Viridanse: Mediterranea (Contempo, 1985)

I don't know much about the new wave band Viridanse. They were from Alessandria, Piedmont, and "Mediterranea" is their second release, just after the EP "Benvenuto Cellini".
Their guitar-based darkwave style owes much to Joy Division, though it turns down the band's trademark funeral feeling into a more voluptuous sound delving on Meditterranean influences and melodic arabesques. The singer's emphatic vocals, very typical of Italian darkwave, and the wannabe cerebral lyrics may sound quite disturbing, but the mood of the album is original and peculiar, slightly resembling to a Mediterranean version of Japan's "Tin Drum". Apart from the forced comparisons, Viridanse's convoluted basslines were much probably influenced by Mick Karn's legendary style. Most tracks are dominated by the fine and sharp-sounding intrications of the two guitars and all of them are pervaded by a hedonistic, decadent mood which is, as a matter of fact, the album's most accomplished element.


Tracklist:

1. Frontiere
2. Notte chiara
3. Sheherazade
4. Corinna
5. Dolce vita
6. Mediterranea
7. Sulla strada
8. Desiderio di me
9. Terra di sempre
10. Déjà vu

Download (~170 kbps)

Corleone: Wei Wu Wei (Etnagigante / V2 Records Italia, 2005)

Trumpeter Roy Paci is one of the most ubiquitous protagonists of the contemporary Italian music scene. Though he's known mainly for his ska/jazz band Aretuska and his work with many artists in the left-field area of Italian pop music, he's also very active in the experimentation on traditional music and quite renown abroad for his collaboration with such diverse artists as Peter Gabriel, Manu Chao, the Flying Luttenbachers and some Senegalese and South American world music ensembles.

Corleone is a jazzcore band chiefly in the vein of John Zorn's most genre-grinding projects. Prodigal jazz soloing, askew rhythm interlockings and occasional electronic meddlings meet ever-present references to Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota soundtrack styles, African music forays, hip-hop assaults, Southern Italian folklore and more atmospheric episodes. Fantômas's well-known vocal terrorist Mike Patton, jazz accordion player Antonello Salis and noir bookwriter Carlo Lucarelli have some guest apparitions which contribute to enrich the style kaleidoscope of the record.

Though fiercely chaotic, "Wei Wu Wei"'s rich of complex structures and intrications and the classy musicianship of the Corleone crew often gives the album a much more refined (and really jazzy - they often sound actually more Tim Berne than John Zorn) taste than the one of most other iconoclast jazzcore bands. Most of all, Corleone don't take themselves seriously and every track is a very light, fancyful and hilarious surprise.


Tracklist:

1. Come si chiama?
2. Skit#1 "Emigrant Song"
3. Doverosi sballi
4. Skit#2 "Clarimachine"
5. Come Live Your Life With Me
6. Skit#3 "_"
7. Meglio un bombardino oggi, che un bombardino domani
8. Skit#4 "Ghost Ship"
9. 'U Riavulicchiu E I Ciancianedi
10. Skit#5 "Asterisco"
11. Armoniaca
12. Skit#6 "Pattern 21"
13. Tutto Diventerà Rosso
14. Skit#7 "T77"
15. Tromba L'oEil

Download (192 kbps)

Croma: Discromatopsia (Harlock, 1999)

Croma were a chamber-rock band from Bolzano whose members came from the most diverse experiences (hardcore punk, conservatory, visual arts). "Discromatopsia" is their only official recording and consists in a very personal take on minimalism, inspired by the most melodic works of Steve Reich, Philip Glass or Wim Mertens's Soft Verdict.
Though the melodic vein is always very prominent and the drums, the bass and the piano contribute to give the songs a consistent rhythm texture, Croma's music is as hieratic, soft and geometric as the one of the great masters of minimalism. The frequent pairing of oboe and soprano voice even emphasize the usual aura of ecstasy and abstractness of the genre.
As for the vocals, most of them are recited in a way that will surely recall Massimo Volume, even if the lyrical style is quite different. One of the songs, "P.g.m.g." is a readaptation of The Smiths' "Pretty Girls Make Graves".
The CD release is completed with two electronic remixes following a 5-minute track of silence.

Tracklist:

1. Bisettrice spazio-temporale
2. Butterflies' battery
3. P.g.m.g
4. Discromatopsia
5. Out of Control
6. Cenotaphé à Newton
7. -273,6°
8. [silenzio]
9. -273,6° [Remix]
10. Cenotaphé à Newton [Remix]

Download (320 kbps)