Ensemble Havadià: '81-'82 (Warner Italia, 2006)

Irriverent, jocose and dynamic, this music is one of the highest peaks of the Italian "R.I.O." scene. The songs are exuberant chamber-rock divertissements, full of mockeries, calembours and sharp eccentricities. Nevertheless, the structures are extremely lucid and complicated: ubiquitous North-Italian folklore and fanfare elements clash with flabbergasting tempo shifts and early 900 classical references - daring layerings which unexpectably manage to keep light and funny; miles away from any self-indulgent prog-rock bluster.

Ensemble Havadià was a short-lived project captained by Milanese "jew atheist" Moni Ovadia, now a well-known stage actor and comedian, and closely related to "Gruppo Folk Internazionale" and Stormy Six's label "L'orchestra". "'81-'82" collects the only two records issued by the band: the eponymous 1981 LP and the 1982 EP "Specchi".

Tracklist:

1. Finale
2. I benandanti
3. Aria del serpente
4. Il serpente burocratico
5. Aria del serpente
6. Gocce amare
7. Konik
8. Fuma el camin
9. Sigla
10. Apertoure
11. L'eternità
12. Straziato assai
13. Rumba "An den Leser"
14. Treno

Download (160 kbps)

Similar albums on Il golpe e l'uva:

Gramigna: Gran disordine sotto il cielo

Stormy Six: Macchina maccheronica

Garamond: Quant'altro (Lizard, 2007)

Garamond's debut album is actually some sort of retrospective of their activity: the tracks date to 2001 and 2005. They are an ensemble from Ancona and their style is firmly rooted in the Italian "Rock In Opposition" tradition. The singer Laura Agostinelli's vocal research evidently reminds of Area's Demetrio Stratos, but is definitely more jocose, thus coming close to experimentation of Quintorigo's John De Leo.
The whole album is extremely high-spirited indeed. The lyrics seem to reflect an Ou.Li.Po. aesthetics: they keep on switching among registers, from fairytalesque to nonsense, childish, aulic. The music behaves pretty much in the same way, ranging from chamber music to jazz, band music, electronica... The result is a very dynamic and fanciful work, maybe comparable to Picchio dal pozzo or Stormy Six: highly intricated, kaleidoscopic, but always very light.

Here's a (not so much) more detailed review I wrote in Italian.


Tracklist:

1. Nel sogno di Otfon Brunzig, consumatore di sogni
2. La (proverbiale) fine del Ca' De Luzi
3. Il gesuita millantatore
4. Filastrocca all'oracolo
5. La saga degli immaginari
6. Beatamente plagiati da superstizioni organizzate
7. Omaggio al Dottor Zoidberg
8. Drazil
9. Situazione angolare

Download (320 kbps) re-up