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)