Touane: Figura (Persona, 2008)

Techno music can be cold, stern, alienating; it can also be delicate and fluffy though, and this is the case of "Figura". An album of watery sounds, crystalline electronic echoes, and comforting beats. Glitchy streams that never sound "broken" or disquieting, but gently cradle the listener with their progressive mutations: supple timbres, whispered vocals, pointillist percussion, slight dub tendencies... The overall flow is extremely natural and ravishing. It seems like going for a walk in the springtime, with nothing in your mind - it makes you feel the wonder of the breeze, the blossoms, the drizzles.

Touane is Marco Tonni, 1979, born in Rimini but living in Berlin since 2005. This is his sophomore full-length release.

Tracklist:

1. Fruehstueck
2. She Let Some Light In
3. Pioggia
4. Autoerotica
5. Di sotto
6. Take Off
7. Figura
8. Promenade

Download (320 kbps)


Similar albums on the blog:
Jolly Music: Jolly Bar (Nature/Wide, 2000)
miles_gurtu: omonimo (Shakti, 2004)

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Calibro 35: s/t (Cinedelic/Self, 2008)

"Poliziotteschi" of the 70s are among the most appreciated Italian movies abroad. Longly dismissed as "trash", they've been promoted recently to near-masterpieces. Their soundtracks were probably the first to be reconsidered: the international stardom of Ennio Morricone and Quentin Tarantino's B-movie fetishism surely contributed to the process.
Calibro 35 tries to revieve some of the key pieces of the genre with a more "rock" spirit. Where the original tracks featured extended instrumentations and privileged groove and atmosphere over impulse, their updated versions have a more aggressive sound and a more compact sonic palette. The edginess of the compositions remains the same though, and is still impressive.
A well-conceived and respectful tribute to the less pretentious and less ingenuous - but most daring - form of progressive which ever came from Italy.

Calibro 35 are a supergroup formed by Enrico Gabrielli, Fabio Rondanini, Luca Cavina, Massimo Martellotta, Tommaso Colliva, well-credited collaborators of Mariposa, Afterhours, Transgender, Mauro Pagani and many more. They're united by the passion for obscure Italian movie themes and excellent instrumental skills.
Their second LP, "Ritornano quelli di Calibro 35", is out now.

Tracklist:

1. Italia a mano armata, dal film “Italia A Mano Armata” (F. Micalizzi)
2. Summertime Killer, dal film “Ricatto alla Mala” (L. Bacalov)
3. Notte in Bovisa (M. Martellotta, E. Gabrielli, F.  Rondanini, L. Cavina , T. Colliva)
4. Titoli, dal film “Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto” (E. Morricone)
5. Milano Calibro 9 (Bouchet Funk), dal film “Milano Calibro 9” (L. Bacalov)
6. Trafelato, dal film “Giornata Nera per l’Ariete” (E. Morricone)
7. Una stanza vuota, dal film “Svegliati e Uccidi” (E. Morricone)
8. La mala ordina, dal film “ La Mala Ordina” (A. Trovajoli)
9. La polizia s’incazza (M. Martellotta, E. Gabrielli, F. Rondanini, L. Cavina , T. Colliva)
10. Preludio dal film “Milano Calibro 9” (L. Bacalov)
11. Gangster Story, dal film “La Polizia incrimina, La Legge Assolve” (G. & M. DeAngelis)
12. Spiralys, soundlibrary (D. Casa)
13. Shake Balera, dal film “La Ragazza Con La Pistola” (P. De Luca, V. Tommaso)

Download (192 kbps)


Similar albums on the blog:
Braen's Machine: Temi ritmici e dinamici (Liuto LRS, 1973)
Ennio Morricone: Crime and Dissonance (Ipecac, 2005) 

Fare soldi: Sappiamo dove abiti (Riotmaker, 2008)

The "Riotmaker sound" is one of the most defined of the Italian underground. "Sappiamo dove abiti" is its most iconic representation: italo-disco samples, 80s' synths+glitter everywhere, trendoid house grooves with a massive funky aftertaste. A curious mix of postmodern irony, urban glamour, and the stereotypical indie-pop nostalgism (the overall mood may suggest an ironic version of the recent "hypnagogic pop" trend).
Kitsch? Sure. But playful (first of all), explosive, and irresistably groovy. Colourful and irreducibly quotationist, the songs manage to be both totally inclonclusive and surprisingly well-crafted. Prepare for a funny listening!

Fare soldi are Luca Carnifull (Carnifull Trio) and Pasta (Amari). This is their third record as a duo.

Tracklist:

1. Sappiamo dove abiti
2. Dolo boys
3. Survivor
4. Tribunale midi
5. Puff dandy
6. Il vecchio e il mullet
7. Pagagheddon
8. (Take me to) Zingales
9. Message in Abbado
10. Acid in Abbado
11. Fare soldi va a Milano
12. The radler song
13. Il lato B del mondo
14. Palazzo dei cigni
15. I wanna Feel Collins
16. Fessi vivono

Download (192 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
Jolly Music: Jolly Bar (Nature/Wide, 2000)
Üstmamò: omonimo (Virgin, 1991)

Airportman: Letters (Lizard records, 2008)

"Letters" sounds like Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock" denuded of any guise of soul or emotion. What lasts in the music? The tail-swallowing stagnation of dangling piano progressions, the soaking sense of laziness of tired accordion drones, the dampened warmth of some sullen acoustic guitar chords. Then the jazzy, emptied-out atmospheres, the chamber-like breaches, the outworldly suspension of the slow minor-key tides permeating everything.
What's unique to "Letters"? Its homely creakings - a fossil recall of a hospitality which has somehow mutated in a Tortoise-like call for abstraction, made of dub drifts and sparse, cold-blooded electronic heartbeats.

Airportman are a band from Cuneo, Piedmont. This is their seventh album.


Tracklist:

1. trk #1
2. trk #2
3. trk #3
4. trk #4
5. trk #5
6. trk #6
7. trk #7
8. trk #8
9. trk #9

Download (320 kbps)

El Topo: Pigiama psicoattivo (Off, 2008)

On a first glance, El Topo sound exactly like Tortoise. And also after a second listening. Jazz + electronica with an undeniable passion for kraut-rock; Ry Cooder-like guitar slides, rhythm interlocks, vibraphone... And entirely instruental - yes, El Topo do sound exactly like Tortoise. That's not something anyone is able to.
Nevertheless, a careful listening reveals some peculiarities: "Pigiama psicoattivo" is warmer, less detached and abstract, more psychedelic and freeform than anything ever published by Tortoise. It's also even jazzier, surely more electronic and many times quite close to the style of quintessential jungle/jazz beatmaker Squarepusher.

They don't sound Italian at all, that's sure, but they are from Rome. The band was founded in 2006 and "Pigiama psicoattivo" is their second studio album, published by the young Belgian label Off.


Tracklist:

1. Tosca
2. Sonics
3. Seicento giri carico frontale
4. Pigiama psicoattivo
5. Telegraph Dakar
6. Scelsi
7. Errore meccanico
8. Crew'n'c
9. Macinino

Download (192 kbps)

L'enfance rouge: Trapani - Halq al Waady (Wallace, 2008)

Italo-French band L'enfance rouge has a veteran trans-European attitude: they record their albums all around the continent and dedicate them to European cities. Both their angular, noisy rock and their European internationalism link them directly with the cult Dutch post-punk band The Ex. With their sixth album, they borrow a very strong Mediterranean influence thanks to the collaboration of the Institut Superieur de Musique of Tunisi.

The overall atmosphere has the charm of remote, millenary trade routes. It evocates the last centuries of a decadent Costantinopolis, a crucible of cultures, dangers and long-lost wealth. Ruthless noise-rock sabre blows, dreary French poetries about galleys and kalashnikovs, pachidermal, lethargic basslines hybridate the French noise-rock school (Bästard, Ulan Bator) with bewitching oud vapours and flute arabesques.
Light peeps out very rarely: just a few times Pink Floyd and Godspeed You Black Emperor! substitute Slint and Massimo Volume as guardian angels of the disillusioned, mature and extremely captivating fusion of the album.


Tracklist:

1. Otranto
2. Ras et Ahmar
3. Ana Lastu Amrikyyan
4. Tombeau pour New York
5. Azizati
6. Lame de fond
7. Vendicatori
8. Nous
9. Hurricane Lily
10. Terre d'élection
11. Petite-mort

Download (192 kbps)

John De Leo: Vago Svanendo (2008)

First solo album by former Quintorigo singer John De Leo. "Vago Svanendo" (I drift and fade away) appearently doesn't step away from the group's nevrotic chamber-rock formula, but in fact shows a more definite singer/songwriter approach and more experimental leanings, specially concerning the role of the voice. The songs rely on a surreal imaginary in the vein of Vinicio Capossela or "Ottocento" by Fabrizio De André, with a broad use of nonsense, free associations and onomatopeic worplay.
Unluckily the album's quite uneven: besides the most meaty songs, there are too many divertissements and fillers which make about half of the album almost forgettable.

Here's my review for the webzine www.ondarock.it


Tracklist:

1. Intro: 4 Piano Notes
2. Freak Ship
3. Vago svanendo (lasum sté)
4. L'uomo che continua
5. Canzo
6. Tilt (C'è Mattia?)
7. Spiega la vela
8. Big stuff
9. Bambino marrone
10. Le chien et le flacon
11. Sinner
    

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