The Volume Settings Folder

"the volume settings folder” is italian guitarist M. Beckmann’s latest project, consisting in ambient, drone, post-rock music with a bit of field recordings and Noise. Despite a bunch of good – and also successful – ambient/drone/experimental names coming from the mediterranean country, it’s quite difficult to find an audience for this music and try to “grow a proper musical style” with low budget. On the other hand it’s very motivational. M. Beckmann started playing guitar quite “late”, aged 16, in a time when most of radio-aired music were grunge and metal. Sigur Ros records, especially the Untitled album “( )”, slowly changed his vision and approach to music. Drowned into post rock bands like Mono, Mogwai, The Album Leaf and at the same time loving the experimental sides of metal, starting from Isis to Jesu, Earth and Sunn O))), Beckmann left no paths unexplored: the so called IDM scene, easy listening, german electronic and ambient/drone music from tons of artists (Boards Of Canada, Aphex Twin, Alva Noto, Pjusk, Machinefabriek, the 12K and Miasmah labels artists among many others) and some “nu-jazz” from norway filled the gaps of a growing musical acknowledgment. All these listenings were shared with friends, in the almost-foggy countryside of north-east Italy. By the early 2009 he formed with them a “collective of 6 musicians and artists” called Dört: electronica, trip-hop, electro acoustic, post-rock stuff and live visuals. The project went pretty good, gaining some attention in the region and in Venice, until the big chance arrived at the Sherwood Festival (a well known festival in Italy), in summer 2010. Sadly, after that summer the project slowly faded away: all members pursued their university careers abroad and Beckmann did it in Hamburg, Germany. Forced by the events “the volume settings folder” project came out as an answer, and a will of not giving up with the music making. The “countryside-ambience” he lived in, the ambient, drone, Noise, experimental and post-rock stuff he listened to, the crossroads through them became the focus. Among all the artists, an actual inspiration came from Sigur Ros, who’s post-rock “patterns” are a real obsession and inspiration for his guitar work, indeed hearable in the recordings. He developed a sort of dark ambient/drone style, playing mostly with guitar and analog-effects, than mixing this lo-fi music with field recordings: record, cut, loop, slow down, hide high frequencies.. this became a signature, almost unconsciously. The process takes place in a rush, exploring the most natural ideas and spontaneous inspiration of the artist, taking this work in the field of improvisation music.