Squarcicatrici: s/t (Wallace, 2009)

It's been quite a while since the last post on this blog, and I can't guarantee I will update it frequently after this new post, but I hope I'll be able to. Anyway: I'm back.

Today's album is the debut record of a very odd chamber/jazzcore/world/whateverelse ensemble, lead by the omnipresent musical factotum Jacopo Andreini (L'Enfance Rouge, Vialka, Ronin, Ovo, Roy Paci, Cerberus Shoal, and many more).
The tracks are quite diverse, both in influences and styles. They range from "jazzified" versions of folkloric traditions (from the Balkans, or from Latin America) to unforseen chamber/electro/hip-hop experiments, and even reckless hommages to classical music ("Gorecky"). Even languages keep on shifting. Rhythm and interplay are excellent, strings as harsh sandpaper, and despite the studied roughness of the mix, the overall result is quite refined.

Fans of The Ex and the likes will surely love it, but I bet the album would sound original, daring and irresistable for many more. Remeber checking out Jacopo Andreini's "Bossa Storta" project if you liked this one, and follow the blog http://afoforomusicclub.blogspot.com for more information and associated artists.

Tracklist:

1. Afrotellacci
2. Macedone
3. Sans races
4. Mbizo
5. Pilhar Fraqueza
6. J'ai faim, Jessie!
7. Izgubljen sambetta
8. Garota
9. Afrocina
10. Gorecky
11. Afoforo
12. Invischiata
13. Izgubeljen sam (Vuneny mix)

Credits:

• Jacopo Andreini: guitar, bendir, drums, alto and baritone sax, voice;
• Andrea Caprara: tenor sax; 
• Matteo Bennici: cello, bass, voice;
• Enrico Antonello: trumpet;
• Erwan Naour: voice;
• Thollem McDonas: piano;
• Samuele Venturin: bass, accordion;
• Piero Spitilli: contrabass;
• Simone Tecla: drums;
• Andrea Belfi: drums;
• Valentino Receputi: violin;
• Uliva Velo: violin;
• Martina Chiaraugi: viola

Download (320 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Zu: Igneo (Wide Records, 2002)
L'enfance rouge: Trapani - Halq al Waady (Wallace, 2008)

Agricantus: Tuareg (Compagnia Nuove Indye, 1996)

Conceived in Sicily, recorded partly in the Mali Desert, sung by a Swiss singer in a variety of languages (from French and German to Tamachek or Lingala): "Tuareg" is the emblem of world music, and one of the greatest masterpieces in the genre. It's not just a fusion of Mediterranean musical heritage, Touareg traditions and techno-trance structures of the flourishing "rave culture" of the mid-Nineties. And the point's not that the range of influences of is much richer (trip-hop, dub, dream-pop, ambient, drum'n'bass...), nor the charming voice and technique of singer Rosie Wiederkehr (somehow reminding of Cocteau Twin's Elizabeth Fraser), but rather the stunning beauty of the music the album contains. The atmospheres it creates are unique and deeply enthralling: they sound ancient and futuristic, luminous and mysterious, warm and solemn at the same time. I won't venture in further descriptions: luckily, the music doesn't need any explanation to disclose its magic.

Agricantus were a band from Palermo, founded in 1979 as a traditional folk ensemble. During the Nineties, they got more and more intrested to foreign musical traditions and electronic music. The entrance of Swiss singer Rosie Wiederkehr greatly enriched their formula, letting them focus on multi-language lyrics and phonetic experimentation. "Tuareg" is their second long-playing and brought them many critical prizes, such as Premio Tenco, Premio Augusto Daolio, and Premio Italiano della Musica.

Tracklist:

1. Ummiri
2. Hala hala
3. Ljuljuten (Tin-Zawatine)
4. Com'u ventu
5. Carizzi r'amuri (Es Souk)
6. Azalai
7. Tuareg
8. Disiu
9. Caruvana 'i sali
10. U coni coni
11. Dune

Download (128 kbps)

I couldn't find any reliable credits for this album. The line-up of the band was, in any case:

• Tonj Acquaviva: drums and percussion
• Mario Crispi: winds and keyboards, vocals
• Giuseppe Panzeca: guitar and mandolins
• Mario Rivera: bass and vocals
• Rosie Wiederkher: vocals and keyboards

Former Picchio dal pozzo member Aldo De Scalzi should have been involved in the recording, producing or composing process in some way (but I have no exact information).


Similar music on the blog:
Calicanto: Venexia (Compagnia Nuove Indye, 1997)
Militia: Elvengamello (Materiali Sonori, 1997)

Mauro Pagani: Self-Titled (Ascolto, 1978)

The late Seventies are one of the most overlooked periods in the history of Italian rock music. Just while our mediocre "punk" scene was slowly mutating into a florid post-punk milieu, the last remnants of the progressive era were evolving into something new and really unique. Some artists would undertake a "new wave" metamorphosis (think of Franco Battiato), some would hybridate with disco music (Goblin's Claudio Simonetti for example), some would delve into the fascinating musical traditions of the Mediterranean, getting closer and closer to the musical resarch of the "Canzonieri" movement.
P.F.M.'s Mauro Pagani's one of the key figures for this latter trend. After quitting P.F.M. in 1976, he ventured in a dense series of projects aimed at a new fusion of jazz-rock, ancient and traditional folk music, avantgarde experimentation. His first solo lp is perhaps the most mature fruit of his new interests and vision. The recording of the album involved three of the most proficient units around at the time in those fields: Area, P.F.M. and Canzoniere del Lazio, which cooperated in many tracks. It also features guest appearances of outstanding musicians such as former Musicanova singer Teresa De Sio and the amazing acoustic trad-folk guitarist Luca Balbo.

The music is outstanding and extremely varied. A mix of Middle-Eastern flavours, Southern Italian melodies, Sardinian dances; all coupled with refinate arrangements blending chamber music, jazz-rock and captivating avantgarde dilatations in a surprisingly light style.
To make it short: this is one of the best Italian albums ever published. Get it.

Tracklist:

1. Europa minor
2. Argiento
3. Violer d'amores
4. La città aromatica
5. L'albero di canto (Parte 1)
6. Choron
7. Il blu comincia davvero
8. L'albero di canto (Parte 2)

Credits:

• Mauro Pagani: violin, viola, mandolin, bouzouki, flute, composer, arranger (all tracks except 7)
• Mario Arcari: oboe (tracks 1, 2)
• Luca Balbo: guitar (track 7)
• Walter Calloni: percussion (tracks 1, 6)
• Teresa De Sio: vocals (track 2)
• Roberto Colombo: polymoog (track 4)
• Area:
  Demetrio Stratos: vocals (tracks 5, 8)
  Patrizio Fariselli: piano (tracks 1, 5)
  Giulio Capiozzo: drums (tracks 1,5)
  Ares Tavolazzi: bass, double bass (track 5)
• P.F.M.:
  Franz Di Cioccio: drums (track 4)
  Patrick Djivas: bass (track 4)
  Franco Mussida: guitar (track 4)
• Canzoniere del Lazio:
  Giorgio Vivaldi: percussion, talking drum (tracks 1, 6)
  Pasquale Minieri: percussion (track 1)
• Allan Goldberg: engineer (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 8)
• Carlo Martenet: engineer (tracks 4, 7)
• Marco Inzadi: engineer (track 6)
• Piero Bravin: mix (tracks 4, 7)

Download (224 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Premiata Forneria Marconi: Passpartù (Zoo Records, 1978)
Area: Maledetti (Cramps, 1976)

Roberto Mazza: Scoprire le orme (ADN, 1991)

Charming and fluctuating. You could call it new age, you could call it world music, but the most fitting description for "Scoprire le orme" is unearthly. It's just oboe, bardic harp and synthetizers, all played by the composer, Roberto Mazza. The textrures are vaguely inspired by different folkloric traditions, specially the one of the Hebrides islands, in the north of Scotland. There is no recognizable "traditional" feeling, though, as every element is reimagined and transfigured: the resulting atmosphere is oblique and irreal, calm but always veined with disquiet. The unusual scales explored by Mazza and the circularity of the patterns, furthermore, give the music a really "esoteric" touch. I have to admit I don't know any other similar music (but I'll try to suggest something anyway, not too dissimilar I hope).

I couldn't find much information  about Roberto Mazza. The notes on the booklet of the cassette explain he was born in 1953 not far from Milan. He played the woodwinds in the experimental band Telaio Magnetico (alongside Franco Battiato, Lino "Capra" Vaccina, Juri Camisasca) during the Seventies, and then started touring with harpist Vincenzo Zitello. He got passionate with the rediscovery of the celtic harp and almost forgotten indoeuropean musical traditions. This is his first solo work, as far as I know, followed by "Cyprea" some years afterwards.

Tracklist:

1. Vulcani blu
2. First Song
3. Stanze parallele
4. Ebridi
5. Acrostici indolenti
6. Altari della luna
7. Visioni del sentiero azzurro
8. Esperidi
9. Mahoraga
10. Artigli arguti
11. Koan
12. Le lunghe ore luminose

Download (240 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Militia: Elvengamello (Materiali Sonori, 1997)
Nicola Alesini, Pier Luigi Andreoni: Marco Polo (Materiali sonori, 1996)

Francesco Messina: Medio Occidente (Casablanca Records, 1983)

The heritage of the Cosmic Couriers, the new technologies and the beggings of synth-pop, minimalism... And the Mediterranean: the fascination for the Middle-Eastern tradition and philosophy. "Medio occidente" is on the frontier of these musical worlds, which are surprisingly close one another.
The mood reminds of a starker Vangelis, of Philip Glass, or Franco Battiato's most "ethnic" works. The latter is not a coincidence: Francesco Messina is a longtime acquantaince and collaborator of Battiato's. Most of the tracks are hypnotic instrumental wanderings, suspended in an ecstatic calm. The hushed timbres are disposed with a somehow architectural aesthetics, and the synthetic beats obey to a strictly functional logic. There's a veil of melancholy and decadence over them though, and the few tracks with vocal parts emphasize the sensation. The overall ambience is dusty and soaked with helplessness. Some retro-fashioned vocal intrusions (opera singing, craking radio excerpts) project a sense of nostalgia for the old times, probably the colonial era when Europe extended over all of the Mediterranean...

Francesco Messina was born in 1951 in Sicily, but moved to Milan tu study design. There he became involved with Franco Battiato's artistic entourage. This is his second solo album, after a lot of collaborations (both musical and graphical). He is now married with singer Alice, and he is a university professor in the field of graphic design.

(I could not find a bigger image, sorry)

Tracklist:

1. Marcia di Kioto
2. Harem
3. Uffici del 126° piano
4. Russian tea room
5. Plaza tonal
6. Fine novecento
7. Club Mediterranée
8. Comunicazioni interne

Download (210 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Franco Battiato: Giubbe Rosse (EMI, 1989)

Nicola Alesini, Pier Luigi Andreoni: Marco Polo (Materiali sonori, 1996)

Ivano Fossati: La pianta del tè (CBS, 1988)

When the elusive humanism of the singer/songwriter school meets the scents of world music. When Africa and South-America blend together, and their blend is called "Mediterranean". When a Piedmontese accordion can seduce the shimmery guitars of South-African Mbaqanga and wave to the beat of a reggae beat.

It's an album of joy, "La pianta del tè", and an album of melancholy. It's suffused and springy, and pensive, and ecstatic. It's an album of lush arrangements and exceptional rhythmic refinement. The grooves are vigorous, but sparse, infectious, but subtly askew.

There are the songs, then, and Ivano Fossati's envelopping voice - his husky grain, and his quintessential prolonged vocals. And guests: Fabrizio De André, Francesco De Gregori and Teresa De Sio, all of them contributing to the unique mood of Fossati's tenth solo record.

Tracklist:

1. La pianta del té
2. Terra dove andare
3. L'uomo coi capelli da ragazzo
4. La volpe
5. La pianta del té (parte seconda)
6. Questi posti davanti al mare
7. La signora del ponte-lance
8. Chi guarda Genova
9. La costruzione di un amore
10. Caffè lontano

Download (112 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
L'orchestra di Piazza Vittorio: Sona (RadioFandango/Edel, 2006)
Radiodervish: In acustico (Cosmasola, 2001)

Militia: Elvengamello (Materiali Sonori, 1997)

Elusive, but bewitching: "Elvengamello" is a voyage through obscure landscapes, memories that intersect and tangle each other. Deliberately fragmentary, but connected through a subliminal narrative flow, an esoteric mood which cleverly creeps between a haunting sense of decadence and a detached taste for intellectual constructions.

The musical palette encompasses a wide range of influences, but most of all a constant - yet indirect - reference to a trans-cultural Mediterranean heritage. A mix of Arabian, Northern-African and South Italian folkloric echoes enriching the setting of the global end-of-the-Empire atmosphere.
Other references are surely the wavering suspension of Tuxedomoon, or the emaciated utopism of CCCP. Industrial percussions, urticant (but extremely discerned) guitars and spare multi-language spoken-word intermissions are the last elements of a firmly unhortodox sound-world that even verges on progressive.

This is the second LP by Militia, a band from Perugia. Founded in 1979, they crossed the Eighties without publishing almost anything: their first record is a 1985 EP, the second one (the album "Dunarobba") dates 1990. Some of their members, though, created the important label Materiali Sonori, which printed all of their few records besides many other interesting works by Italian and international artists (Tuxedomoon, A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column etc.).


Tracklist:

1. 17 Pluviose
2. Vorrei morire
3. Elvengamello
4. Fila & strocca
5. Mare crudele (2)
6. Su Santitad
7. Giorno dopo giorno
8. A Map of Valentine
9. Il male, il peggio
10. Welmite Notizen
11. Il fuoco e il vino
12. Disquisizione
13. Hua
14. Sciopero generale
15. Untitled

Download (128 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
Nicola Alesini, Pier Luigi Andreoni: Marco Polo (Materiali sonori, 1996)
L'enfance rouge: Trapani - Halq al Waady (Wallace, 2008)

L'orchestra di Piazza Vittorio: Sona (RadioFandango/Edel, 2006)

World music. Literally: there's the whole world, in this album. Music from everywhere, blended in a charming melting pot aesthetics. As in the most refinate recipes (or the most genuine), the flavours preserve their own identity. Fused, but not confused, the multiplicity of musical cultures animating "Sona" gives rise to a rich fresco. Or maybe a colorful and intricated tapestry, portraying the many faces the music can take around the world.
Tracks like life scenes - music for dancing, music for relaxing or to get blithe, moody music and sing-along music. African percussions, jazzy layerings and orchestral elegance. Maghrebi seductiveness, Brazilian saudade.

And a bit of Italian song craftmanship. The man behind this oversized multi-ethnic ensemble (16 elements from all over the world) is Mario Tronco from Avion Travel. In league with the documentarist Agostino Ferrente, he started the project as a way to make people from the different cultures living in Rome know each other.
The experience is documented on the feature film "L'orchestra di Piazza Vittorio".



Tracklist:

1. Sona
2. Ena Fintidaarh'k
3. Fela
4. Helo Rama Per
5. Laila
6. Balesh Tebsni
7. Ena Andi
8. Sandina
9. Vagabundo Soy

Download (256 kbps)


Similar albums on the blog:
Radiodervish: In acustico (Cosmasola, 2001)
Ritmia: Forse il mare (New Tone, 1986)