Francesco Messina: Medio Occidente (Casablanca Records, 1983)

The heritage of the Cosmic Couriers, the new technologies and the beggings of synth-pop, minimalism... And the Mediterranean: the fascination for the Middle-Eastern tradition and philosophy. "Medio occidente" is on the frontier of these musical worlds, which are surprisingly close one another.
The mood reminds of a starker Vangelis, of Philip Glass, or Franco Battiato's most "ethnic" works. The latter is not a coincidence: Francesco Messina is a longtime acquantaince and collaborator of Battiato's. Most of the tracks are hypnotic instrumental wanderings, suspended in an ecstatic calm. The hushed timbres are disposed with a somehow architectural aesthetics, and the synthetic beats obey to a strictly functional logic. There's a veil of melancholy and decadence over them though, and the few tracks with vocal parts emphasize the sensation. The overall ambience is dusty and soaked with helplessness. Some retro-fashioned vocal intrusions (opera singing, craking radio excerpts) project a sense of nostalgia for the old times, probably the colonial era when Europe extended over all of the Mediterranean...

Francesco Messina was born in 1951 in Sicily, but moved to Milan tu study design. There he became involved with Franco Battiato's artistic entourage. This is his second solo album, after a lot of collaborations (both musical and graphical). He is now married with singer Alice, and he is a university professor in the field of graphic design.

(I could not find a bigger image, sorry)

Tracklist:

1. Marcia di Kioto
2. Harem
3. Uffici del 126° piano
4. Russian tea room
5. Plaza tonal
6. Fine novecento
7. Club Mediterranée
8. Comunicazioni interne

Download (210 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Franco Battiato: Giubbe Rosse (EMI, 1989)

Nicola Alesini, Pier Luigi Andreoni: Marco Polo (Materiali sonori, 1996)