Mat-101: Goodbye, Mum!

Since the early Nineties, Rome has had a florid techno scene, quite renown abroad. Producers Francesco Pierro and Francesco De Bellis are among the foremost representatives of the "second generation" of Roman techno artists, and their excellent release as Jolly Music was already posted on this blog some time ago.

Here's something a bit older instead: the first album of the duo (which back then was actually a trio, comprising fellow producer Emiliano Tortora), which came out in 1999 for their own label Balance Records, under the moniker Mat-101.
It's basically videogame-sounding IDM. Abstract, Detroit-style techno music combined with 8-bit stuff and England's most melodic post-rave experimentations. Despite the coldness of the elements and the overal creepiness of the atmospheres, the tunes are incredibly fanciful and jocose. Sometimes, they even recall some stripped-down version of Daft Punk's OuLiPo-like attitude.
Rhythm obviously plays a fundamental role, and is perhaps the most peculiar aspect of the album. Instead of treading the usual mechanical beat of techno music, it flirts with the most convulsive twists by Aphex Twin and the likes. Without sounding that alienating, though.

"Goodbye Mum!" is one of the most original Italian electronic albums. You will like it.

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Level One
3. Arcade
4. Crash Hero
5. English
6. Danni morali e fisici
7. Zilof
8. Spzz
9. Gabber Doze
10. 10
11. Goblin 101
12. Mennen
13. Tecnologia casuale
14. Frakken
15. Phreese

Download  (192 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Monomorph: Alternative Fluid (Disturbance, 1994)
Jolly Music: Jolly Bar (Nature/Wide, 2000)

Bluvertigo: Zero - ovvero la famosa nevicata dell'85 (Mescal, 1999)

A reprise of synth-pop's most dandiesque facet sharply bucked the dominating post-grunge trend of the late Nineties. Nevertheless Bluvertigo got some remarkable success by reviving the decadent sound of Depeche Mode, Berlin-era David Bowie, Japan. As a matter of fact, their aestheticism was the reverse of the medal of the "loser" mitology pervading the indie-rock ethos - another side of those years' omnipresent spleen.
Musically speaking, the album "Zero" is the most mature and varied in Bluvertigo's discography. The obvious art-rock influences reside on very solid synth-funk architectures, and the harmonic framework of the compositions is unusually clever for pop music in general. Dissonances and extra-rock chords are often used to cast an unquiet shadow on the atmospheres, and backing vocals tend to follow quite unpredictable orbits. Besides that, the music shows an unsuspected passion for rhythm inlays (quite close to Discipline-era King Crimson), and many tracks drift on a daring techno/industrial direction without abdicating to their popsong scheme.
The music conveys a sense of dissociation, but the lyrics go even further. As usual for Bluvertigo, the focus is on the feebleness of the sane/insane, reason/unconscious boundaries. The songs juxtapose partially unrelated flashes, in a style much debtor of Franco Battiato's, and definitely evocate a psychoanalytic setting. Some refrains unfortunately trivialize the overall result, but many tracks are perfect and striking.

Bluvertigo are a band from Monza, close to Milan, lead by charismatic singer/multi-instrumentist/composer Morgan (Marco Castoldi). "Zero" is their third and last studio album, featuring guest appearences by Mauro Pagani and Franco Battiato.

Tracklist:

1. Versozero
2. Zero
3. La crisi
4. sono=sono
5. La comprensione
6. Finché saprai spiegarti
7. Sovrappensiero
8. Forse
9. Autofraintendimento
10. Lo psicopatico
11. Always Crashing in the Same Car
12. Saxs Interlude
13. Porno Muzik
14. Niente x scontato
15. Numero
16. Punto di non arrivo

Donwload (160 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Franco Battiato: Giubbe Rosse (EMI, 1989)
Central Unit: Central Unit + Loving Machinery (M.P. Records, 2003)

Subsonica: Microchip emozionale (Mescal, 1999)

On the confluence of the Italian electro-dub tradition of the 90s and the new sounds coming from the UK (trip-hop, d'n'b), Subsonica hail from Turin with a very personal dance-rock formula. Based on the metallic voice of lead singer Samuel and the hi-tech beats of drummer Ninja, both trippy and driving, their music portays metropolitan sensations and paranoias in a typically late-Nineties cyberpunk fashion. But their music is not just pure dystopia: the dub/upbeat structures fill the music with open spaces. They are readily colonised by the the ultradeep and sinuous basslines, but also by more optimistic (yet very edgy) disco guitars and catchy melodies.
Quite surprisingly, most of the tracks have a (mainly implicit, but sometimes outspoken) languid allure, enhanced by the dewy synth carpets and sonic details. Another striking element is the technical complexity and precision of the weavings, rare for those years and that genre, and somehow closer to the sophistication of the most refined acts of the prog era. The ungraspable 7/8 beat of "Discolabirinto" (a dancefloor hit!) firmly points in this direction.

Subsonica were founded in 1996 in Turin. They were - and are - a quintet: voice, guitar, keyboards, bass and drums. Besides the classical rock instrumentation, their music relies heavily on programmed beats and sounds. This is their second LP.

Tracklist:

1. Buncia
2. Sonde
3. Colpo di pistola
4. Aurora sogna
5. Lasciati
6. Tutti i miei sbagli
7. Liberi tutti
8. Strade
9. Discolabirinto
10. Il mio DJ
11. Il cielo su Torino
12. Albe meccaniche
13. Depre
14. Perfezione

Download (240 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
Gaznevada: Sick Soundtrack (Italian Records, 1980)

Giorgio Moroder: E=mc² (Durion, 1979)

Claudio Baglioni: Viaggiatore sulla coda del tempo (Columbia Sony Music, 1999)

Baroque pop means dressy arrangements, highfalutin melodies, and a certain amount of pretentiousness. But in the case of this album, the expression gets some additional meanings. Talking about structures, these songs don't reach the puzzling complexity of Battisti's later efforts: no deconstruction here, just verse/chorus/bridge/coda craftmanship taken to masterwork level - the quintessence of baroque aestethics. Lyrics and rhymes are of the most convoluted kind: lines and lines of far-fetched metaphores just to say one small concept, interwoven with elaborate rhyme schemes which always privilege form above content.
The arrangements are layered and affected by a purely baroque form of horror vacui: in any other context, they'd sound overproduced, but here they just fit perfectly. Blending orchestral gusts and trip-hop architectures, Fripp-like curves and abrupt world music meddlings, their amazing sound depth's a stirring counterpoint to the impressive vocal glides propelling the songs.

21th album by pop-rock superstar Claudio Baglioni, the lp is some sort of concept work about midlife and the passing of time. It was produced by Cervello's Corrado Rustici, and the drums were played by longtime Baglioni's collaborator Gavin Harrison, later of Porcupine Tree fame.

Tracklist:

1. Hangar
2. Un mondo a forma di te
3. Si io sarò
4. Stai su
5. Caravan
6. Mal d'universo
7. Chi c'è in ascolto
8. Opere e omissioni
9. Quanto tempo ho
10. A domani
11. Cuore di aliante
12. A Clà

Download (320 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Ivano Fossati: La pianta del tè (CBS, 1988)
Lucio Battisti: Anima latina (Numero Uno, 1975)

The Dining Rooms: Subterranean Modern, vol 1 (Milano 2000, 1999)

Trip-hop, italian style. Which means Portishead without the pathos, Morricone without the West, or just "Histoire de Melody Nelson" gone chillout. No (cyber)punk spleen, no ketaminic stagnations: this is not a night-drive through the post-industrial Bristol, but a late-night walk through the stone-paved arcades of the Padan Plain. Bricks, history and fog. Nobody around. A meditative sound: hushed voices, dewy e-piano, a hip-hop beat slightly jazzified, bringing some warmth. The thud of the double-bass resounding through the neon-lit mist.

The Dining Rooms are a lounge/downbeat combo from Milan. This is their first album.

Tracklist:

1. Occhi neri
2. M. Dupont
3. Il giradischi e i tuoi dischi
4. Cinemaroma 1
5. Keep calm
6. Jazz X
7. Susanna 2000
8. Hip hop hippies
9. Le crepuscule du matin
10. Dubterranean modern
11. Cinemaroma 2
12. Stromboli promenade
13. Triste, solitario y final

Download (224 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
miles_gurtu: miles_gurtu(Shakti, 2004)
La Crus: La Crus (1995)

Fiorella Mannoia: Certe piccole voci (Harpo, 1999)

What a voice. Deep, warm, vivid and bittersweet. Every note is full-bodied and enormously femine - neither a Lolita nor a femme fatale fashion, but the voice of a woman, with the placid and overwhelming charm of maturity. Responsibility and everyday life which succeeded to compenetrate with love and dreams.

Some may say the music in this album isn't but ordinary cantautori stuff, not particularly intimate or intense, nor particularly original or elegant. Even a bit mannerist with regards to the sessionman-dominated sound which came to characterize the style of the foremost Italian singer/songwiters during the Nineties. And that would be true, 'cause the point in these songs and these renditions isn't innovation, fantasy or introspection, but talking discreetly to the heart of those who listen. Without changing their life, but giving them for a moment the chance to reflect upon it and dream.

The best episodes in "Certe piccole voci" have this peculiar charm, and there are many of them among the 25 tracks of the double LP. The styles are very varied in terms of composition, often relying on simple structures occasionally coloured by refinate chord changes and Irish influences. The narrations are mainly based on images, but sill their design differs much from song to song. The arrangements, though, are all quite close one another in terms of sound: perfectly centered on the voice, they embellish it with crystalline-clear acoustic guitar chords ranging between delicacy and muscularity. The soundscape is completed by wet synthetizers, glossy piano sketches and jazzy drum patterns and basslines. Here and there, some guitar or saxophone solo steals the spot from the voice giving the music a more instrumental feeling (the results aren't very good, usually).

Fiorella Mannoia emerged, starting from the Eighties, as one of the most personal and classy interpreters of the cantautori repertoire. Her name is linked to such songs as Vasco Rossi's "Sally", Bubola's "Il cielo d'Irlanda", Ruggeri's "Quello che le donne non dicono", Piero Fabrizi's "Belle speranze". "Certe piccole voci" is her first live album after ten studio LPs.

Tracklist:

CD 1

1. L'amore con l'amore si paga (I. Fossati)
2. Sally (V. Rossi)
3. I treni a vapore (I. Fossati)
4. Il fiume e la nebbia (D. Silvestri)
5. Non sono un cantautore (P. Fabrizi)
6. Cuore di cane (F. De Gregori)
7. Normandia (P. Fabrizi)
8. Belle speranze (P. Fabrizi)
9. Piano solo (D. Rea)
10. Oh che sarà (C. B. De Hollanda - I. Fossati)
11. Il culo del mondo (C. Veloso - A. Lamberti - P. Fabrizi)
12. Caterina e il coraggio (P. Fabrizi)
13. Passalento (I. Fossati)

CD 2

1. Le notti di Maggio (I. Fossati)
2. Sorvolando Eilat (P. Fabrizi - Mogol)
3. Lunaspina (I. Fossati)
4. La stagione dell'amore (F. Battiato)
5. Il tempo non torna più (P. Fabrizi)
6. I dubbi dell'amore (E. Ruggeri - L. Schiavone)
7. I muscoli del capitano (F. De Gregori)
8. Ninetto e la colonia (F. De Gregori)
9. l cielo d'Irlanda (M. Bubola)
10. Crazy Boy (S. Bersani)
11. Quello che le donne non dicono (E. Ruggeri - L. Schiavone)
12. Ascolta l'infinito (P. Fabrizi - E. Ruggeri)

Download (128 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Francesco Guccini: Fra la via Emilia e il West (EMI, 1984)

Paolo Conte: Concerti (CGD, 1985)

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)