FLYING TOWARDS THE LIGHT

Mosaico come from Grosseto and their roots date back to 2000 when the first nucleus of the band was formed on the initiative of singer and lyricist Enrico Nesi and percussionist Simone Batignani with the aim of blending the tradition of Italian canzone d'autore from the seventies with other genres and influences. After some demos and line up changes, in 2009 the musical direction of the band turned to Italian progressive rock with a renewed repertoire. In 2014 they finally recorded and self-released an interesting debut album entitled Vola with a line up featuring Enrico Nesi (vocals), Cristian Dima (bass), Nicola Cambri (synth, Hammond, Mellotron, Rhodes, accordion), Alessandro Capanni (drums), Simone Batignani (congas, bongos, udu, jamblocks, cymbals, shaker) and Fabrizio Biscontri (electric and acoustic guitars). It's an excellent album of "prog cantautorale" with a great emphasis on lyrics, almost a collection of poems dressed up in progressive rock with influences ranging from Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson to Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Premiata Forneria Marconi. This is not a concept album but in some way all the tracks have a common thread that is depicted in the art cover by Mario Bambagini, "Grande apertura" (Big opening), that symbolizes the need to find a way through a dark corridor to see the light.

The opener "Vola" (Fly), features a surreal, mystic atmosphere. It's a reflective piece where life is compared to a light leaf sailing on a river that flows from the mountains to the sea. The leaf can fall or soar like a butterfly but it can float and fly only when pushed by water and wind. The river carries everyone on its waters towards the sea, where all the waters get mixed, where life ends and there's no more pain...

The dark "Il bivio" (The crossroad) is a kind of psychedelic waltz that draws visionary, apocalyptic sceneries and invites you to wake up and make up your mind: the world is changing, the time of playing is over and your road has come to a crossroad... Law and justice are at odds, will you continue to accept passively what you are told or will you stand up and fight against your fate, shooting at the sky?

"Il critico, il profano e l'artista" (The critic, the profane and the artist) recalls Fabrizio De Andrè and is a melancholic reflection about the role that art plays in a man's life. There's no rule to capture its spirit, no way to invent a method to brew emotions, you have to heed the call of your heart and forget everything else. We might be equals in front of the law, but art make us different, special beings...

"Il nuovo potere" (The new power) is an amazing track that starts by church like organ waves and marching beats. It conjures up the images of a war that is in the meantime metaphorical and real. The power of media is overwhelming but your mind begins to wake up and you're experiencing new emotions, what you are told is not what you feel and tonight your war has begun...

"Questa santa umanità" (This holy humanity) is a caustic ballad with a nice Mediterranean flavour that starts by accordion and strummed acoustic guitar. It's a song against false honesty and the mirages conjured up by a holy humanity made of hypocrites and charlatans, against people who resemble to a herd of empty idealists wasting their breath...

"Materia e vita" (Matter and life) is an excellent track full of energy and irony that thunders words against materialism and consumerism with a particular poetical strength. Open your heart and you will attend a bold search for space that can even stop the hands of a clock and make time stand still...

Old picture from MySpace

"Lenti passi" (Slow steps) features the female backing vocals of the guest Lorenza Baudo and deals with the madness of war. Imagine the sound of leaves under marching boots, the slow steps of an army on its way to the front, then shimmering lights on the horizon and the thunder of a hundred cannons... Look at what a man can do! Old preachers, merchants of souls and politicians, listen to the families broken by hunger and pain... What we really need in this world is nothing but love!

The swinging "Sopravvivere" (To survive) is lighter and features another guest, Aldo Milani, on sax. It ends the album inviting you to open the gates of your heart leaving the shelters you metaphorically built to protect yourself from the outside world...

On the whole, this is an interesting album from a very promising band. You can listen to the complete album on bandcamp... So, have a try and judge by yourselves! Click HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/mosaicogr

IN THE FAST LANE

Gran Turismo Veloce come from Grosseto and began life in 2008 with the aim to play original stuff blending vintage and modern sounds. The name of the band was inspired by a series of Alfa Romeo sport cars and on stage all the members of the band wear red mechanic's overalls to emphasize their ironic, theatrical approach to a genre of music too often reputed excessively serious and self-indulgent.

In 2011, after a first demo, Gran Turismo Veloce released an excellent debut album on the independent label Lizard Records, “Di carne, di anima” (Of flesh, of soul), with a line up featuring Claudio Filippeschi (vocals, piano, keyboards), Flavio Timpanaro (bass, backing vocals), Stefano Magini (drums) and Massimo Dolce (guitars, backing vocals, loop programming). The result of their efforts is a perfectly balanced mix of various influences filtered through a very personal taste and a strong sense of irony that you can find also in the beautiful art cover by Francesco Serino and Francesco Rossi.

The opener “Anec Retrorsum” is just a very short introduction, just a patch of colour that leads to “Sorgente sonora” (Sonic source), a piece about musical creativity... “Nothing prevents my mind from flying across words / There are infinite concepts / Freedom of uncontrollable sensations / In the air a sonic source becomes thick / In a belly of passion the notes are dancing, breeding... I paint words on the edge of sound...”. You have here ink smells blended with pure melody, sensual tango passages broken by aggressive guitar riffs and many more.

“Misera Venere” (Mean Venus) depicts a very dangerous, sexy woman. She's gorgeous and greedy, she's always perfect, she clouds even her shadow, she's charming and perfidious, she's the lady of the new tendencies, she's almost as nauseating as seducing and her charm expands around her as in a physical vortex. She's a kind of black widow who wield the weapons of beauty and seduction to get her victims and now she's lurking for another man. There's a change in mood, now the atmosphere becomes darker... “In the clash the heart crumbles and falls down to the bottom of the little pride that is left and is slowly melting / Stolen from the man who is slave of that world / The world of Venus...”.

 The following “Quantocamia” ia an amazing instrumental track with many changes in atmosphere and in rhythm. It begins with a high-paced rhythm section and a keyboards vortex that takes you away into space. Then a calmer, dreamy section follows and you can relax for a moment before a new surge of energy.

“L'artista” (The artist) begins softly with a nice piano pattern and electronic loops in the background. Imagine a man who escapes from the daily grind and revolves in his reflections, pushed by the warm wind of artistic creativity. Art can make a man live again every time you look at his works... “A new world shines through / Sprinkled with visions which blind the look of the usual thoughts...”.

“L'estremo viaggiatore” (The extreme traveller) features heavy electric guitar riffs and baffling keyboards waves mixed with calmer, reflective passages. It's about a man who is going to set off on an interstellar voyage and will soon become a living legend. Now he's on the ramp leading to the spaceship and a tear crosses his face while he's thinking about his past and what he's leaving behind... “An echo of glory resounds in the air / Ready for his rebirth...”.

“La paura” (Fear) begins with some electronic loops, then the vocals and some threatening guitar riffs conjure up a disquieting atmosphere. Fear is a feeling that cuts its way like a knife into your subconscious, it breaks out in a moment, with a single shiver, cold and merciless it haunts you in your darkest nightmares. Fear makes you hide from the real world and look for a shelter from the cynical society you live in but the cruel reality is that fear is a vital, essential feeling that helps every animal to survive and you have to cope with it.

“Misera Venere (reprise)” begins with some pulsing bass lines. The atmosphere is dark and mysterious... “Under attack she reveals the true world inside her / From mean Venus to a free statue / Of mind, of heart, of soul...”. Well, this short reprise of “Misera Venere” reminds me of a beautiful novel by French writer Prosper Mérimée, La Vénus d'Ille.

“L'indice e l'occhio” (The forefinger and the eye) features strong classical influences, hermetic lyrics and a melancholic mood. It makes me think of a sad make up in the dressing room of a theatre before a play where the pale mask of Pierrot will star... “The forefinger dives into the black powder / Then it walks along the eyelids as it paints the tears / Water and salt for a flower or an insect...”. A short ghost track featuring a sax solo concludes this wonderful album.

On the whole I think that this is a work that should have a place in every Italianprog collection!

Gran Turismo Veloce: Di carne, di anima (2011). Other opinions:

Jim Russell: GTV certainly have heard classic Italian prog and they sound influenced by it. The first thought that popped into my head as I listened was that this was like a young Banco-influenced band with lots of modern edge. All of the drama of the classic sound is there, with the beautiful piano runs and passionate Italian vocals. But also present are hard-hitting and powerful blasts of alternative rock and heavy, spacey progressive rock, sometimes bordering on metal. It is absolutely refreshing and quite original, infectious and very well executed. The songs are vital, energetic and accessible, containing plenty of quirky diversions and change-ups. You will not be bored and you will not be skipping tracks... (read the complete review HERE) 

Henri Strik: Apart from the many aspects of the progressive rock spectrum and the metal guitar riffs you'll notice many jazz elements, but also fine symphonic touches with classically tinged piano playing. These elements beautifully counterbalance the heavier ones. The strong vocals are sung in the Italian language which strengthens the emotions that usually get lost when an Italian band sings in English. All of the compositions contain a high standard of musicianship. As a result these songs are really outstanding, most inventive and very captivating... (read the completer review HERE).

More info:

http://www.granturismoveloce.com/

http://www.reverbnation.com/granturismoveloce

http://www.facebook.com/granturismovelocefanpage

TOSCANA (part 2)

On the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea we visit the Province of Massa-Carrara. The city of Carrara, famous for its marble quarries, gave us some interesting prog bands such as the neo prog Cage (Facebook), Lethean (MySpace) and the prog folk Bededeum (Facebook) who in 2009 released an excellent committed album, Oltre il sipario, dedicated to the memory of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian anarchists executed without a fair trial in the U.S.A. in 1927. Another prog folk band from this area worth mentioning is Antiqua Lunae (Facebook), while Fivizzano, a walled town in the Lunigiana area, not far from Carrara, is home to another interesting prog band called Oxhuitza (MySpace).

Travelling south we now go to PISA, the city famous for its Leaning Tower and hometown of the physicist, mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei, son of lutenist and composer Vincenzo Galilei. The best known artist from this area is probably tenor Andrea Bocelli who reached success with Con te partirò, a piece composed by Francesco Sartori who from 1992 to 1997 was a member of the Venetian prog band Le Orme. Pisa is home to prog bands such as Egoband (MySpace) and Germinale (MySpace). At the moment Germinale are on hold, so their guitarist Salvo Lazzara started an acoustic side project called Pensiero Nomade (MySpace). Other artists and bands from Pisa are Nicola Pardini (Facebook), Homo Ex Machina (Facebook), the folk prog Filarmonica Municipale Lacrisi (MySpace), the retro-avant-garde Delay Lama (Facebook) and the psychedelic Ceke (MySpace) and Milvus (MySpace) while the nearby town of Pontedera is home to Merry Go Round (Facebook) and Le Turbe di Howard (Reverbnation). Another town in the province Of Pisa, Volterra, is home to the metal influenced Quintessenza (MySpace) and the heavy, bizarre Il Maniscalco Maldestro (MySpace).

From Pisa to LIVORNO, the birthplace of opera composer Pietro Mascagni. In the seventies Livorno gave us Capitolo 6 (but half of the members of the band were from Viareggio) and Tugs (Facebook), a band with a strong theatrical approch that recently reunited. Another band that was formed in the seventies and that recently have come to a new life are Aurora Lunare (Official Website) that are finally going to release their first official album on the independent label Lizard Records. Other local bands that are worth mentioning are Raccolta Differenziata (Facebook), Alfa Nefer (MySpace) and Est Morgana (MySpace).

From the nearby town of Cecina come Decuplico (MySpace), a band formed in the mid eighties who recently reformed. Still heading south we visit GROSSETO, where we can listen to some interesting emerging bands such as Gran Turismo Veloce (MySpace), Mosaico (Facebook), Gramma (MySpace) and Opificio Sonoro Maremmano (MySpace).

We head north east now, towards the beautiful city of SIENA, best known for a special horse race that dates from the middle-ages, the Palio di Siena. In the seventies Siena gave us an interesting Christian-prog band called Genfuoco (Official Website) who, after a long hiatus, came to life again in 2000 for some live performances.

Siena is also the home city of an interesting acoustic project that blends classical and folk, Inchanto (MySpace), and of a well known progressive rock webzine, Arlequins. The Province of Siena is the base for some interesting prog bands such as Profusion (MySpace) and Acqua Libera (Facebook), in Colle di Val d’Elsa, Zundapp (MySpace), in Chianciano Terme, Focus Indulgens (Facebook), in an area called Val di Chiana and Labirinto di Specchi (MySpace), in Chiusi.

Still heading north east we conclude our visit to Toscana in AREZZO, home to a very promising dark organ driven project called Three Monks (MySpace), to Tacita Intesa (Facebook) and to the psychedelic Sycamore Age (MySpace).