MARCHE

And now back to the coast of the Adriatic Sea for a visit to the region called LE MARCHE. In the late sixties URBINO, the birthplace of painter Raphael, in the northern Province of Pesaro and Urbino, gave us Anonima Sound Ltd., while PESARO, the birthplace of opera composer Gioachino Rossini, is home to an interesting contemporary band called Odessa (MySpace) and some emerging bands such as Rosso Imperfetto (Facebook), the psychedelic Vremenà (Facebook), the post-rock Montezuma (MySpace) and the prog folk Ricatti Acustici (MySpace). 

Heading south we pass through the town of Senigallia, where we find a prog folk band called Silverea’s Daffodil (ReverbNation), then we reach ANCONA, the capital of the region. In the seventies this city gave us a jazz rock band called Agorà (Official Website). 

Agorà recenctly reunited and in 2013 released a new interesting album titled Ichinen. The current prog scene of Ancona features also the experimental Garamond (MySpace), the dark, heavy I Compagni di Baal (Facebook), the psychedelic Atom Made Earth (Facebook) and an emerging band called Vicarus (MySpace).

Iesi is home to the psychedelic Virgin Iris (MySpace), while from the nearby town of Chiaravalle come Oloferne (Official Website) who began life in 1999 trying to blend different influences ranging from medieval atmospheres to folk rock and progressive. Since then they have been alternating concerts and activities for theatre maturing a very good experience on stage. In 2008 they released a self-produced album called “Segno d’acqua” which in my opinion is their best so far. Before leaving the province of Ancona we visit the town of Castelfidardo, best known for its Festival Internazionale della Fisarmonica, an international music festival dedicated to the Accordion, and for its Museo della Fisarmonica. Here we can listen to a prog band called Noxter (MySpace).

Still heading south we go to MACERATA where we find Jarictoo (Facebook) and a young band called Acid Rain (MySpace). Nearby this city lies Recanati, hometown of poet Giacomo Leopardi and of tenor Beniamino Gigli, which in the past gave us bands such as Lothlorien and Malleus. The current prog scene of the province of Macerata features The M.O.D.S. (MySpace) from the nearby town of Civitanova Marche and Pangaea (MySpace) from Camerino. Then we pass through the province of FERMO where we can listen to prog pop of Tepezé (Facebook) and the post rock veined of psychedelia of Pineda, a side project of Umberto Maria Giardini (Rockit), a.k.a. Moltheni, an artist from Sant’Elpidio a Mare.

We conclude our visit to Le Marche in ASCOLI PICENO where we can listen to the prog fusion of a band called Exprosin (MySpace) and to Paradiso Sotterraneo (MySpace).