black sun productions is the project of massimo & pierce, a duo of producers and performers based in zurich, switzerland. their albums feature an array of guest artists such as coil, lydia lunch, hr giger, val denham, sudden infant, niko skorpio, sonne hagal, andrew zealley and many others. massimo & pierce's performance portfolio spans over a variety of genres, from the pornographic surrealism of "plastic spider thing" (2002) through the decadent nostalgia of "post-industrial cabaret" (2005) and to the poetic modernism of their latest piece, "porno teo kolossal" (2008).
Massimo and Pierce had previously been well known as artists in Switzerland and Italy, but they gained international attention when the soundtrack of their performance piece, Plastic Spider Thing, was released by Coil's label Eskaton and they became part of the industrial band Coil's European tour in 2002.
After this tour, Black Sun Productions continued performing throughout Europe. These performance pieces were often controversial, involving nudity, sexuality and urinating on stage. In 2003, their offices in Zurich were raided by police who seized computers and files, among other things. Undeterred, they continued working, turning again to recording. In 2004 they emerged with two CDs, Astral Walk and Toilet Chant.
In 2005 Massimo & Pierce issued a new release. OperettAmorale is a tribute to Bertolt Brecht and includes covers of his songs with such guest musicians as Coil, doing a version of "A List Of Wishes", recorded with John Balance before he died; "The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency" with Lydia Lunch providing vocals; and H.R. Giger performing "SeerŠuber-Jenny" and providing cover images. Massimo and Pierce have also collaborated with the Italian industrial music project Mariae Nascenti in performance and on the CDs Morituri Te Salutant and Anarcadian Night.
In 2006 Black Sun Productions released the double album titled The Impossibility of Silence, featuring Massimo & Pierce and guest artists such as Lydia Lunch, Val Denham, Sudden Infant and Sonne Hagal. Throughout the year the collective played a number of live performances including Darkness Is Enlightening at Paradiso, Amsterdam, on a multiple bill with Psychic TV, Lydia Lunch and Val Denham.
In 2007 Black Sun Productions ceased to be a collective. Down to a duo, Massimo & Pierce released in April the album Chemism and the EP Dies Juvenalis and played a number of live performances, including the Transformer Festival in Biel, Switzerland (with Val Denham) the IV Congresso Post Industriale in Prato, Italy and the Dada Industrial Nights in Pavia, Italy. In November, Massimo & Pierce's short film Uncle Billy was premiered in NYC at the 20th MIX Festival. Two compilations featuring Black Sun Productions' tracks were released in 2007: Radio Intereference from Unknown Orgasm (Somnimage) and Old Europa Cafe (OEC100).
"I believe that you Pierce and Massimo and you all are William Burrough's WILD BOYS come over into the REAL WORLD. I know he would have loved you all and blessed you with his word and picture spells. I wish you could have know him. Still... IN DREAMS he exists as strong and salty as a river of sigils and sperm. " - Jhonn Balance, April 2002
"I am SO PROUD OF YOU, that you have had the energy, talent, and brilliance to project yourselves outward to all the new black sun boys in your beautiful Golden Room. Day by day, you both are CHANGING LIVES, which is of course, what life itself, is all about! If, in a small way, I first shed some light for you, onto that path through the darkness, then we will live bathed together in its warm glow, forever." - Peter Christopherson, October 2006
"To me personally Black Sun Productions music seems poetic, magickal and almost quasi-religious. It appeals to my sense of duality, being both beautiful and ugly all at the same time. It really is a strange and wonderful sound." - Val Denham, November 2006
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