.it. In the late 90s, Mirco co-founded two side projects, the bands Technophonic Chamber Orchestra and 4D Killer, releasing three albums and performing live shows until 2010. Starting in 2003, he began creating audiovisual content for his side projects and for several Italian artists, later expanding into video art and music videos. In 2006, Mirco launched his solo moniker T.C.O., producing “Decompositio Sonata”, an audiovisual work aimed at reinterpreting 20th-century classical music composers. In 2009, he moved to Berlin and, starting in 2010, expanded his activities to include event organization and performances both live and as a DJ at numerous Berlin parties and festivals. In 2012, a new collaboration was launched called Undogmatisch, together with painter Valentina Bardazzi, who also created the label’s artwork. The Undogmatisch project was conceived as an art event with an exhibition space, AV live shows, and DJs, and later evolved into an independent record label in 2016. Subsequently, another collaboration began for Mirco Magnani’s concept album with actor/opera singer Ernesto Tomasini, titled “Madame E.”, released in 2017—a free reinterpretation of Georges Bataille’s short novel “Madame Edwarda”. In 2018, he produced another concept album, “Cronovisione Italiana”, under the fictional persona Carlo Domenico Valyum. Mirco acted as the conductor and curator of this sound and video reworking project, presenting a creation based on the reanalysis of excerpts from cult Italian television broadcasts from the 1960s to the 1980s. Recent notable releases include collaborative improvisation sessions with his Polish-Berliner friend Lukasz Trzcinski: two releases titled “Lumiraum” and “Lumiraum Appendix”, as well as an album with former Technophonic Chamber Orchestra collaborator Andrea De Witt, titled “Toretam Tor”. Additionally, he contributed several collaborative tracks to the three compilations curated by Magnani under the title “Magnum Opus Collectio Series”: “NIGREDO”, “ALBEDO”, and “RUBEDO”, alongside Andrea De Witt, Luc Van Lieshout, Andreas Yakovlev, Stamatis Dounis, and as a member of Orquestrina Utu. In 2024, he released a new album titled “Zarathustra – Der Große Mittag”, with the aim of rediscovering the messages behind “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, Friedrich Nietzsche’s book that seems to have never been fully understood. Four different languages were used to offer a multicultural vision of Nietzsche’s text, drawn from four significant cultures: German, English, Persian, and Russian and interpreted in spoken word by Steven Brown (Tuxedomoon), Sainkho Namtchylak, Nikolas Klau, and Paganland.
Sandra Weiss and Beat Keller have been playing together in various projects for years, for example with the Weiss Keller Domeniconi Trio in collaboration with the artist Michel Pretterklieber or with the artist duo bittelangsam. The duo also plays film music and theater music, for example for the film “Tod.Sein” by Micha Stuhlmann and Raphael Zürcher or for the contemporary mystery play “Chronik eines Aussterbens oder der innere Klang” (Chronicle of an Extinction or the Inner Sound). In 2022, the Duo Weiss Keller received a working scholarship from the city of Zurich for the musical research project “bioacoustic time travel” in collaboration with landscape sound artist Ludwig Berger. In 2023, they were invited to participate in the NWR soundtrips tour. Both are active representatives of the contemporary improvised music scene in Switzerland and internationally. Over time, the duo has developed a very specific band sound, ranging from very delicate sounds to more playful noise escapades or longer, meditative soundscapes interspersed with silence.
