Wednesday 24 December 2014

The Best Of 2014 (and Merry Christmas)

01 PIXIES - Indie Cindy

02 MARLENE KUNTZ - Pansonica

03 KARNE MURTA - Swingin' Taboo

04 Egle Sommacal - Il Cielo Si Sta Oscurando

05 Anemine - MeeresWeiten

06 Il Mercato Nero - Società Drastica

07 Aandra - Meraki

08 Elizabeth Rose - Elizabeth Rose

09 Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here

10 Various Artists - Exit From The Cage

11 Michael E - Morning Sun
12 Various Artists — Latin Hits 2014 Summer Edition
13 Johnny Marr - Playland
14 The Hamsters - Bloody Hell!
15 Various Artists - The Organisation of Pop - Thirty Years of Zang Tuum Tumb
16 Cagna Schiumante - Cagna Schiumante
17 Motionfield - Optical Flow
18 Giancarlo Onorato & Cristiano Godano - Ex (Live)
19 Pharrell Williams - G I R L
20 Il Sogno del Marinaio - Canto Secondo



21 Cesare Malfatti - Una Mia Distrazione
22 Fabi Silvestri Gazzè - Il Padrone della Festa
23 Various Artists - Space Station Vol. 1
24 Ruggine - Iceberg
25 Jes - Unleash The Beat
26 PNFA - Sylmar
27 Dan Solo - Avrei
28 Miguel Migs - Dim Division
29 Svenj - Dreams
30 Aiemo - Forgotten Sun

31 Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club - Galernaya Live Sessions, Vol. 1
32 Peter Pearson - Where Dreamers Go
33 Riccardo Sinigallia - Per Tutti
34 Citrus Sun - People Of Tomorrow
35 The Aston Shuffle - Photographs
36 Vessel - Le Difese
37 Various Artists - My Summer Mixtape 2014
38 Seahawks - Paradise Freaks
39 Simon Le Grec - Best Of
40 Various Artists - Late Night Tales Presents Automatic Soul

41 Perturbazione - Musica X
42 Tiromancino - Indagine Su Un Sentimento
43 Monodeluxe - Best Of
44 Mo'jardo - La Cultura
45 Thamza - On That Tip
46 Ray Lugo & The Boogaloo Destroyers - Que Chevere
47 Ficture - Roads To Everywhere
48 T.A. - Feel Me
49 Velvet - Storie
50 Jana Soleil - Lounge Nights

Another amazing year in music, we had not only fantastic comebacks like in 2013, but also some excellent debuts which proved making innovative music is still possible, and it was about time. A pretty eclectic year too, even by my standards, enjoying many different genres.
Pixies released more EPs and collected all their new songs in the Indie Cindy album. While we can dislike the way these songs have been basically released twice in a year, or we can think they don't sound as good as 25 years ago, the truth is most of these songs are as good as Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde mixed together, as the epic Silver Snail proves. Marlene Kuntz's early demos of unreleased songs have been the bootleg treasure for two decades to their fans, this year they rerecorded them (quite true to the originals) and they still sound amazing, it's unbelievable a rock'n'roll monster like Capello Lungo had remained officially unreleaed for so long. Karne Murta cut the "Las" off their name and came back with another wonderful album where they alternate between punk and the modern swing of the title track.
Egle Sommacal from Massimo Volume released his third solo album going back to the graceful acoustic sound of his first album. Debut of the year is the virtually unknown Anemine, a true hidden gem, their L'Orizzonte Rosso is simply the most beautiful track by anyone this year. Italian debut of the year comes from Il Mercato Nero, two former Ulan Bator members collaborating with Egle Sommacal.
This has been the year of chillout music for me, I've even started a blog dedicated to the genre, ChillOut Map. It's true Anemine have been released by LemongrassMusic, but I find their contemporary music to go a lot further than chillout, so the best true chillout album must be Aandra's.
If Anemine aren't innovative enough for you here are the two most amazing talents emerging this year: the first is Elizabeth Rose, a girl sounding like Bjork, Britney Spears and Janet Jackson squeezed together in what should become an international diva if there's any justice. Her single Sensitivity is possibly the most beautiful pop song this year, it has the tune, the rhythm, the sound to be emotional and sheer perfect pop. The other is Snarky Puppy, a band which has basically reinvented fusion, just watch the live video of Sleeper and you'll understand what I mean, a jaw dropping performance which is intricate without sounding pretentious, being emotional and sophisticated in fact.
Exit From The Cage is the compilation of the year, a tribute to the genius of John Cage featuring Egle Sommacal and Rickyjam (AKA Riccardo Nanni) doing a touching version of In A Landscape. On the YouTube playlist you find Cage's original, while on the Spotify playlist there's Rickyjam's version.  Michael E is another great composer of chillout bordering on contemporary music, while calling him a new Morricone would be exaggerated, this music would be perfect for soundtracks.
Another genre I'm hearing a lot, but more in clubs than at home, is Latin, the excellent Planet Records released Latin Hits Summer Edition 2014, a compilation packed with hits by the likes of Fly Project, Gente De Zona, Omega, Manolito Simonet, Maykel Blanco and Los Teke Teke. One of the best is Sammy's remix of Dile by La Nueva Escuela, a great innovative dembow collective, unusually mixing their genre with bachata in this song.
Johnny Marr carried the torch of British indie and we finally had a compilation of The Hamsters, a truly underrated original punk legend from Manchester. ZTT celebrated the thirty years of the label and at the end of the compilation The Organisation Of Pop, which features the usual suspects like Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda, 808 State and Art Of Noise, there's this wonderful track by underrated genius Andrew Poppy.
Stefano Pilia from Massimo Volume worked in two excellent avant garde supergroups: Cagna Schiumante with Xabier Iriondo from Afterhours and Roberto Bertacchini from Starfuckers and Il Sogno Del Marinaio with Mike Watt (former leader of Minutemen and Firehose) and Andrea Belfi. Motionfield released a masterpiece of dreamy ambient chillout. Cristiano Godano from Marlene Kuntz toured also with Giancarlo Onorato (former leader of Underground Life), one of the videos is a beautiful cover of Velvet Underground's classic. The best mainstream album is certainly Pharrell Williams', a genuine talent which is basically updating funk for the 21st century as in his masterpiece, Gust Of Wind. Other great records came from former La Crus Cesare Malfatti, the super trio Fabi Silvestri Gazzè, former Marlene Kuntz Dan Solo, Riccardo Sinigallia, Citrus Sun (a side project of Bluey from Incognito), and Vessel (a side project of Corrado Nuccini and Emanuele Reverberi from Giardini di Mirò). Ruggine are still a great underrated rock band. More great chillout from PNFA, Peter Pearson, Aiemo, Seahawks, Simon Le Grec and two great compilations: Space Station from LemongrassMusic and My Summer Mixtape from Melodica Recordings. Some great electro and deep house from JesMiguel Migs, Svenji, Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club and The Aston Shuffle. Groove Armada's Tom Findlay released Automatic Soul, a good compilation of vintage electro soul featuring Change and 52nd Street.
Slightly disappointing, but still alright albums came from Perturbazione, Tiromancino and Velvet. Ray Lugo made us rediscover the boogaloo. More nice instrumental stuff from Monodeluxe, Mo'jardo, Ficture, T.A. and Jana Soleil.
Merry Christmas and happy 2015, a year which should bring us a brand new album from New Order since they've just signed to Mute Records!

Live And Bobbins by Gabrielles Wish back for Christmas!

From http://www.gabrielleswish.net/2014/12/live-and-bobbins-back-from-christmas.html

Here's a true Christmas miracle:
Live And Bobbins, the legendary live tape released in 1997 and deleted from the official discography, is back for a very limited time as a free download! Recorded live at the Manchester Hacienda and Roadhouse, it was mixed by former Joy Division sound engineer Chris Nagle (Martin Hannett's closest collaborator) at New Order's manager Andy Robinson's studio with deliberately fake handclaps.
It includes gems which will remain unreleased like Blackpool, ESP and Deaf Disco which you can hear streaming below.

Download from MediaFire


Sunday 30 November 2014

Friday 31 October 2014

Monday 27 October 2014

Nuvole Sopra La Bolognina, nuovo video di Egle Sommacal


Nuvole Sopra La Bolognina è il video, registrato dal vivo in settembre al Locomotiv di Bologna, che anticipa il nuovo album di Egle Sommacal, Il Cielo Si Sta Oscurando, in uscita il 21 novembre per Unhip Records.

Sunday 26 October 2014

Marlene Kuntz - Pansonica

Splendida raccolta di outtake di Catartica, album di debutto dei Marlene Kuntz che uscì 20 anni fa. Si distinguono la versione in studio di Donna L (apparsa solo live su Come Di Sdegno), Capello Lungo e Oblio.

Marlene Kuntz su Facebook

Oblio su YouTube


Pansonica su Spotify

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Sunday 31 August 2014

Saturday 30 August 2014

Elizabeth Rose - Elizabeth Rose EP

As this review says, "a blinding mash of R&B, pop, indie, dance, dub and electronica". Just a perfect description for one of the best releases of this year from this immensely talented artist!


Sensibility on YouTube


Elizabeth Rose EP on Spotify

Thursday 31 July 2014

Monday 21 July 2014

New Gabrielles Wish single Stand Together out now

From http://www.gabrielleswish.net/2014/07/new-gabrielles-wish-single-stand.html

The new Gabrielles Wish single, Stand Together, is out now on BandCamp and all other good online stores, with the remix of brand new track Quadra by AAAK (As Able As Kane) as B side.

Buy on BandCamp (MP3 and high quality format FLAC) only £0.99!!!
Buy on iTunes (M4A) $1.98
Buy on Google Play (MP3) €1.98

Monday 30 June 2014

Saturday 31 May 2014

Thursday 15 May 2014

Catartica dei Marlene Kuntz compie 20 anni



Vent'anni fa usciva Catartica.
Un album che mi ha cambiato la vita, e non solo la mia.
Farcito di classici, voglio invece ricordare questa canzone un po' sottovalutata, ha un tiro micidiale!
Catartica fu la svolta del rock italiano.
Il periodo d'oro della new wave italiana si era inevitabilmente esaurito col solo Fiumani reduce credibile e i Litfiba a vendere il culo.
Dai Litfiba si era sfilato Maroccolo, che qui vediamo al basso, che insieme ai resti migliori dei CCCP aveva dato origine ai CSI, che non si erano accontentati di pubblicare un album formidabile come Ko De Mondo, ma avevano pure fondato un'etichetta.
Sempre Maroccolo portò a quell'etichetta i Marlene, che aveva scoperto alla finale di Rock Targato Italia, e fu l'inizio di tutto.
Quando emersero anche i Massimo Volume, per di più su un'altra etichetta, si capì che stavamo vivendo un periodo importante, e un paio d'anni dopo era chiaro quanto fosse importante: tanti bei gruppi, tanti album e concerti, semplicemente la scena migliore che l'Italia abbia mai vissuto, tanto che vent'anni dopo alcuni di quei protagonisti tengono botta, mentre nel 1994 di vent'anni prima restavano solo i Nomadi e i Pooh e tra vent'anni, dei giovani d'oggi, secondo me resterà poco.
E' stata una grande fortuna avere vent'anni allora!

Saturday 3 May 2014

Bas - Sun & Sea

Mapped on ChillOut Map

A wonderful EP of perfect chillout released as Bas by Stefano B.A.S. Baldetti, half of the Island Groove project.

Island Groove on Facebook

Aethalia on YouTube


Sun & Sea on Spotify

Friday 2 May 2014

E' uscito Cagna Schiumante con Stefano Pilia

Da http://www.massimovolume.it/e-uscito-cagna-schiumante-con-stefano-pilia/

E' uscito su Tannen Records Cagna Schiumante, l'album omonimo del progetto di Stefano Pilia, Xabier Iriondo (Afterhours) e Roberto Bertacchini (Starfuckers).

Oltre al vinile disponibile su Tannen Records (poche copie numerate a mano, il vinile colorato è già esurito) si può acquistare i download suiTunes (solo Euro 8,49) e in MP3 su Google Play.

Thursday 1 May 2014

Wednesday 30 April 2014

Monday 28 April 2014

Pixies - Indie Cindy album

The new album is basically a compilation of their three latest EPs with earlier single Bagboy, and it rocks in the best Pixies tradition. It might not be as good as Doolittle, but it's at least a worthy follow up to Trompe Le Monde, 23 years later, mixed with the sound of Bossanova.

Silver Snail (one of the tracks on the latest EP3) on YouTube


Indie Cindy album on Spotify

Monday 21 April 2014

Anemine - MeeresWeiten

Mapped on ChillOut Map

This is an extremely emotional album, released by LemongrassMusic. But it isn't your average chill out, even if the label has very high standards. The sound is a bit more adventurous, with shades of trip hop, noises, slow jazz rhythms, and what sounds like a melodica or an accordion often leading melancholic melodies.
The project is so young they don't even have a video on YouTube, so I just have to embed the Spotify album.

Facebook

MeeresWeiten on Spotify

Sunday 20 April 2014

ChillOut Map

ChillOut Map

Trying to map chillout, lounge, and maybe some deep house and smooth jazz

Aandra - Meraki

The whole album is sheer stellar quality chill out from a really skilled musician. A great release from the 4MPO label.

Website

Element on YouTube


Meraki on Spotify

Thursday 3 April 2014

Sandbar path

Fiji ~ Sandbar path allows you to walk on water to that island. http://t.co/vN3oFLhyHy

Monday 31 March 2014

New Order - New Song - Santiago, Chile - 30/3/2014



Apparently the (working?) title is Drop Guitar, it's great!

Friday 28 March 2014

PIXIES - SNAKES



New album Indie Cindy coming April 28. iTunes download includes live album!

Tuesday 25 March 2014

E' uscito l'album de Il Mercato Nero con Egle Sommacal

Da http://www.massimovolume.it/e-uscito-lalbum-de-il-mercato-nero-con-egle-sommacal/

Il Mercato Nero è un trio composto da Manuel Fabbro (voce e basso), Egle Sommacal (chitarra) e Matteo Dainese (batteria).
I tre avevano già suonato insieme nella formazione degli Ulan Bator che pubblicò Nouvel Air nel 2003.
Il Mercato Nero ha da poco pubblicato l’album Società Drastica con la Seahorse Recordings.
L’intero album si può ascoltare in streaming gratuito su SoundCloud!


Wednesday 5 March 2014

Jacob Gurevitsch - the Quiet Please series

I recently stumbled upon this fascinating project. Jacob Gurevitsch and Poul Reimann are two Danish musicians which usually make different music, apparently more in the vein of soul, jazz or acoustic guitar. But, as Gurevitsch explains in the only post in his blog, in the middle of the last decade he began suffering of anxiety issues.
Not content with the carefree approach of most chill out music, he started with Reimann a research with a scientific approach focused on making music which is so relaxing that can be effectively healing. Leaving aside any hippy, exotic, exoteric, pseudo-spiritual, new age stuff, the two rigorously studied how music influences body and mind and even elaborated dogma rules for their project (named Quite Please) you can read in full on their site (click "Quite Please" and then "Dogma Rules" on the left menu): music had to be undynamic, flowing, multi-layered, lengthy, the beats per minute should follow the natural resting heartbeat pulse rate, and the most ambitious rule was to make music neither major nor minor.
The project developed into four compilations of absolute beauty (featuring also other musicians like Anders Trentemoller and Henrik Lindstrand from Kashmir). I'm going to embed them below this video, where you can see how the project has even been implemented into ambulances to give immediately the most possible comfort to the patients.



Jacob Gurevitsch - Quiet Please Vol. 1, Music For Modern Relaxation, also known as Quiet Conversations, featuring Poul Reimann


Fridolin Nordsoe - Quiet Please Vol. 2, Music For Modern Relaxation, also known as Break Of Day, featuring Sara Indrio


Various Artists - Quiet Please Vol. 3, Music For Modern Relaxation, also known as Shh, featuring Henrik Linstrand, Anders Remmer, Anders Trentemoller, Casper Hamilton, Poul Reimann and Klovn


Poul Reimann - 15 Minutes Of Peace (actually the same album of the same title credited to Jacob Gurevitsch with Danish track titles)

Thursday 20 February 2014

Sanremo 2014

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Ascolta “Swingin’ Taboo”, il nuovo album dei Karne Murta (ANTEPRIMA STREAMING)

Da http://music.fanpage.it/ascolta-swingin-taboo-il-nuovo-album-dei-karne-murta-anteprima-streaming/

Tra punk, rock'n'roll e swing, ecco come si presentano i Karne Murta, che presentano oggi, in anteprima per Fanpage, il loro nuovo album "Swingin' Taboo” che uscirà il 22 febbraio 2014.

Monday 27 January 2014

PIXIES - MAGDALENA

El Garrincha - L'Uomo Tigre - Vecchie Maniere (Parma) 25 Gen 2014





Spettacolare cover de L'Uomo Tigre di El Garrincha (Arjuna de Las Karne Murta) nel suo strepitoso spettacolo alle Vecchie Maniere come one man band. Percussioni in loop, chitarra e voce dal vivo, coinvolgimento del pubblico, un mix esplosivo per uno spettacolo da non perdere!

Saturday 11 January 2014

Disclosure - Settle (special edition)

Had I heard this album before Christmas, it would have certainly made the Top 10 of my Best Of 2013. These young brothers are amazing, it's like they've got all the talent which has been missing so much in these recent years to other artists. It's like hearing the Pet Shop Boys for this generation, but as emotional as New Order. They can handle a deep bass and people love to dance to touching music, the future is theirs.

Wikipedia - Facebook

Latch live on YouTube


Settle (special edition) on Deezer

Monday 6 January 2014

Dinka - Tales Of The Sun (deluxe version)

An absolute masterpiece of emotional and uplifting music, a unique blend of progressive and deep house with a bit of chill out.

Facebook

Renegade on YouTube


Tales Of The Sun (deluxe version) on Deezer