Gino D'Eliso: Ti ricordi Vienna? (RCA, 1977)

After having released his first record for Lucio Battisti's label Numero Uno, triestinian singer/songwriter Gino d'Eliso got together a full-blown disco orchestra for his second LP.
The music of "Ti ricordi Vienna?" is a very peculiar meeting of the decadent, dandyesque approach of glam-rock, Lucio Battisti's refinate pop, the bombastic grooves of disco music and mild Balkan nuances.

Though the lyrics aren't brilliant, the songs are all strikingly sophisticated and captivating. Super-funky basslines and energic italo-prog riffs wonderfully fuse with emphatic violin strokes and theatrical Hammond organ blows to create convoluted, multi-layered, mostly upbeat tunes.
Aside from the undeniable quality of the compositions, "Ti ricordi Vienna?"'s a very interesting work for an unique merger of influences configuring it as a bridge between times and places: Italian and Mediterranean pop sounds, the American disco trend, and a more far-seeing continental spleen.

The quality of the rip is very poor, but I really couldn't manage to get a better one.


Tracklist:

1. Bellezza normanna
2. Kajmac Calan
3. Il tamburello e l'eroe
4. Non saremo angeli
5. Fiesta messicana
6. Ti ricordi Vienna?
7. Tanto arriva domenica
8. Non basta la poesia
9. La notte di erasmo

Download (192 kbps)

Art Fleury: I luoghi del potere (Italian Records, 1980)

Art Fleury were a trio from Brescia devoted to a deeply suburban and experimental progressive rock. Though obviously in debt with King Crimson, especially for the guitar style, their attitude was much closer to more radical and nihilist bands such as Faust, The Residents or This Heat. Their influence is pretty evident on all of the four tracks which compose their debut album: heavily destructured narrations of the industrial gloom, merging tape material, atonal organ or orchestral puddles and restrained arpeggios, occasionally broken by convulsive prog-rock bursts.
The band had indeed more than some contacts with the left-wing R.I.O. scene, having opened several times for Henry Cow concerts and played together with Area and bands from L'Orchestra cooperative (Stormy Six, Art Bears, Etron Fou Leloublan and many more).

"I luoghi del potere" is a fascinating work, pervaded by a dreary, disillusioned mood which constitutes a strong and well-conceived critique of industrial and Cold War alienation. Besides being a masterpiece of Italian progressive rock, it's also one of the very few ones to show a very distinct post-punk leaning: it's an important document of the late-70s transitions.



Tracklist:

1. Uno spettro si aggira per le brigate Hans Eisler
2. Fabbrica rosa
3. E=mc² (la collina del timo)
4. La morte al lavoro

Download (256 kbps)

Madrigali Magri: Negarville [Wallace, 2000]

Madrigali Magri were a post-rock trio hailing from Nizza Monferrato, Piedmont. Their three LPs manifestly draw their inspiration from Slint: stripping away all of the post-hardcore elements in the stereotypical Louisville-sound formula, Madrigali Magri focus instead on destructured guitar wanderings and emptied-out landscapes, surrected by an obsessive, kraut-like drumming.
Vocals are deeply buried in the mix, often half-whispered and kept just to emphasize the murky, lazy mood of the guitar lines, which secretly cover desertic blues paths. The music of "Negarville" seems to come from the most dusty attics of the memory, and be forgotten in the very moment it is played (in a very post-rock way).
After the disbanding of Madrigali Magri, the guitarist Giambeppe Succi would team up with drummer Bruno Dorella (Wolfango, Ovo, Ronin) to form the post-rock/blues band Bachi da Pietra.


Tracklist:

1. Entro obliquo
2. Negarville
3. È un giorno normale
4. Porto dentro
5. Non hai mai pace
6. Un posto per un altro
7. Giorno è notte
8. Uomo ombra
9. Esco obliquo
10. Porte dell'inverno
11. Parti non mie

Download (160 kbps)