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)

Gai Saber: Angels, pastres, miracles (Felmay, 2010)

I'm experimenting something this time. This post and the next four ones will have a common theme: the traditional music world. With this small "cycle", I'll try to explore some of the different sides and evolutions of our traditional folk music along the last fifty years. I obviously hope you'll appreciate the venture and discover some good music in the process.

The first suggestion is the last release by Occitan band Gai Saber. It's a very rich and skippy album, which merges old-fashioned Christams Carols (all sung in Langue d'Oc!) and "new" sounds influenced by drum'n'bass, dub and "patchanka" music. I know what you're thinking about: that late-Nineties plague of generally left-wing bands which threw some second-hand "traditional" element in a slapdash way into their reggae-infused "combat rock". You'll be probably relieved by the fact that "Angels, pastres, miracles" has nothing to do with that kind of music. It's some sort of new approach to the field and the extraordinary difference is revealed by two simple elements: the richness of the sound (which encompasses hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, flutes, and electronica besides other acoustic instruments) and its extreme elegance. It's folk music played by folk musicians: that's the point. I'm sure you won't fail to get impressed by its stunning beauty.

"Angels, pastres, miracles" is the fifth album by Gai Saber. All of the other ones are very good, but I specially recommend their masterpiece "Electro Ch'oc" if you like this record.

Here's the review of "Angels, pastres, miracles" I wrote for the website Ondarock.it (in Italian).

Tracklist:

1. Patres de Largentiera
2. Lou premier miracle
3. La camba me fai mau
4. Micoulau Nostre Patre
5. Venes venes
6. San Jauze eme Mario
7. Anuech quand lou gau cantavo
8. Lou viage di Tres Rei
9. Rapataplan
10. La Caterineta
11. Pastre de la campagno

Credits:

• Chiara Bosonetto, Rosella Pellerino, Eugenia, Costanza, Antonio Rapa: vocals
• Elena Giordanengo: harp, galobet, vocals
• Maurizia Giordanengo: accordion
• Alex Rapa: acoustic guitar, digital programming, vocals, mandolin
• Simone Lombardo: hurdy-gurdy, hornpipes, flutes
• Lorenzo Arese: drums
• Giorgio Boffa: double-bass
• Massimo Baudino: backing vocals
• Eugenia Rapa: violin

Download (~200 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Calicanto: Venexia (Compagnia Nuove Indye, 1997)
Sinenomine: Spartenza (Incipit Records, 2009)