Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Giampiero Riggio: Watschenbaum/Hold (Woolshop Productions, 2010)

Folktronica + post-rock. A bit out of time, you could object. But Giampiero Riggio, from Palermo, doesn't care at all and crafts a good (and double!) debut album fusing these two "old" genres.

As you might expect, the music sounds both expansive and shy, warm and a bit detached. Acoustic timbres (guitar, cello, piano, accordion, tinkles&clinkles) are coupled with desolate electronic elements, pauses, reverbs. The sound is way more involving than the hushed vocals and intimistic approach would suggest: the music's lulling, and ravishing.

The two cds are quite different. "Hold" reflects a more luminous spirit, and the atmosphere is more playful. "Watschenbaum", on the contrary, is more empied-out, and dominated by a melancholic mood.

Both of them, though, encompass the same apparent references: múm, Bon Iver, Tunng on the indie-folk side, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and acolytes on the post-rock one.

The tracks are surely more ambience-oriented than focused on melody: this may be a slight defect for the album, but is easily hidden by the pleasantness of the music.

"Hold/Watschenbaum" came out in late 2010 with just one-hundred copies, on the new-born Sicilian label Woolshop Productions. Full streaming is available on their website, and a "physical" copy is just 7 €!


Tracklist:
CD 1, "Watschenbaum":
  1. Waatschn'bamm
  2. Muttermilch
  3. Die Geschichte Vom Stausee
  4. A Slow Chant From A Tree
  5. Dear Friends (For Gaël)
  6. Awaken In The Park
  7. I'm light
  8. Muttermilch 2 
  9. Turtle Enlightenment
  10. Separation XI (Haunted) 
  11. Stausee
CD 2, "Hold":
  1. We Were Once So Tight
  2. Protect
  3. Face To
  4. Black-Paper Butterflies (For Stefano)
  5. It Felt
  6. Light From Your Mouth
  7. Boundaries
  8. Mit Aller Macht
  9. Moths Invasion
  10. Universum (For Frank)
  11. Liste
Credits:
  • Violin: Claudio Cataldi
  • Everything else: Giampiero Riggio
Download (160 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
VV.AA..: Let's Talk about Muertepop (Muertepop, 2007)
Airportman: Letters (Lizard records, 2008)

1  :

claudio castellini said...

ciao golpe, secondo me questi ti piaceranno. segnalati da Canei sull'ultimo Internazionale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Od9VbHtFZA&NR=1

saluti,
Castellini