TRAKS MAGAZINE #8

No. 8 - march 2017

heidi for president our sound lawn freaky mermaids mudimbi viridanse girless

REVIEWS

INTERVIEWS

NEWS

www.musictraks.com

contents 4

Interview heidi for president

8

interview freaky mermaids

12

Interview girless

14

interview rasman

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interview mudimbi

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live dates

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review santacroce

22

reviews

26

interview viridanse

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Videos

TRAKS MAGAZINE www.musictraks.com Editor in Chief: Fabio Alcini info@musictraks.com

interview

heidi for presid sound lawn, fla shirts and fake antlers

Nostrils, the debut album of Heidi For President will be released on April 21. On the lp, Taranto band collects songs that start from folk to achieve results quite unique and differentiated. We put a few questions to them.

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What’s the story of Heidi for President?

Heidi for president was born in a cellar, an evening meeting after days of work/study.

Improvising, we directed more and more towards a common sound that eventually

dent: annel e deer

became characteristic and on which we have worked to define it better. And then the idea of ​​“sound lawn”, lyrics in English, the first flannel shirts and fake deer antlers. As the project took shape the band was shaped, with

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components that have contributed their influences, until today, when the assets we were in 3 elements with very clear stylistic ideas.

Love is the central concept of the lp. Which were the basic ideas of your album?

interview

We are romantics and our ideal days are those spent around pine forests, beaches, ravines, so pretty much tell what we are and what surrounds us. With our music we hope to convey those are the moments of great inspiration that pervade us during these outings.

Often, however, with universal love and the natural landscapes we also like to tell of our lives, masked in this size.

The songs seem to have very homogeneous inspiration...

We have gone through many phases and each song was the result of a study that lasted over time. While the band was consolidated the tracks were arranged each time in a different way and the lyrics are often lost or changed many times. But the base remains the nature, which has always accompanied us on this journey, allowing us to maintain a dominant concept.

Although yours is a debut, you could count on important collaborators at La Rivolta

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Records. Can you tell how you collaborated with musicians of the lp, particularly with Del Vitto who is also the producer?

La Rivolta Records is a big family and this has allowed us to count on the collaboration of great musicians who have immediately taken the project to heart. We had the pleasure and honor to record with Roberto Mangialardo, guitarist of La Municipàl and Sofia Brunetta, with Dario Ancona, guitarist of I Misteri del Sonno, but basically one of Puglia’s best bassists and Paolo del Vitto, Playontape drummer and producer. This is our debut album so many artistic details were discovered little by little and day by day, especially the importance of the producer, Paolo Del Vitto, who did a very professional job, but also “beautiful” in which he experiented also.

How is it born “Nostrils”?

“Nostrils” is the title of the album but especially the title of our favorite song. The album, half experimental and half-Brit-folk, contains both rhythmic 70/80 that the orchestral reflections. The eight songs in an album are the result of a carefully selection occurred with Paolo Del Vitto. The album evokes the beauty of a sunrise, the love of nature, of the legends tells about the life, death and the very nature, of the wandering souls of the artists who blend with the landscape.

Who are the Italian independent artists that you value most in this moment and why?

Since this question has put us in crisis, we choose three “major” artists and three independent artists closer to us. Among the major we include: - Management del Dolore post-operatorio for the wealth of lyrics and for no “disturbing” rock.

- Verdena and Iosonouncane for their musical experimentation and research of sounds Among independent artists closer to us we have no doubt, Sofia Brunetta for its ability to innovate, with voice and sounds, basically tested genres, La Municipàl for the construction of the lyrics and the rhythmic nonclassical despite a debut album, and finally Il Terzo Piano, for their atmospheric music and their ability to enchant the audience.

But by continuing to do things our own way we would like to mention the bands that we value and love. These are Il Guaio, Inude, Leland Did It, Matilde Davoli, Wrongonyou, Carolina Bubbico, Beatrice Antolini, Senhal, Electrojesuz, I Misteri Del Sonno, Andrea Nabel, The Pier, Melga, Plof, Giovanni Truppi, The People Speak, Motta, Moustache Prawn, A Copy For Collapse, Gomma, A Morte L’amore.

It is very funny the invocation to “vote” Heidi, you call the “only German heart of gold... Now I have a few certainties in life, but... Heidi is not Swiss?

Heidi could also be of Frosinone (a random chosen town), for us she is a concept, a dispassionate love for nature, innocence, barefoot, walking. Germany, Naples, Milan, Switzerland, the Alps, we do not mind the exact location, we are shitty peasants, what did you expect?

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Freaky mermaids a silent dialogue New start for Freaky Mermaids, who welcomed Giorgia Poli (ex Scisma) in its ranks. The band released an album, Everything could happen, in which they widened a bit their horizons. We asked them a few questions.

The band exists since 2006, but this record has the appearance of a “new beginning.�Can you tell us how why?

s e

We arrived to this... sharing! This record started where the previous one ended: during the first phase of mixing of Moonshine onces betrayed me something was wrong ...

This was the moment when entered in our scene Gabriele, who finished our mix making us happy of what we had done. Giorgia and Gabriele are lifemates so the next step was short: the experience and the energy of Giorgia have thrown forward causing us to glimpse new possibilities. New relationships and new plots, different experiences: all this has changed us, our tools have changed, our sound has changed, Laura has embraced the guitar! Everything Could Happen is exactly the picture of our relationship and musical journey.

Do finding a new alchemy after joining forces with Giorgia Poli was simple or complicated?

For our fortune, very simple: Giorgia was the missing piece. The feeling was amazing right from the first reharsal.

The disc carries an expansion of sounds and perhaps even a broadening of horizons: Can you tell us how you arrived?

As I said before, the new equipment has enabled us to broaden our musical horizons: the credit goes to Gabriele, who introduced the older guitars and less celebrated there, the tube quality amplifiers, the sound of certain effects that he owns. Moreover, the nature of the songs of this album was already in origin other than the previous one, perhaps the

most personal and intimate because it was conceived at a time of growth and change. We have tried to respect this diversity as much as possible and do not add anything more than necessary.

How did is born “You’re gonna tell me�?

It happens every day, in every relationship, at any age, to identify with what you read with what you hear with what you decide to be. This song is a song to the freedom of self-expression in the most absolute simplicity. Be yourself, with disheveled hair, without having things too important to say but just be present, living relationships without too much mental constructs.

Can you tell the main instrument you used to play on this record?

First of all we used the tools we use in live concerts: acoustic and electric guitars, bass and double bass, ukulele, harmonicas and our three voices. Our intent was to start from a sound as close as possible to the sound of real concerts and to give the expansion of the narrow confines of the songs from the point of view of the instruments. Our achievement

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interview has been to not be afraid to leave the remains of tracks and add overdubs just to give depth to the sound plane or to reinforce what was already there. We were also helped by some very delicate work of musicians who we hosted in the recording studio. They have added precious colors that we did not have, like the harp of Chiara Dassenno, the piano / Rhodes of Andrea Braga and the drums of Max Comincini and Beppe Mondini. Gabriele says: “I am dedicated to shooting techniques microphone and tricks that allowed me to record the performance of the girls while they were playing live without metronome and without headphones. The core of this disc is played live 80%: I am happy of this result, it’s what I really wanted, and it is the testimony of the very good attitude of the girls!”

Can you describe your concerts?

Our gigs take place mainly in small places, and intimate enough

to establish a silent dialogue with our audience. Normally we do not have the drums and we try to build the rhythmic patterns in alternative ways. Sometimes the limits allow you to use more imagination and creativity. But we do not disdain the one-time contribution of drummers...

Who are the Italian independent artists that you value most in this moment and why?

We love Cesare Basile for his continuous musical research and Paolo Benvegnù for the poetry of his lyrics.

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interview

girless I had no intention at the time to do something alone, I had some unfinished songs that I had started to work and by the time I became convinced that it was best to keep them totally acoustic, just guitar and voice.

Hence it arose the need to record a solo lp.

Why an lp dedicated to suicide people?

I remember one morning I was wandering on the internet without a definite purpose. You know when you open a link from there, and then you open another twenty, until you arrive on a site or a page distant from that from which you started? Here it is. I ended up on this page that talked about celebrities who had committed suicide. I began to read their stories and to deepen my own. From there, I selected eight characters and I thought it would be challenging to try to tell their stories.

How do you start your own solo career with an album dedicated to eight famous suicides? If you are Tommaso/Girless, officially “paused� by the experience of Girless & The Orphan, you can. His album, I have a call, relates with the last step of Hemingway, Primo Levi, Mario Monicelli, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Vladimir Majakovsij, Luigi Tenco. And to the one of a person that did not commit suicide, like Giuseppe Pinelli. All with the help of the Urali, who sings in two songs and plays bass in one.

Can you explain how and why you’ve come now to your first solo album?

The last record of Girless & The Orphan was released in October 2014 and for a year we carried it throughout Italy. In February 2016 we talked, and we decided to take a break to focus on other things, personal or in music.

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How did you choose the characters and, in two words, what does each of them for you?

The selection process has been influenced by various factors. In some cases, the personal history of the deceased was too cool to be told. In other cases it is started from an idea to the text and I’ve adapted the music. Actually the tracks and therefore the characters were 12, but some were not too incisive in terms of text, or do not fully convinced, so I narrowed the selection to the 8 best in my opinion. It was not easy because they are all very different characters with each other, and even what they represent can vary depending on which side you look at them. It would be long to explain everything that I learned from these characters by reading their books, their poetry or listening to their songs. Or more simply trying to understand its history, when it is told by a third party is always fallacious.

Why the choice of a “non-suicide” like Italian anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli?

Because we don’t talk about him enough and it is a tremendously contemporary event.

Can you describe your concerts?

What are the next dates that will see you involved?

I speak a little too much between one song and another. The only date set so far will be the release show at Magazzino Parallelo of Cesena at the DIY Fest (which is a super two-day festival between Rimini and Cesena with many good bands and you should think to come).

Who is or who are the Italians independent artists you respect most in this moment and why?

This is a question very difficult, because you always end up forgetting someone. So now I’ll make a band list and artist friends that I appreciate a lot, in a completely random order and hope not to forget anyone important (something that inevitably will happen): Urali, Lantern, Caso, Lags, Fine Before You Came, Riviera, Dags, Zachary, Die Abete, I Like Allie, Tegu, VRCVS, Montana, Bennett, Marcovaldo, New Adventures in Lo-fi, Marnero, Labradors.

Can you name three songs that have influenced you the most?

Songs in particular I could not, I say the authors: for abroad I would say Billy Bragg, Leonard Cohen and Rocky Votolato to Italy very banal tell Fabrizio De André, Ivan Graziani and Samuele Bersani. I wanted to put Piero Ciampi, but I do not dare even given the enormity of the character.

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interview

rasman With what feelings was born “Stub”?

“Stub” is examining the forensic uses to determine whether there are traces of gunpowder on a suspect of murder, the sound of the record is very strong, the guitars are rhythmic and repetitive, like the lyrics of the songs. The titles of the songs are an extract of modern society, a Lawyer by Stalker and punishement before the crime, genuine complaints of a contemporary discomfort.

How is it born “Bathfoam”?

Bathfoam inspired by a true story: a girl, after a disappointment in love, cut her wrists and was left to die in a bathtub. The fact made me think, to the point of writing a song.

Rasman are a trio of recent composition, which released its debut, Stub. We put a few questions to the band.

Can you summarize your story to date?

The Rasman trio formed in 2014 with Alessandro on voice / guitar, Emilio on bass and Riccardo on drums. The group comes from the underground punk rock / grunge scene of the province of Rimini and it was born with original songs (No cover). After two rotations on drums, the band, with Gabriele (Sanji) on drums, entered the studio to record Stub. The name of the group Rasman is inspired by a case of Italian news, a case never solved injustice.

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Can you tell the main instrument you used to play on this record?

The lp was recorded entirely in a mini-studio

by Luca Mascia (recording, mixing and mastering) with Cubase.

Can you describe your concerts?

Our gigs are sincere, there are no pauses, there is a strong influence of the Ramones show.

Who is or who are the Italians independent artists that you value most in this moment and why?

Francesco Motta and the SOVIET SOVIET are currently indie artists that we like best, in addition to our countrymen Honey.

The album is now out for some time: have you already started working on new songs?

We are already working on new songs looking to shave even more the sound that we would get.

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interview An album, Michel, that he defines “honest”. Mudimbi brings provocation and irony to the album. We have asked him a few questions.

Can you tell your story?

It is very long, sure you want it all? Let’s do the highlights.

I was born and still live in a faraway place called San Benedetto del Tronto. I have always been lively on average and average intelligent (at least according to me).

During adolescence, while looking for my place in the world, I came across to rap and, after the first years of hate and love, I started to take familiarity. I wrote and sang a lot, like all those who do rap, but I’ve written for and sung in contexts completely different from those frequented by those who rap.

One day, a few years ago, I embraced the idea of ​​giving up this hobby, it would never become anything more, and lead a “normal life.” While I was thinking this, one of my songs turns out on Radio Deejay. That makes me prick up their ears and think that maybe I should try seriously.

A few years passed and here

mudimbi

we are.

You wanted a record, above all, honest. In

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instead I found myself having to put together all these traces, to write them from scratch, to squeeze your brains while I was still working in the workshop, with little time and little energy... well we can say that at that time my life has not gone then so well hahaha How is it born “Giostre”?

You should ask to “Giostre”. I was on the sofa in my old apartment, exhausted, brain dead, but suddenly something crosses my head. I run into the other room, I take the microphone and start recording. Probably it had nothing to do with “Giostre” as we know it today, but the backbone was the same, the mood was the same, and for me this alone was enough to understand that it was worth continuing to work on it.

Who are the Italian independent artists you respect the most in this moment and why?

I do not reckon anyone. But do not misunderstand, is not conceit or arrogance, is that (who knows me well knows) I do not look around much. I’m focused on what I do and want to do, and I keep my eyes, ears and well centered head on this. Sometimes i feel surprised, like when they compare me to someone that I have not the faintest idea who he is, and yet then I discover that, for the world of the internet, he is more famous than Jesus of Nazareth. But that’s okay, because the few times I have estimated some of my “colleague”, it was enough to deepen a bit more to change on the subject immediately idea. I’m not saying it’s the same for everybody, there are exceptions, but in my head I always resonates the phrase from an old movie: “To know in person someone you like, it is the first step to begin to estimate it no more”.

what is expressed honesty in the album?

The songs are there because I like them, not because they have to be there. There is no strategy behind any of my songs, nor behind the album, nor behind Mudimbi. Honesty is in this for me, I do what I really want to do in the way that I feel I really want, at the risk, of course, that things can go wrong. And with the assurance that, eventually, I will be fine.

What were the biggest difficulties you encountered in making the record, if there were?

I am not one of those who writes from morning to night, which is unleashed on the sheet. I don’t have to vent about anything, my life is going very well. So I did quite apnea when

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tour

ATLANTIC TIDES 12.04 COBBLESTONES – BRIDGWATER (UK) 13.04 SUNBIRD RECORDS – DARWEN (UK) 14.04 PERCY’S – WHITCHURCH (UK) 15.04 LOUNGE 41 – WORKINGTON (UK) 16.04 HOPE & ANCHOR – LONDON (UK)

29/4 | NAPOLI (ITA)- MMB - NAPOLI 30/4 | ROMA (ITA) - LE MURA 5/5 | PRAGUE (CZE) - VEČERNÍ KAVÁRNA SOUTERRAIN 6/6 | BRNO (CZE) - MUSIC LAB 12/5 | FAVARA (ITA)- OFFICINE MAC 13/5 | VITTORIA (ITA) - DEMODÈ SUNSET RADIO 01.04 SAMARA(RUS) 02.04 BALAKOVO (RUS) 03.04 VOLGOGRAD (RUS) 21.04 TURBIGO (ITA) 22.04 VIGEVANO (ITA)

VIKOWSKI 16/4 | BEOGRAD (SER) - ZAOKRET 17/4 | NIS (SER) - FEEDBACK 23/4 | GDANSK (PL) - OLD GDANSK BEER PUB & CAFFE

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review

santacroce Alessio Santacroce publishes his new album, Migras: the guitarist, author and writer, has a twenty-year career with La Quarta Via, but this is his first as solo artist. An album of so-

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lid rock, attentive to social issues, a natural attitude for an author like Santacroce who is also chairman for Italy of O.N.G. Sawa Sawa, committed to building family homes in Kenya. Santacroce goes on with his parallel musical projects such as Cayenna, Holy Hand Grenade and of course, La Quarta Via. Album starts with Il Gregge, a rock song with traditional and rough profile, with a guitar that is the main actor. Even faster is La notte della repubblica, showing attention to reality and sudden dark moments.

The Alessia Caracciolo voice characterizes Clorofilla, soft ballad with signs of nervousness. Mercanti di Anime begins to run and with high beat, making clear reference to smugglers and traffickers of men from the two shores of the Mediterranean. Different shades and a nonlinear structure distinguish instead Normandie, which gives more space to the lines drawn by approaching instruments to more contemporary genres such as indie and post-rock. Bianco miope background is rumbling and immerses the speech sounds rather gloomy. L’ingiusta fine delle mezze stagioni comes back to a context of more flamboyant rock, while La fiaba dulcamara returns in calmer moments, mostly vocals

and guitar, but with critical ideas towards common life today. Lp closes with Migras, the title track, which opens with a sweet guitar riff and that is revealed little by little in the style of a hard rock ballad of 70s and 80s. Robust and pleasant album, which although take part in rock tradition without major innovations, manages to build a coherent path without compromise and with something interesting.

reviews colombre “pulviscolo” Pulviscolo is the new lp of songwriter Colombre.

Giovanni Imparato spent his last years writing and arranging his songs by publishing with Chewingum band.

Two albums, an ep, and hundreds of concerts in Italy and Europe. New album starts from Pulviscolo, the title track, which introduces a soft and songwriting horizons, with some cloud the view, however, does not hurt. Fuoritempo, on the contrary, decides to speed up, using keyboards and vintage guitars flavor. Blatte sees the collaboration with Iosonouncane, apparently not very close to the sounds of Colombre. But the combination, especially on the vocal side, works well, even following the apparent dissonance that introduce small air pockets in the song. More linear, despite the title, Tso, who also fits extravagant variations on his soft tissue.

Most scintillating and with disco dance music surround Dimmi tu, that relates to Alan Sorrenti songs, even with some hint of falsetto and a great funky guitar groove.

Sveglia is a pop-rock tune, happy to send to fuck off more or less all the world (indeed, the universe). Quieter moments the ones of Bugiardo, but also softer the final of Deserto. There is talk of “soft” referring to the musical side, because often the lyri-

cs are hard as rocks. There is much originality in the work of Colombre, putting to good use the experience with a fast and successful record. Important work, with clear evidence of creativity.

the black veils “dealing with demons” Dealing with Demons is the new work of the Bolognese trio The Black Veils. This is a concept album on the need to face the demons that lurk in the hearts and minds of human beings and that often dangerously take control. Produced by Gianluca Lo Presti at Lotostudio of Ravenna, “Dealing with Demons” is the first official release signed Atmosphere Records , the Bologna-based label that brings together some of the most interesting contemporary Italian reality of post-punk and darkwave mold. The lp starts with The Persistence of Memory, full of feedback. Then the music starts for real and it falls in the middle of dark wave, crushed between the ghosts of Joy Division and early Cure. Nothing is Pure works on deep resonances and puts on the track an average beat but with frequent changes. More ethereal and detached is the entrance to The Ghost Inside, which in reality does not reveal itself at all detached. Reptile (Chant

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for Cold-Blooded Creatures) conjures ghosts of new wave, but also of the tribe of bands which refers to that time. Distinct rhythms and a desire to assault is revealed in True Beauty Attacks! Instead Prinsengracht move on more indirect lines, hidden in the mists of Dutch channels, with the recovery of something that seems melodic. Extremely accelerated movements, and rather hysterical, those of The Comforting Another Taste of Springtime Torture. Freyja recovers a more “normal pace”, but look for other deep resonances.

Dealing with Demons, the title track comes to confirm the impressions already accumulated in the course of the album.

Then we go towards the end with declamatory and crooked The Wicker Man, before the dances are closed seriously with The Disintegration of the Persistence of the Memory, descriptive, dramatic and lyrical final part. Good second album for The Black Veils, able to put various anxieties on record, melting them with good execution quality. Strongly recommended to dark wave lovers.

rock and experimental sounds. The album opens with the title track, A Tree Grows, a rich in sparkles where the sax phrase fits smoothly with quite nervous percussions.

Softer are the movements of Millions of Years, interesting excursus on soft tones.

There is something deeply vintage in the development of Out and About, still led by the sax but where the instruments blend together effortlessly. The short Valentines Day cloaks the path of sweetness, fishing almost in the easy listening area. Unlike 2 years, 16 days and 24 minutes that opens with sounds flirting with the noise, developed under the track and with more experimental ideas.

The first part of Wau Wau Water goes in areas bluntly jazz, slipping on velvet.

Very animated is Youngblood, where the drumming becomes particularly evident and alive. We return to an experimental nerve with Rashaan’s Life, short guitar speech. A team talk much broader instead comes with Tragic, with a construction that begins with rhythmic foundation to raise more important structures. After another short excursions into jazz with some dose of tradition, with Future Calculations, here comes Ripple Edit and her ethereal movements. The lp closes with the second part of Wau Wau Water. Good lp for the band, showcasing all his considerable talent. In addition to the instrumental capabilities, it is clear also the will to go beyond standard.

A tree grows “a tree grows”

After the first single, Wau Wau Water, A Tree Grows present their self-titled debut album, released by Rufftone Records, accompanied by the video of the song Future Calculations. By involving some of the most talented musicians of the New York scene, the band has managed to create a Street Jazz disk, mixed with Afrobeat,

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reviews voina “Alcol, schifo e nostalgia” An lp victim of hangover: Voina publish Alcool, schifo e nostalgia, the second lp, that carries anxieties, resentments and many confused but fast ideas. Voina come from Lanciano (Chieti - Abruzzo) and in the spring of 2013 they released their first ep, entirely self-produced and artistically directed by Manuele Fusaroli and Marco Di Nardo (Management del Dolore Post-Operatorio). On October 2015 they released their first album Noi non siamo infinito. There is a certain continuity between Welfare, the opening track, and Io non ho quel non so che: an electrical and aggressive continuity in the fields of indie rock and post punk, at high speeds.

The first song focuses mainly on labor issues, while the second extends his gaze in a way of being, or rather not to be, in tune with the common experience of the year 2017.Bere proves itself equally effective, transformed along the way in a sort of anthem (sui generis), with the bad feelings that expand and meet choral moments.

More dark and intimate Ossa, although the propensity to (self) destruction then takes the main street of a very suffered and bleeding song. Morire 100 volte tries again to hold back the anger, through good bass lines and other electrical techniques, but it fails and the explosion it comes, even with

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a hint of hip hop. Gli anni 80 does not skimp on aggression and regrets. Il futuro alle spalle starts from the bass to tell stories of hope denied. Non è la Rai tries to explain in detail the possibility of different life choices, which is a bit the leitmotif of the disc. Along with the accumulation of negative feelings vented through electric guitars always drawn. Il Jazz does not really expresses a great fascination for the genre of Miles Davis, used as a symbol of a life that you hate. La Provincia details the sensation of hangover and the feelings that transmits, closing the album. A very strong effort, that of Voina, who make steps forward compared to the previous album, also in terms of nihilism. The feelings expressed by the band are clearly sincere, digging to the bone and sometimes hurting even just listening to them from the outside.

wops “il giorno onirico”

Ten years of playing music together, but first official album: Wops publish Il giorno onirico, twelve tracks where can be traced signs of psychedelia, rock, dream pop. The influences range from classic psychedelia up to the American indie and more recent generations. The Wops are: Fabrizio Piergiovanni (drums), Marco Amoroso (low) Alessandro Caruso (guitars, keyboards and vocals) and

Francesco Rita (guitars, keyboards and vocals). The band’s name is a derogatory term against the Italian immigrant invented by the Americans in the early twentieth century. The first song Ora mi alzo, a dawn acoustic/psychedelic for the lp, distributed with pinkfloydian footprints.

Without stopping you move to the L’oro in bocca, much more rhythmic and less dreamy, even with a very concrete and aggressive drumming. The drift dream it takes only the final part of the song, in this case.

Cori and dissonance in Funesto, equally assaulting and with a round of punchy guitar. Pace does not go down, but surely the tones lower, with Lady 88, still woven on a very fast drumming and increasing volumes. Influences psych-folk and vintage characteristics for A me mi, while La ballata delle mine adds some ideas in the pop field. Tones suddenly low and soft those of Lei mi dice, whispered with a development once again of dream pop. Many denials resonate in melancholic Vinavil. The second part of the tune, however, reveals an electronic soul and a dotted rhythm in an almost entirely unexpected way. Ripresa expands upon concepts and serves as the first intermission of Il Lancio, a track that builds a rhythmic climax with meditative pauses. After the second part of Ora mi alzo, still soft and acoustic, the album closes with L’arte del sonno, with a phone call, maybe taken from a movie gradually drowned by rising sounds. Good personality and good ideas for Wops, who manage to blend ideas and influences in a creative way, to get a team job and with good levels of intensity.

usual “just feel alright” Usual is the project of four musicians who publish Just Feel Alright, ep of four songs full of rock and good feelings. The band members are Mathias Drescig (vocals and guitar), Filippo Tonelli (bass and vocals), Michele Marocchi (guitar and vocals) and Marco Ziliani (drums and vocals). Just Feel Alright is their debut ep, released on March 15 via Primal Box, recorded and mixed by Fabrizio San Pietro and Jonathan Bonvini the Chrono Sound Factory in Vimodrone. The work starts from Just Feel Alright, the title track that exposes immediately the band’s penchant for international rock (not necessarily indie), with a rhythm crescendo and a choral finale. Dog fits rhythms and a more aggressive and heavy sounds. With the passing of the song traces of ‘70s rock with some blues influence emerge. Any sign of vintage emerges even from Blueberries and Wine, tune of medium and resonant rhythm. It closes with Down the Road of My Heart, with good sensations transmitted by the rhythm section, modulated with other ideas about the past without exceeding in nostalgia, and even a trumpet passage to confer other colors. Good ep, that of Usual, rich and distinctive characteristics of a rather strong personality.

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interview

viridanse all to interpret it in a different era. So, having established that we would have to re-invent a new formation for three-fifths, we decided to invest in a new repertoire, recovering very little of the old pieces. This journey took us no time to have eight new songs, albeit from certain darker shades of the old sound, expressed harsher sounds and in some sense “free� from rigid patterns of much of the music of the 80s. In some ways it was a risky choice, but it certainly was the only one we could do to express something new and more mature. Obviously the meeting with Gianluca, Giancarlo and Fabrizio gave a new dimension to our music and it has allowed us to realize Viridanse in 2015, an album that has given us so much satisfaction especially as critical acclaim and audience.

Can you tell guidelines and inspiration behind your new album?

Born in 1983, they broke up in 1987. It could be all here the history of Viridanse. But then it comes an anthology in 2012, then a real reunion in 2014 that has resurfaced with the history of post punk band. Today the band renews oldest sensation publishing Hansel, Gretel e la strega cannibale, a virulent album full of feelings. We put a few questions to Enrico Ferraris and Flavio Gemma.

Many reunion of rock bands collide with the reality of the past: you make a record, then they all return to their own reality.

But you have proven to having set up a project built to last. On what is build your newfound solidity?

When in 2014 we decided to start making music as Viridanse Flavio and I never doubted the willingness to engage in a lasting way. Restart was a way to evolve our music in the most natural way possible and above

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From the musical point of view it is a job that has elements of a very 70s approach, for the air we breathe, the most influential in the use of voice and sound in general. Big thanks also to the powerful battery Erik (Nalin) that, after leaving the group of Fabrizio (Calabrese) in June 2016 played superbly the new songs, in a very short time, moreover.

The song that gives title to the work, and in general the entire album from allegory of the fable to represent the grotesque and devastating side of the society in which we are immersed and of which we are co-responsible for the decline. It is not clear where it really is evil, that childhood innocence, instinct engulfing the cannibal witch, torn between the temptations and snares of the company that “pretends” or marzipan sweet temptations. Everything is chaotic and elusive in an extremely precise design of “power” and submission to our own needs, in short, every actor in this story embodies itself good and evil, as two sides of the same coin.

The whole album expresses the strong message of trying to understand, comprehend and fight all those aspects of life that make us slaves, is a visible power and constituted, is

an invisible power and impalpable. A short way to fight a logic that leads mankind to use every resource that the world offers, chasing illusory and false things out of greed.

Always the theme of the systematic control of the masses is at the center of our interests and considerations and in this record the awareness of this message flows between sentences and texts by Gianluca and music by Flavio and obviously affects our collective way of playing and interpret the music.

Why Lorenzo Stecconi as a producer and why the recordings in the City Theater of Alessandria?

Since the genesis of the pieces that went playing, we felt the need to record them as direct as possible, expressing their full potential impact “live.” We immediately thought of Lorenzo, for his experience in the production

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interview

of Ufomammut album Zu and many others, we knew we had the ability to interpret our music, capturing the true essence. The atmosphere that the songs had to express were of immediacy and power, wickedness and cruelty exactly like the concept required. Lorenzo was the sixth member of the group, he has let things be succeeded capturing them with great artistic sensitivity and reproducing them flawlessly. It came out an album that sounds very live, a bit like those that were made in the seventies, we have recorded virtually live, playing together, in an absolutely amazing atmosphere. The choice of the Municipal Theater of Alessandria was born from the search

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for a place to interpret our music exactly this way. We used the areas of the big stage of the theater, a huge place with high ceilings and bare of all furniture in what area closed for renovation. We worked for a week in this surreal environments on the size and undeniable charm. The filming of our first videos were made there during the recording session. It was an important experience and a big professional challenge.

The songs of the album have wide literary references to the universe of fantasy, fairy tales Lovecraft (and Batman). Why those sources of inspiration?

Because some fantastic literature proceeds in

the direction of human soundings of her in ever universal key environment. The fantastic is often the reality seen through a mirror free from dogma, it is emotional adventure, it denounces the rigid and misleading systems Can you tell concept and video processing, which extends the story told by the lp?

Even the making of the video was a precise artistic choice, timing of our songs are high, unsuitable for traditional video we chose to make a real short film The video was made

by Alessandro Magagna (ANDO), artist and photographer of great talent and sensitivity, and our friend. He worked on our side interpreting quite rightfully so the message of the song. The intent was to create the hectic suggestion and schizoid rhythmic frames with images fast, a reality of images and subliminal messages that are subject to the logic of the advertising campaign, and the devouring consumerism. In my opinion I testify to the contrast between the frantic rhythm of our society and the conscious design of those who control the system by defining a clear vision of how it should be, symbolized by the “witch” who paints.

By the way it is essential to remem-

ber the pictorial artistic contributions of Antonio De Nardis, author of the album cover and other exceptional works that are part of comprehensive artwork, and Aeno, which in the video embodies the witch who paints, the author of many works in china that make the CD packaging something unique and unrepeatable.

What do you think of the renewed interest of the independent band for the dark wave?

Probably because the scene wave and post punk, gothic or dark has never exhausted and always creates its own charm. Also see how it has evolved in certain ambient music, in metal or even in certain forms of musical avant-garde. For us it is important to read them in an increasingly new and always create engaging musical languages ​​and adapted to the times we are living. The music is in compliance with the origin and heart of the future, it is undeniable.

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videos

cult of aurora white light

click and see eNDRIGO

the shoplifters

nothing in common

Straight outta Villaggio Sereno (BS)

Denis The Night & The Panic Party:

wops la ballata delle mine

How Long will be now

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PsychoKiller

My Monthly Date

I dream it all tonight

One Day More

Pieralberto Valli

colombre pulviscolo

Frontiera

thalos

junk street

storm

point of view

EspaĂąa Circo Este

Nadiè La bionda degli Abba

Dammi un beso

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