The Berlin-based post-punk duo Circolo Vizioso have released their debut album “Verrückt”. The music was created mainly with electric violin, guitar and drums. The band is heavily influenced by the sound of 1990s American post-punk and indie rock (i.e. Fugazi, Sonic Youth) and 80s-90s Eastern German and Eastern European punk bands.

Circolo Vizioso is made up of Tony Scafidi (guitar, bass, drum, hi-hat, vocals) and Paul Geigerzaehler (violin, snare drum, vocals).

Earlier, the band presented the singles “Walls”, written in outrage over the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and “Choppy”, a high-octane song spawned from a bout of depression brought on by a failed love story.

“On ‘Verrückt’, we wanted to stretch the potential of the bass drum, the high hat, the snare and the tambourine to the utmost. As two people having to sing, play guitar and violin and drums at the same time makes it challenging to come up with refined and intricate drumming. But it does give us an interesting opportunity to exert a furious, instinctively ancestral and liberating beat on a few drums,” says Tony Scafidi.

Paul Geigerzaehler adds, “We wanted to make an album that could express anger, frustration and disaffection against an unfair world and all the discomfort entwined therein. And we wanted to do it with direct and bare lyrics abrasive violin lines, fat distorted guitar solos and big fuzzy riffs. Yet we wanted people to let go of this batshit crazy world in a sort of self-exorcising dance, where one can go to sleep with the illusion of having sweat their demons off at least for the night.”

Formed in March 2020 on a balcony in Friedrichshain, Berlin during the first Covid-19 lock-down, Circolo Vizioso was born as an attempt to keep art and music alive and to provide support to their neighbours during a time when no concerts were happening and no cinemas, museums or galleries were open. Circolo Vizioso is these artists’ attempt to resist the isolation and the lack of social and human contact, as well as the hunger for music and art during this unusual time.

The “Verrückt” album is available via Bandcamp, and from other music platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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