Ten Little Italians

KLINEFELTER – Throat (Elevetor Records, 2011)

Turin's Klinefelter, active since 2000, arrive with their latest effort "Throat" at a well-calibrated synthesis of their sonic obsessions. The album's thirteen tracks (with a title that's all too eloquent) shape an agile, neurotic form of rock that ranges vigorously from Soundgarden to Queens Of The Stone Age, passing through post-hardcore temptations and more streetwise garage-blues touches ("Cure Me Baby"). What stands out is the inspired eclecticism and, above all, the confidence in writing and arranging absolutely credible songs with a dry, well-defined touch, songs that catch the ear for their fluid movement and kinetic power (the standout "So Far", but also "You In The Fire" or "Dwywd"). For fans of the genre (and not only them), "Throat" proves to be anything but a passing listen. (Francesco Giordani) 7/10

ETTORE GIURADEI – La Repubblica Del Sole (Novunque/Mizar Records, 2010)

Long beard, tousled red hair. Blue eyes, a little wild. A smile always stamped on his face, white shirt tucked into his trousers. Ettore Giuradei, thirty years old, from Brescia, is exactly the kind of storyteller you'd expect to run into in a small-town bar at half past ten on a foggy autumn evening. A restless talent, bitter irony. Because life is beautiful, but living it to the fullest, trying to wring love, good wine and a bit of poetry out of it, well, that can get complicated sometimes. "La Repubblica del Sole" is his third album, and we're talking about it now even though it came out almost a year ago. About time, you'll say. About time, yes, but sometimes things need to be set aside for a while before picking them up again and truly understanding what they mean. Especially with music. And Giuradei's case is a perfect example, not least because you might end up in a theatre hearing him live, and then you tell yourself this is someone who really knows how to write songs, and knows how to sing them too. So you listen to the album again, track by track, and you recognize the talent perfectly. Restless, as we said, and that's beyond dispute. But if "La Repubblica del Sole" is more than a good record, it's also because the guy is skilled at directing and containing that talent, and much of the credit here goes to the elegant, well-balanced arrangements by his brother Marco. It's on stage, in any case, that Giuradei – and his band along with him – gives his best: a true showman. Never mind that slightly too thick northern Italian accent. We're fine with it, just as it is. (Giovanni Dozzini) 7/10

DESERT MOTEL – Out For The Weekend (Sofa Recs, 2007)

We recently wrote about the excellent debut by Desert Motel, but in truth their first real recorded effort dates back to this fine EP from 2007, which today has one more reason to be dug back up. Compared to "Yarn", the alt-country matrix is more pronounced here, flowing into a kind of magical Wilco + Neil Young hybrid that still manages to shine with a light of its own. The more intimate tracks (though electricity is always present) offer pleasant intersections between Black Crowes and Kings Of Leon ("A Song For When You're Blue"), a Dylan filtered through the country tradition of the great prairies ("Resurrection"), and a closing "What About You", enriched by Silvia Zanellato's voice and Alessio Guzzon's trumpet. After the brief intro, the dance is opened by the splendid "Paths", later revisited on "Yarn" in rougher clothes. But at the heart of "Out For The Weekend" are above all the two heavyweight tracks "This Town" and "In Your Town Of Need": the first has the sound of a rockier Jeff Buckley, the second is an electric gallop of great energy (with clear Byrds-ian roots, suitably recontextualized), which often closes the live shows of the band led by Cristiano Pizzuti (voice, guitar and the group's main songwriter). Alongside him is drummer Fabrizio Locicero (with whom he co-produced the seven tracks), plus the first contributions from guitarist Roberto Ventimiglia and bassist Massimo Gresia. "Out For The Weekend" is the realization of the quartet's first experiments, which find a complete and quite surprising shape here, showing great maturity and a clear vision of the goals to be reached. Given the quantity and quality of the material included, calling it an EP almost feels reductive: highly recommended. (Claudio Lancia) 7/10

OLDEN – Olden (Daruma Records, 2011)

He thinks in Italian, lives in Catalan and sings in English. Until the other day, Davide Sellari was working in an office at one of the most powerful banks in the world, in the heart of Barcelona. At a certain point he got it into his head to record a handful of the songs he'd never stopped writing since he was a kid in short trousers. To drop everything and give music a real shot. He found himself a stage name, a label, and someone to help him with the arrangements and production. The result is this "Olden", a title that echoes the pseudonym the guy chose for himself: eleven tracks of enveloping melodic rock steeped to the bone in the music Sellari must have grown up with back in his native Perugia. Above all, early Radiohead, the "Pablo Honey" era, and more generally the British scene of the Nineties. And then, well, plenty of Beatles – on the McCartney side. The result is decidedly good, even if it seems to lack a bit of an appetite for risk. A forgivable shortcoming, if only because this is the first truly decisive step, and a solo one at that, from someone who, at thirty-odd years old, can already count quite a few stints in bands of various kinds. A leap into the void with a parachute, in other words, and a highly commendable one. The quality of the songwriting itself is remarkable, the pop structure flawless. And the voice, formidable. Olden can work: with his rounded English – legitimate for once, given his migrant status – he has everything it takes to be appreciated well beyond his own borders. Best of luck to him. (Giovanni Dozzini) 6.5/10

SANDRA IPPOLITI – Sandra Ippoliti (Self-released, 2011)

A recording debut for Sandra Ippoliti, an emerging singer-songwriter who immediately shows maturity and great artistic sensitivity. The eight tracks that make up this self-titled, self-released album are extremely fragile minimalist sketches, in which often all that emerges is a guitar and Sandra's voice, sometimes accompanied by a piano and drums played with extreme lightness. Ippoliti enters on tiptoe, building soft textures with a distinctly jazzy bent and a few faint folk shadings. After graduating in archaeology, Sandra decided to devote herself body and soul to her music, focusing on studying piano and guitar. From there came her first compositions, and the chance to open some shows for Bugo and Moltheni, and so her name began to circulate in the crowded alternative circuit. She has often performed in perfect solitude, accompanying herself solely with a five-string guitar (missing the D string), offering covers of Piero Ciampi, Mark Lanegan and Portishead, just to make no secret of her thoroughly crosscutting tastes. The proceeds from one of her singles, "Amata terra mia", a reinterpretation of a Domenico Modugno classic, were donated to the Ciudad dell'Aquila association, for post-earthquake reconstruction. Her voice will also appear on Umberto Palazzo's forthcoming album "Canzoni della notte e della controra".

In the meantime, we keep savoring these eight tasteful, elegant little vignettes, small fragments of intimate emotions, mini therapies born of improvisation, with no choruses or rigid compositional structures. We'll be hearing more about her. (Claudio Lancia) 6.5/10

ABOVE THE TREE – Into The Nature Ep (Musica Per Organi Caldi, 2011)

Marco "Above The Tree" Bernacchia's annual contribution for 2011, following the live testimony of the "Live At Ca' Blasè" cassette, is a six-track EP whose title – "Into The Nature" – only reaffirms the project's already evident primordial intentions. He comes across as a contemplative author right from "Sinking Wreck Story", an alt-country meditation in the vein of Akron/Family (guitar strings over electronic backdrops of whistling, murmurs, celestial mantras), or in the delicate arpeggio of "Hole In The Sun". The line traced by the (relatively) canonical folk song "Spaghetti Western" leads, in "Back To Nature", to attempts at choral arrangements and even groove. But his most characteristic harmonic adventures come in the classy interlude of "Birds Like Green", with its Wyatt-esque blasts of electronic keyboards, and above all in the magma of "1943 – 1971 (Jimmy Alive)", where one hears – in random sequence – strumming, rustling and muezzin-like vocalizing. The whole thing is surrounded, more than ever, by mysterious backdrops of field recordings (courtesy of sound artist Alessio Ballerini), a testimony, symbol and legend of the environment in which the work came to life: an isolated house in the Alps where the artist stayed to take a break during the tour. It's a further refinement of his language – which here settles down and accentuates the softness of his phrasing – and also a refinement of Bernacchia as artist-composer, as he plays with the same elements, enriching and upending them, creation after creation. Contributions from Francesca Amati of Comaneci on backing vocals, Nicola Santini on trumpet, Fabio Binelli on accordion and clarinet, Matteo Verdini on piano, Michele Grossi on drums. (Michele Saran) 6.5/10

AIDONS LA NORVEGE – Ostaggi (Oltrelanebbiailmare, 2010)

Aidons La Norvege are an Umbrian band who lived an intense but fleeting life: they formed and split within a handful of years, between 1982 and 1988. They released just one EP ("La sfida"), yet they were one of the few Italian dark-wave bands to also perform abroad. "Ostaggi" collects the group's entire output, including a few unreleased tracks and a couple of live recordings. Every track is built on a driving bassline and nervous drumming, around which reverb-laden, often ultra-stretched guitar notes coil. The influence of Joy Division is obvious, so much so that the most interesting songs are the ones where less conventional instruments come to the fore, like the unsettling synth of "Per un soldato", or the piano and sax of "Il massacro di Parigi", which conjure theatrical, gothic atmospheres worthy of Bauhaus. It's a shame the vocals are always recorded at too low a volume: the lyrics can't be fully appreciated, which is a pity, because when they do come through more clearly it's obvious they're far from banal. It's not an album for everyone, but fans of Italian dark-wave nostalgia who've grown tired of replaying "Siberia" will appreciate it. (Andrea Vascellari) 6.5/10

JOSEPH RIDE – Joseph Ride (Self-released, 2011)

Frontier dust from the heart of the Campania countryside. Joseph Ride's is a ride through bittersweet Paisley fragrances and wind-swept singer-songwriter fare. Mirages of suspended electricity, snapshots of grainy landscapes. Credit goes to Giuseppe De Filippis and the thoroughly handmade spirit of his debut EP: "I decided to find rather minimal and spartan solutions for arranging the songs," he explains. "I played drums (strictly without a kick drum), various percussion, keyboards... and of course guitars." The nostalgia of "Last December" creeps under the skin like a memory that refuses to fade. Working alongside producer Ferdinando Farro, De Filippis pays homage to his models with passion and a fitting dose of humility ("I tried so hard but never reach my wall of sound"), as in the unmistakably Nineties-flavored slant of "Alien Wail". "People From Your Town" takes on a loping folk gait reminiscent of Giant Sand, while "Secret In Your Toy" conceals a melodic infatuation with the Vaselines: "melody has always been my main interest and driving force, both for listening and for songwriting." "I've found this melody by chance / In a pacific ocean's wave", he sings. We'll stay with him on the shore, waiting for the surprises of the next wave. (Gabriele Benzing) 6.5/10

MAXIMILIAN I – General Quarters Of M (Nuovasarin, 2011)

We left sonic terrorists Maximillian I a few months ago with their decent album "Double Anal Fantasy", and now they're back on the scene with a collection of old material, released on singles, assorted cassettes and scattered rarities, as befits any proper operation of this kind, i.e. a singles collection. As I had occasion to write, their latest album showed a band that was by now seasoned, if not mature, in the field of the most extreme noise, having abandoned gratuitous cacophony. So here is this new album, containing a full thirteen tracks of furious sonic assaults that put our poor eardrums through the wringer. From the sheer cacophony of "Zero a Zero" to the shitgaze sludge of "Semeraro", from the Load Records-style noise experiments of "H Each H" to the total noise of "Capolavoru", all the way to the single "Monolito", recorded live, there isn't much to say, in the sense that this stuff is to be accepted or rejected wholesale, with no compromise. You either love it or you hate it. A few things stand out from the pack, like the constant, irritating buzz of "Banane Negre Gialle", which at least manages to break up a certain overall monotony. The compilation's release was supposedly set for January 8, 2013, but this is surely just another prank from this band of lunatics. Either way, for completists only. (Leonardo Di Maio) 6/10

CORPOPARASSITA – Eterno Dal Volto Di Vipera (Licht Und Stahl, 2011)

Corpoparassita have been on the Italian underground scene for almost a decade now. It was back in 2001, in Alessandria, that Guido Bisagni (Larva108) and Diego formed this experimental electronic project. They already have quite a few official albums, numerous splits and just as many EPs to their name, released over the years through many independent labels, both Italian and foreign. Among the best known are Blade Records, with the album titled "Nel Diciassettesimo Giorno Del Mese", and FinalMuzik, with "Inesorabile". "Eterno Dal Volto Di Vipera" is one of those many EPs, released by the German label "Licht Und Stahl" (N.Strahl.N) on cassette, limited to just thirty-three copies. Built on thick noise and dark-ambient structures, skilfully refined with a variety of field-recording manipulations, Corpoparassita have barely changed their sound over all these years. "Eterno Dal Volto Di Vipera", in fact, doesn't stray far from these traits. The symphonic drones and hazy dark-ambient of the track "Nella Malga Di Funes" stand alongside the powerful noise and field-recordings of "La Donna Del Muschio", while meanwhile, in "Effetto M.T.", light industrial pulses play off long, ethereal, stormy drones in reflection. Except for the track "Teriomorfo", where a powerful dark-ambient base conveys dark, lysergic sensations, the other songs unfortunately fail to leave a mark. We're a long way from certainly more worthwhile albums like "Bambinocheride"; this one, in fact, is a work to recommend only to the most diehard fans. A small curious note: all the tracks on this EP also appear on a CDR titled "Il Trapasso Dei Voti Battesimali", also released in 2011 by the Peruvian label Buh Records; but that's another story. (Massimiliano Mercurio) 5.5/10

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06/11/2024