Monday, 29 April 2024

SAILING ACROSS A SEA OF DREAMS

Le Vele di Oniride began life in Imola in 2017 on the initiative of the band’s lyricist and main composer Nello De Leo, former member of another prog band called Ellephant. The aim of the band is experimenting with progressive rock and psychedelia by combining vintage and modern sounds in the vein of other contemporary Italian prog bands such as Il Giardino Onirico or Gran Turismo Veloce. La quadratura del cerchio (The squaring of the circle) is their debut album and was released in 2023 on the Lizard Records label with a line up featuring Francesco Ronchi (lead and backing vocals), Nello De Leo (electric and acoustic guitar, synth guitar, backing vocals), Lorenzo Marani (bass), Jacopo Cenesi (drums) and Cristiano Costa (keyboards, synthesizers, piano). The artwork by Egidio Marullo tries to give a visual form to the musical and lyrical content of this very interesting debut work...
 

The nightmarish opening track, “Sogni infranti” (Broken dreams), starts with a spacey atmosphere and slowly draws you into a menacing illusion you can’t get rid of. All around you there’s nothing but a dark cosmic void, then a heavy sheet of metal appears in the sky weighing you down. Your energy is running out, your strength is fading and you are chained to this new, gloomy reality made of broken dreams...

L’illusione dell’oblio” (The illusion of oblivion) alternates bursts of energy with calmer parts. It describes in music and words raging waves that drag you into the vortex of a dark reality and make you desperately fight against the tide to survive. Many questions haunt your mind but there is no answer and you end up to dream of forgetting everything to rest and slowly slip into oblivion...

 


Catarsi” (Catharsis) is an introspective piece that tells of a surreal oneiric experience: an inner journey through the labyrinth of a man’s mind, the consequent meeting with his soul and the return to the centre of his real ego. The protagonist flies above the shadows of his steps under an enchanted rain, he can smell strange perfumes and hear thundering thoughts. Eventually he wakes up in the forest, under the branches of some beautiful trees. Now the clear sky is just the canvas where he can paint new flights in a dream of purification and rebirth…

Apologia di reato” (Apology of crime) begins with a tense atmosphere that could recall Goblin. The music and lyrics tell of a very particular, paradoxical crime. A man is put on trial. What sin did the defendant commit? What crime is he charged of? What did he do that was so bad? What wickedness stains his soul? He did something that wears your soul out and tears it apart. But what he did was nothing other than telling the truth. He killed falsehood causing infernal pain and now he is proud of his crime...

 


Isolazione” (Isolation) describes in music and words a strange sense of solitude, the feeling to be helpless and out of place in the world, disconnected from an oppressive reality. The protagonist feels alone even among of millions of people who have lost their critical sense and keep on talking without saying anything. He has been given a number and a role but he refuses to comply. He feels like as if he should die without reacting...

Madri di niente, figli di nessuno” (Mothers of nothing, children of no one) is another track full of dark energy and nightmarish atmospheres. The lyrics here paint disquieting visions on the musical canvas and every now and again the narrative vocals might recall Pholas Dactylus. The protagonist perceives obscure plots to manipulate him. There’s someone who wants something from him that he doesn’t have, someone who wants him telling something he doesn’t know. Then, theatrical vocals evoke metal bars falling from above to imprison him and the protagonist feels that now he’s chained to his eternal scaffold: his existence. Hypocrisy, lies, deception, extreme fanaticisms and distorted conceptions of life are represented with vivid colours on this crazy tableau...

The last track, “Miraggi remoti” (Remote mirages) begins calmly, the pace is slow and evokes a long, tiring journey across an undefined desert. The protagonist is plunged in a kind of collective hallucination among figures of non-existent men surrounding him and strange faces all around observing him. How long will his trip last? How many mountains will he have to climb before he can see the sky above the sea? Ha can’t tell and calls for help...

On the whole, an excellent work!

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:
https://leveledioniride.bandcamp.com/



Wednesday, 10 April 2024

INSTRUMENTAL FUSION UNDER THE MOON

Drift Lab is a jazz rock project based in Rome that took off in 2020 with a line up featuring Manuele Montesanti (piano, keyboards), Federico Malaman (bass), Daniele Chiantese (drums) and Matteo Mancuso (guitars). According to their website, they were inspired by Bach, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa and by fusion music and the connection with these musical worlds is exactly the reason why they met. In 2023 they self released an interesting instrumental debut album entitled Moonlight where Manuele Montesanti’s sound design experiments and synthesizer programming are the basis of musical compositions developed by the creativity and virtuosity of the all musicians involved in the project...

 


The beautiful title track, “Moonlight”, opens the album with pulsing bass lines, hectic drumming and delicate melodic breaks that drive you through metropolitan dreams under the moon and the city lights... Next comes “Murano”, another excellent dreamy track full of dappled colours and soft atmospheres. The title refers to a locality in the Venetian Lagoon, best known for its glass making...

King Of Nothing” is darker. It opens with the bass in the forefront and goes on with a perfect interaction with the other instruments evoking a strange sense of uneasiness while the following “M-I-M-M-A” is lighter and carefree, almost suitable for dancing...

 


Chatterland” is calmer and with a laid back attitude. The great technicality of the solos never clouds the sense of melody and musicality of the piece... Then it’s the turn of “Japanese Experiment” a piece that slowly grows to take you to distant territories where all the members of the band showcase their great musicianship...

The brilliant “My Os” blends jazz rock with a touch electronica evoking the development of a very particular operating system and leads to the final track, the reflective, intense “Rebirth”...

On the whole, an excellent album of modern fusion

You can listen to the complete album HERE


More info:
https://driftlabmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DriftLabMusic/



Friday, 5 April 2024

OF CARTOONS AND OTHER STORIES

Tangle took form in 2019 in Bergamo with the aim of experimenting with new sounds drawing inspiration from jazz rock, fusion, prog rock and artists such as Porcupine Tree, Plini or The Aristocrats. The name of the band refers to their compositional style in which they blend many genres to play a music that, in their own words, is rich in variations, dynamic excursions and tempo changes. After a good live activity on the local scene, in 2023 they self-released an interesting debut album, entitled Entangled, with a line up featuring Fulvio Marcarini (guitar), Manuele Mariani (bass), Francesco Locatelli (keyboards, synthesizers) and Matteo Locati (drums). It’s a completely instrumental work that tries to evoke images, suggestions or stories in the listener and the art cover gives an idea of the musical content...
 

The beautiful opener “Splash” begins with a slow pace and a dark, threatening atmosphere that might recall Goblin’s Profondo Rosso but after a couple of minutes the deep red colour turns into pink giving room to a section that reminds me of panther walking out from a cartoon on the notes of famous theme by Henry Mancini. Then it’s the turn of a rock part with the electric guitar in the forefront before pulsing bass lines and powerful organ waves take the lead for a vibrant finale...

The frenzied “Chronicles Of A Chicken Thief” is a short piece that might recall bands such as Calibro 35 or La Batteria and the soundtracks of poliziotteschi films, a subgenre of crime and action films that was very popular in Italy in the seventies, full of scenes of car chases and bloody shootings...

The mysterious “Arrakis” features Eastern influences and is named after a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. The music seems to invite you on a journey across exotic landscapes to experience a dangerous cosmic adventure...



The dreamy “Restless” starts with a nervous drum pattern, then goes through many changes in rhythm and mood with classical inspired piano arpeggios and Latin guitar solos à la Santana, calm passages and a final surge of dark energy...

Kizaru” is a colourful piece with strong funky influences. The title refers to a character from the manga and anime One Piece, a Navy admiral who appears as a careless, absent and forgetful man, usually speaks in a very calm and composed manner and never gets upset, even when faced with problematic situations, in which he often feigns fear or amazement in a sarcastic way...

Hoketi Poketi” begins with funky bass lines in the forefront that conjure up the funny magic of a 1963 animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney, The Sword In The Stone, and that seems to depict a very strange way of packing your bags for a fantastic trip to unknown realms...

Red Sky” begins with a dreamy piano pattern soon submerged by a threatening rhythm and dark atmospheres. When the storm calms down an almost romantic section follows, classically inspired, that leads to a new dawn full of hope and good intentions...

On the whole, an interesting work that deserves a try.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/tanglemusic/