Wednesday, November 24, 2010

4

Eugenio Finardi: Sugo (Cramps, 1976)

An album reflecting the mood of its time, the strong political involvement of Italian music in the mid-Seventies. The opening track is one of the best known symbols of the era, "Musica ribelle", celebrating the unstoppable urge of rock music, dragging away the youth from their comfortable passivity and making them part of the "rebellion". Despite the strong connection with the social climate of the period, the song is direct, heartfelt and lacks any rhetorics: for these reasons, it hasn't aged at all, and is still as intense and striking as it was at the time.
The rest of the album is much less topical in its themes - and much more evidently naïve in the rhymes, but is musically very good nontheless. The band who played on the record was composed of top-notch musicians from the Milanese progressive scene: Area's Patrizio Fariselli, Paolo Tofani, Ares Tavolazzi, (soon to be) PFM's Lucio Fabbri and the well-known Cramps Records sessionmen Hugh Bullen, Walter Calloni, Alberto Camerini. "Quasar" is an all-instrumental track clearly reminding of Area, but the album's most remarkable for its fusion of jazz-rock with American folk-rock models (a pretty unusual fact, since it was the UK which inspired most of the musicians back in those days). Finardi's passion for American music has its biographic roots: Finardi's mother is American and he was raised in an American school in Milan. His excellent English pronounciation can be noticed in "La C.I.A.", an intriguing and quite "early" raggae/rock experiment.

Here's an interesting documentary/interview about "Musica ribelle" (in Italian).


Tracklist:
  1. Musica ribelle
  2. La radio
  3. Quasar
  4. Soldi
  5. Ninnananna
  6. Sulla strada
  7. Voglio
  8. Oggi ho imparato a volare
  9. La C.I.A.
  10. La paura del domani
Download (160 kbps)

Similar music on the blog:
Alberto Camerini: Cenerentola e il pane quotidiano (Cramps, 1976)
Area: Maledetti (Cramps, 1976)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

3

VV.AA.: Ref. 907 (Italian Records, 1981)

An early compilation witnessing the earliness and originality of Italian minimal-synth scene. Published by the quintessential new wave label Italian Records, it features a selection of three songs for each of five bands: Eurotunes, Ipnotico Tango, Metal Vox, Absurdo, Kerosene.
Almost no information about the bands can be found on the internet, but Eurotunes have a Myspace page and it says they were based in Rome. The overall sound of the record, anyway, isn't that far in spirit from the one of the mostly Bolognese bands heralded by Italian Records: Gaznevada, Stupid Set, Hi-fi bros, Confusional Quartet. It is, basically, de-evoluted rock based on primitive-sounding synthetizers, with very repetitive beats and skeletal riffing held by the sawtooth register of the keyboards. As for the aforementioned Italian Records bands, the prominent references seem to be the contemporary scene of the American North-East, with two subtler yet distinct influences coming from the alienating synth-pop sounds of Sheffield and post-industrial England, and perhaps more evidently from the New York no wave/mutant disco circuit - the latter fact making many tracks remind of the extraordinary "Great Complotto" scene of Pordenone.
The defining trait differentiating the five bands of Ref. 907 from their labelmates is essentially the darkness and illness of their sound. Though it has almost nothing in common with the growing "darkwave" trend of those years (no abyss and woe, at all) the music shows a taste for bleak and morbid atmospheres, combined with schizoid/spastic vocals and discomforting instrumental intermissions.
The bands are quite different one from the other, but I'll let you discover yourself their particularities. I'll just say everytime I listen to this compilation I have different opinions on what's my favourite!


Tracklist:
  1. Eurotunes: European's Progress
  2. Eurotunes: I Got the Beak
  3. Eurotunes: Osaki Motion
  4. Ipnotico Tango: Ipnotico Tango
  5. Ipnotico Tango: Spasmodico Rango
  6. Ipnotico Tango: Erotico Mango
  7. Metal Vox: Future World
  8. Metal Vox: T.V. Hero
  9. Metal Vox: Infinity
  10. Absurdo: O'vel
  11. Absurdo: Audio Output
  12. Abdurdo: Sex in Ball
  13. Kerosene: Meccano
  14. Kerosene: Jazz Rock
  15. Kerosene: Stivali
Download (256 kbps)
The compilation was already posted on Mutant Sounds, but some tracks were missing.


Similar music on the blog:
Gaznevada: Sick Soundtrack (Italian Records, 1980)
Confusional Quartet: omonimo (1980)

Monday, November 15, 2010

3

Sui blog di musica italiana / About Italian music blogs

(Per una volta, scrivo anche in italiano)

Come avrete forse notato, ho aggiunto nella barra a lato uno spazio che mostra gli ultimi post di altri blog riguardanti la musica italiana. Questo mi dà l'occasione per una piccola riflessione/riassunto.
Quando ho dato il via a questo download-blog, nell'aprile 2008, ce n'erano pochissimi dedicati espressamente alla musica nostrana. Che io ricordi, gli unici ad avermi anticipato sono stati Italian folk music, Orrore a 33 giri, 7'' from the underground e l'indimenticabile Anni di piombo, anni di pailettes, purtroppo "morto" presto. Erano tutti abbastanza settoriali, quindi avevo gioco facile a pubblicare album che non fossero già reperibili nella blogsfera.

Sono passati solo due anni e mezzo, ma il panorama è cambiato radicalmente; e in meglio, per una volta. Oggi come oggi, conto dieci blog attivi dedicati esplicitamente alla musica italiana - e sono sicuro di essermene perso qualcuno. La maggior parte si occupa di periodi specifici, o manifesta una netta predilezione per alcuni generi (anche il mio, alla fine della fiera, non è che uno specchio dei miei gusti); messi tutti insieme, però, coprono uno spettro veramente ampio di settori. I blog sono aggiornati con frequenza, ma la cosa più sorprendente è la capacità che hanno di portare alla luce continuamente dischi rari e dimenticati. Io passo un bel po' di tempo a spulciare liste su internet, o cartelle di file in share sul p2p, per scoprire nuovi (vecchi) dischi italiani, ma puntualmente quando faccio una visita a uno di questi blog mi imbatto in cose di cui ignoravo totalmente l'esistenza - e mi domando: "Ma questo dove diavolo l'ha trovato!?". Il fatto è che ognuno ha i suoi canali preferenziali: blog come The Breakfast Jumpers o Indieitalia (da poco chiuso, ma non per questo dimenticato) hanno sviluppato contatti con molti artisti indipendenti e netlabel attuali; altri blog sfruttano la loro amicizia diretta con artisti del passato, o saccheggiano le fiere del vinile in cerca di rarità da "rippare", o consultano enormi archivi personali di fanzine... Questa varietà e costanza nelle scoperte è la cosa che più mi entusiasma della situazione attuale.
Un piccolo aneddoto la dice lunga sulla "rivoluzione" accaduta nell'ultimo paio d'anni. Non sono mai stato un gran collezionista di musica "fisica" (cd, vinili, cassette o che altro) e la grandissima parte delle cose pubblicate sul mio blog viene dal p2p. Uno dei pochissimi album che ho "rippato" personalmente è stato l'omonimo dei La Crus: non riuscivo a trovarlo in rete in nessun modo, e ho finito per comprarlo, appositamente per lo scopo. Ora, tra blog e p2p, trovarlo è decisamente più facile. Ma, soprattutto, i dischi che proprio non riesco a trovare in alcun modo sono ben più rari e sconosciuti!

Ogni tanto, mi viene il timore di aver pressoché esaurito le scorte riguardo a questo o quell'altro periodo, e temo di dover ripiegare su dischi di seconda scelta o iniziare a ripetermi assai di più con generi e artisti. Poi però mi faccio un giro sugli altri blog e vedo che traboccano di cose stuzzicanti di cui non so niente di niente. Così mi convinco che ce n'è ancora quanta se ne vuole di musica da riscoprire, e mi ributto nella ricerca...
Temo però che difficilmente mi passerà la convinzione che i nostri anni novanta musicali siano stati un'era rozza e oscura :P

ps. Fate caso a Ondarock! A breve arriverà un ampio speciale sui blog più legati alla nostra attuale scena indie!


As you may notice, I've added to the blog sidebar a dynamic box summarizing the latest posts of other great blogs dealing with Italian music. This suggests a small reflection & recapitulation.
When I started this download blog, back in april 2008, there were really very few expressely focused on the rediscovery of Italian music. The only ones to precede mine were, for what I can recall Italian folk music, Orrore a 33 giri, 7'' from the underground and the extraordinary, but short-lived, Anni di piombo, anni di pailettes. All of them were pretty sectorial, so it was very easy for me to share music which wasn't available yet on the blogsphere.

Just two years and a half have passed, but the landscape has radically changed; and, for one time, for the better. Today, I can count ten active download blogs strictly dedicated to Italian music - and I'm sure I'm missing some. Most of them deal with specific periods, or show a strong predilection for some genres (mine too, after all, is definitely a mirror of my tastes), but considered in the complex they cover a very broad part of Italy's buried treasure-rooms. They have a consistent post rate, but the most amazing thing is their ability to bring to light without cess really rare and obscure records. I spend a considerable amount of time skimming lists on the internet, or shared folders on the p2p network, to discover new (old) Italian stuff, but everytime I visit one of these blogs I find something I was totally unaware of, and I ask myself: "Where the hell did they find this!?". The fact is that each one has its own channels: blogs like The Breakfast Jumpers or the recently-closed (but unforgotten) Indieitalia got in touch with many contemporary independent artists and netlabels; other blogs exploit their direct acquaintancy with artists from the past, or plunder vinyl fairs in search of rarities to rip, or consult their old fanzine archives... This variety and continuity of discoveries is the one thing that makes me enthusiastic about the current situation.
There's a small anecdote which tells much about the revolution occurred in just a few years. I've never been a very fond collector of "physical" records (cds, vinyls, cassettes, or whatever), and almost all the albums posted on my blog come from the p2p. One of the very few ones I ripped personally was the self-titled release by La Crus: I had to buy the cd for the purpose, because I could not find it on the internet in any way. Today, thanks to the other blogs and the diffusion on the p2p, finding that record is much easier. And the albums I unsuccsfully struggle to find are much rarer.

Sometimes, I think I've almost "run out of gas" with some periods, and I fear I have to fall back on tier 2 records, or get more repetitive with artists and genres. But then I turn to some other blogs, and I see they have plenty of thrilling stuff I don't know about. That convinces me there's still a lot to discover, and spurs me to go on searching...
But I'm afraid I'll always think that the Nineties were a terrible "dark age" for Italian music, despite all :P

ps. Stay tuned on Ondarock! A comprehensive survey on the blogs most linked to our contemporary "indie" scene is coming soon!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

5

Roberto Mazza: Scoprire le orme (ADN, 1991)

Charming and fluctuating. You could call it new age, you could call it world music, but the most fitting description for "Scoprire le orme" is unearthly. It's just oboe, bardic harp and synthetizers, all played by the composer, Roberto Mazza. The textrures are vaguely inspired by different folkloric traditions, specially the one of the Hebrides islands, in the north of Scotland. There is no recognizable "traditional" feeling, though, as every element is reimagined and transfigured: the resulting atmosphere is oblique and irreal, calm but always veined with disquiet. The unusual scales explored by Mazza and the circularity of the patterns, furthermore, give the music a really "esoteric" touch. I have to admit I don't know any other similar music (but I'll try to suggest something anyway, not too dissimilar I hope).

I couldn't find much information  about Roberto Mazza. The notes on the booklet of the cassette explain he was born in 1953 not far from Milan. He played the woodwinds in the experimental band Telaio Magnetico (alongside Franco Battiato, Lino "Capra" Vaccina, Juri Camisasca) during the Seventies, and then started touring with harpist Vincenzo Zitello. He got passionate with the rediscovery of the celtic harp and almost forgotten indoeuropean musical traditions. This is his first solo work, as far as I know, followed by "Cyprea" some years afterwards.


Tracklist:
  1. Vulcani blu
  2. First Song
  3. Stanze parallele
  4. Ebridi
  5. Acrostici indolenti
  6. Altari della luna
  7. Visioni del sentiero azzurro
  8. Esperidi
  9. Mahoraga
  10. Artigli arguti
  11. Koan
  12. Le lunghe ore luminose
Download (240 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Militia: Elvengamello (Materiali Sonori, 1997)
Nicola Alesini, Pier Luigi Andreoni: Marco Polo (Materiali sonori, 1996)

Saturday, November 13, 2010

1  

Dusty Kid: A Raver's Diary (Boxer Recordings, 2009)

Remember Robert Miles and his mega-hit "Children"? Though pretty different in style, "A Raver's Diary" kinda reminds of its atmospheres. Dreamy, trippy, and blissful. The sounds are quite close too: crystalline, spacy and glazed with reverb. The rhythmic background is based on techno rather than house, however, and this accounts for the remarkable differences between Miles's so-called "progressive" schemes and the more abstract touch of Dusty Kid. Instead of relying on hyper-catchy lines, the music lures with subtle layerings of minimal elements: very essential percussions, wavering melodies, and some very dark bass figures. Combined in very rich and dynamic structures, these elements enrapture without any need of gross kickdrum clichés. The tracks are everchaning sonic voyages which always keep a distinct dance focus, and show an impressive talent for nontrivial tension climaxes. Many a time the groove kicks in the middle of some celestial minimalist drift, when you would never expect it to start, and the ecstatic atmosphere it creates won't cease to surprise even after many listenings.

Dusty Kid is Paolo Alberto Lodde, from Cagliari (Sardinia). He was 26 when the album - his first one - came out for the renown German label Boxer Recordings.


Tracklist:
  1. Here Comes the Techno
  2. The Underground Persistence
  3. Lynchesque
  4. Klin
  5. Cowboys
  6. Moto Perpetuo
  7. The Fugue
  8. Pluk
  9. America
  10. Agaphes
  11. Nemur (Walls of Guitars)
Download (320 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Touane: Figura (Persona, 2008)
Monomorph: Alternative Fluid (Disturbance, 1994)

Friday, November 5, 2010

2

Giorgio Laneve: Accenti (Divergo, 1978)

Just like writer Gianni Rodari revolutionized children's literature between the Sixties and the Seventies, during the latter of these decades many songwriters impressed a definite shift in the style of children's music. Their songs were much closer than usual to children's kind of imagination and irony, and in the same time tried to explain much more complex concepts. War and peace, ecology, solitude, the way children are really born: these are some of the themes dealt by Giorgio Laneve's "Accenti". As many other works in the field, it's a very rare record, and definitely a poorly celebrated one.
It should be known much more, though. It's light and breezy, both musically and lyrically. Words and rhymes are esasy to understand, perfect for children, but totally lack the silly moralism and dogmatism which was typical of the genre just some years before. The vocals are sung by both Laneve and children from the vocal group "Le mele verdi", in tender call-and-response dynamics. The music is rich and skippy, mostly based on very clean chamber-music arrangements strengthened by unpretentious drums and bass figures; many a song, however, feature delightful funky accents - often quite ingenuous, but somehow perfectly fitting with the spirit of the songs.

Electronic engineer Giorgio Laneve debuted as a singer/songwriter in 1970, with a quite rhetoric style inspired by the likes of Fabrizio De André. After a few other lps, he entered the realm of children's music and published "Accenti" for Ricky Gianco's "Divergo" label.


Tracklist:
  1. Accenti
  2. Girandola
  3. Amedeo Wolfango
  4. Gi-O-Erre-Gio
  5. Le formiche
  6. Augurissimi
  7. Bernardo l'eremita
  8. Rocky Boom
  9. L'uovo
  10. I venti
  11. C'era una volta
Download (224 kbps)

Similar music on the blog:
Musica per bambini: Nascondino coll'assassino (La mia cantina, 1998)
Angelo Branduardi: Cogli la prima mela (1979)