Studio Murena

Studio Murena is no ordinary hip-hop outfit: the Milanese trio of Giovanni Ferrazzi (electronics, sampler), Maurizio Gazzola (electric bass) and Matteo Castiglioni (keyboards and synths) used their first, fully instrumental album, “Crunchy Bites” (2018), to search out new balances within a strain of hip-hop closer to jazz, opening it up to abstraction and atmosphere. That “beat tape” was enough to trigger a substantial evolution of the project, which, expanded to include Amedeo Nan (electric guitar) and Marco Falcon (drums), found a balance recalling the founders of the Radical Stuff scene, albeit recontextualized within a contemporary electronic and digital framework. Lorenzo “Carma” Carminati, the rapper who joined the lineup, is however the biggest new element on “Studio Murena” (2021), an album that pushes boldly toward an asymmetrical, atmospheric, intimate funk-jazz that also ventures into fusion. With the backing of Virgin, “WadiruM” (2023) widens the audience without softening the style, which is instead enriched with varied takes on fusion and numerous guest spots, all carefully chosen.

(Antonio Silvestri)