IDENTITY

The project

Società Anonima Decostruzionismi Organici: music, performance, research, memory, and sonic devices. S.A.D.O. was born as an open musical laboratory and has explored different languages over time, combining acoustic instruments, electronics, objects, texts, images, and narrative structures. Their repertoire does not separate composition from improvisation; instead, both become integral parts of the same creative process. The name describes a method: taking a recognizable structure, observing how it works, and opening it up from within. The works may take the form of albums, concerts, installations, documents, interactive experiments, or sonic narratives.

The Three-Stage Sentential Form

The SENTENTIAL Form (also known as the “three-stage coercive form”) was created in 1990 for the release of the first experimental auditory-therapeutic work aimed at treating obesity, titled Anoressia – Cura dietetico-coercitiva in forma sentenziale, by Paolo Baltaro and Diego Marzi. It was followed by Sconfiggiamo la paura di volare, first performed live at Spaziomusica in Pavia in 2011 by the free jazz group S.A.D.O. (Società Anonima Decostruzionismi Organici), with the collaboration of the renowned critic and writer Guido Michelone.

This form is based on a three-stage syntactic model: Track, Truth, and Sentence. The listener, considered the “patient,” is exposed to repeated sequences of tracks composed of three movements. The first movement is a short TRACK that creates the setting. The second is the statement of a common truth or popular saying, intended to gain the maximum trust of the patient. Finally, the third and final movement, called SENTENCE, represents the true “active ingredient” of the audio-pharmaceutical process: a message designed to induce the listener to perform (or avoid) a specific action.

In the case of S.A.D.O.’s work TANATOFOBIA, this action consists of developing resistance to stimuli arising from the fear of death. In ANORESSIA, the first work based on this method, the aim was instead to create an auditory aid intended to support the treatment of obesity.

Biography

Founded in Vercelli in 1994, S.A.D.O. – Società Anonima Decostruzionismi Organici are a variable-line-up ensemble active in the field of experimental music. The group’s work encompasses improvisation, avant-garde rock, jazz, electronics, contemporary composition and sound theatre. Its approach varies from one project to another, while consistently preserving the relationship between composition, the transformation of musical materials and performance practice. The original core emerged from the Arcansiel milieu and brought together Paolo Baltaro on bass and keyboards, Gianni Opezzo on guitar, Sandro Marinoni on saxophones, flute and trombone, and Diego Marzi on drums and percussion. Over the years, the line-up has expanded and changed according to the works being developed. 1The group’s recording activity began in 1994 with Implosioni, recorded at KMP Studio and released by Banksville Records. The album documents the group’s first phase, characterised by improvisation, free jazz and timbral exploration. It was followed in 1995 by Teratoarchetipia, created by Paolo Baltaro, Sandro Marinoni and Diego Marzi. Material recorded between 1997 and 1999 was later collected in Le Origini (1997–1999), released digitally in 2025 as twelve tracks divided into two parts. 12At the beginning of the 2000s, La Differanza was released; the catalogue for the tenth-anniversary reissue gives the year as 2000, while some internal records indicate 2001. The project takes Derrida’s concept of différance as its point of reference and applies it to musical construction: a recognisable language is used to produce results that differ from the expectations normally associated with that language. The line-up consists of Paolo Baltaro, Sandro Marinoni, Diego Marzi and Boris Savoldelli. In 2010, the album was remixed and reissued by Banksville Records under a Creative Commons licence. 3Between 2007 and 2008, Holzwege was released by AMS Records, with production by Banksville Records. The work is structured in relation to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and combines its instrumental component with Boris Savoldelli’s vocal research. The release credits list Paolo Baltaro, Gianni Opezzo, Sandro Marinoni, Diego Marzi and Savoldelli; Luigi Ranghino and Andrea Beccaro also took part in the group’s activities during the same period. Holzwege broadens the relationship between written music, improvisation and stage presence, elements that would remain central to the group’s later work. 4In 2008, S.A.D.O. received recognition at the twelfth edition of Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos and the Premio Darwin – Musiche italiane non convenzionali. During the same period, they took part in the Carlos Santana tribute Guitars Dancing in the Light, released by Mellow Records, with a medley of Jingo, Moonflower and Tales of Kilimanjaro featuring Magica Aidan. 56

In 2009, AMS/BTF released Imprescindibile momento di cultura italiana, developed from a live recording made at Officine Sonore in Vercelli. The repertoire includes reinterpretations of Italian popular songs such as Mille lire al mese, Anima mia, La bambola, Brava and Figli delle stelle. The performances alternate with spoken contributions by Giovanni Battista Franco on the life and aesthetics of Benedetto Croce. The various versions of the show involved Paolo Baltaro, Sandro Marinoni, Boris Savoldelli, Gianni Opezzo, Andrea Beccaro and Luigi Ranghino. 7The most extensive project of this period is Weather Underground – A Story of Love and War, released in 2010 as a bilingual double album. The work consists of twenty-five episodes in Italian and the same twenty-five episodes in English. The texts and narrative framework were created with Guido Michelone and Franz Krauspenhaar; Michelone provides the Italian narration, while Stevn Thomas narrates the English version, with contributions from Giovanni Battista Franco. The musical line-up comprises Paolo Baltaro, Sandro Marinoni, Enrico Bricco, Andrea Beccaro and Boris Savoldelli. 8The material for Weather Underground originated in a long, direct-to-tape improvisation session and was subsequently organised through selection, overdubbing and editing. In his review published by OndaRock on 28 October 2010, Michele Saran described it as “one of the most demanding Italian records of the year” and referred to a “symbiosis of outstanding instrumental ability, superb use of the recording studio and stateless revisionism.” Writing in ImpattoSonoro on 5 November 2010, Massimiliano Locandro described S.A.D.O.’s artistic direction as “entirely personal.” These quotations represent the views of the respective publications. 910

In 2011, the production of Weather Underground, overseen by Paolo Baltaro, received the Prog Award for Best Production 2010. During the same period, the track Green Tea at 5 a.m., written by Marinoni, Baltaro, Savoldelli and Beccaro, was included in the charity compilation Musiche per viaggiatori distratti. In 2013, S.A.D.O. also contributed a version of Flaming to More Animals at the Gates of Reason – A Tribute to Pink Floyd, released by BTF. 51112A distinct strand of S.A.D.O.’s work is the sentential form, devised by Paolo Baltaro and Diego Marzi in 1990. Each episode is organised into three stages – piece, truth and sentence – in which a short composition introduces an apparently indisputable statement followed by a concluding message. The method was revived in 2011 for the performance Sconfiggiamo la paura di volare, presented at Spaziomusica in Pavia with Guido Michelone. 13At the end of 2018, Musiche per signorine da marito – Cura uditiva della narcolessia in forma sentenziale was released digitally and, in 2019, also promoted in a physical edition. The work consists of nine compositions, repeated in Italian and English versions, with a total duration of seven minutes and fifty seconds. Paolo Baltaro is credited with composition, production and recording; Sandro Marinoni plays saxophone and flute, while Andrea Beccaro performs drums on several tracks. The medical terminology and the concept of the “audio-drug” are elements of the artistic construction and do not constitute therapeutic advice. 13In 2023, Tanatofobia – Vaccino uditivo contro la paura di morire in forma sentenziale was released, produced by Paolo Baltaro and Diego Marzi with the participation of Alo Sogno and Andrea Beccaro. The album features eleven episodes in Italian and their corresponding English versions, preserving the tripartite structure of the sentential form and the parodic use of pharmaceutical language. 14Since 2024, the group has been working on a musical and editorial project devoted to Johann Fritz Tannhäuser, developed alongside the volume Johann Fritz Tannhäuser. Un genio ai margini. The repertoire attributed to this figure is adapted to S.A.D.O.’s instrumentation and presented live. The official description places the project between “document, concert and invention,” a formulation that clarifies its artistic and narrative nature. Introducing the interview published by DoppioJazz on 7 October 2024, Guido Michelone described S.A.D.O. as a “band poised between free, prog and avant-rock”; here too, the statement is a judgement attributed to its source. 15

In 2024, the project was presented on 22 September at Villa Scheibler in Milan, on 19 October at Casa del Suono and Casa della Musica in Parma, and on 25 October at the Pétit Theatre du Vicolo Schilke in Vercelli. The core line-up featured in recent performances comprises Paolo Baltaro, Diego Marzi, Giuseppe Garavana and Daniele Mignone, with Giovanni Battista Franco and Thi Li Procacci taking part on specific occasions. 1617In 2025, two distinct projects were released. Le Origini (1997–1999) made recordings from the group’s early period available, while Cacofobia – Sanremo 2025 decostruito applied the sentential form to the repertoire of the Sanremo Music Festival. The songs are listened to through headphones and immediately re-performed according to a process the group calls “musical dubbing,” based on the instantaneous transformation of the original material. The line-up credited for the project comprises Paolo Baltaro, Giuseppe Garavana, Diego Marzi and Daniele Mignone. On 7 November 2025, S.A.D.O. presented a work devoted to the compositions of Johann Fritz Tannhäuser, released on vinyl LP by Banksville Classics / Banksville Records, as part of the Suoni Diversi series organised by Tam Tam Teatro. The concert recording became the album Johann Fritz Tannhäuser: Die wiedergefundenen Meisterwerke, released in 2026 in eight tracks and accompanied by an editorial project and editions on physical media. The group’s open structure has allowed Paolo Baltaro, Gianni Opezzo, Sandro Marinoni, Diego Marzi, Boris Savoldelli, Andrea Beccaro, Luigi Ranghino, Enrico Bricco, Giuseppe Garavana, Daniele Mignone, Giovanni Battista Franco, Thi Li Procacci, Maria Grazia Aschei and Alo Sogno to take part at different times and in different roles. Guido Michelone, Franz Krauspenhaar and Stevn Thomas have contributed to the literary, narrative and spoken-word aspects of the group’s work. In an interview published by Musica Jazz on 25 September 2021, Luigi Ranghino recalled his work with S.A.D.O. through the words “irony, play, putting oneself on the line” and described the live relationship as an experience in which the group became “one with the audience.” The main discography includes Implosioni (1994), Teratoarchetipia (1995), La Differanza (2000/2001), Holzwege (2007/2008), Imprescindibile momento di cultura italiana (2009), Weather Underground – A Story of Love and War (2010), Musiche per signorine da marito (2018/2019), Tanatofobia (2023), Le Origini (1997–1999) (2025), Cacofobia – Sanremo 2025 decostruito (2025) and Johann Fritz Tannhäuser: Die wiedergefundenen Meisterwerke (2026). The principal documented appearances on collective releases are Guitars Dancing in the Light – A Tribute to Santana (2008), Musiche per viaggiatori distratti (2011) and More Animals at the Gates of Reason – A Tribute to Pink Floyd (2013). The documented awards are the Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos and the Premio Darwin – Musiche italiane non convenzionali, both received in 2008, and the Prog Award – Best Production 2010, presented in 2011 for Paolo Baltaro’s production of Weather Underground. The group’s activity has been documented through reviews, interviews and features published by, among others, OndaRock, ImpattoSonoro, Musica Jazz, DoppioJazz, RockShock, FareMusic and RAI Radio 3 – Battiti.

Contacts: Banksville Records – info@banksvillerecords.com – www.societaanonimadecostruzionismiorganici.com 1.Banksville Records, S.A.D.O. archive and historical discography. 2.Apple Music, Le Origini (1997–1999), released 30 March 2025. 3.Banksville Records, La Differanza, tenth-anniversary reissue and credits. 4.Banksville Records, Holzwege, AMS edition, credits and line-up. 5.Giù le mani dai bambini, Musiche per viaggiatori distratti, artist profile and awards. 6.Paolo Baltaro, complete discography: S.A.D.O. medley on the Santana tribute. 7.RockShock, review of Imprescindibile momento di cultura italiana. 8.Banksville Records, Weather Underground, credits and bilingual format. 9.Michele Saran, “SADO – Weather Underground,” OndaRock, 28 October 2010. 10.Massimiliano Locandro, “S.A.D.O. – Weather Underground,” ImpattoSonoro, 5 November 2010. 11.la Repubblica, “Arriva la compilation solidale con Musiche per viaggiatori distratti,” 9 December 2011. 12.Discogs, More Animals at the Gates of Reason – A Tribute to Pink Floyd. 13.Banksville Records, Musiche per signorine da marito, sentential form, duration and credits. 14.Banksville Records, Tanatofobia, production, structure and line-up. 15.Guido Michelone, “Un genio ai margini. Intervista su Johann Fritz Tannhäuser,” DoppioJazz, 7 October 2024. 16.FareMusic, presentation of the Sound Day in Parma, October 2024. 17.Perindiepoi, S.A.D.O. concert at Vicolo Schilke, 25 October 2024. 18.Banksville Records, Cacofobia, project and credits. 19.ATL Terre dell’Alto Piemonte, Tannhäuser ritrovato in San Pietro Martire, 7 November 2025. 20.Apple Music, Johann Fritz Tannhäuser: Die wiedergefundenen Meisterwerke (Live), 30 June 2026. 21.Musica Jazz, “Lavorare sul suono. Intervista a Luigi Ranghino,” 25 September 2021.