FRAGMENTS OF AUTUMN

Giardini d’Autunno (the name means Autumn Gardens) is mainly the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Tiziano Rea, from Sora, a town in the province of Frosinone. In 2002 an album entitled Frammenti di idee perdute was released under this brand on the independent Mellow Records label with a line up featuring along with Tiziano Rea (guitar, bass, Mellotron M400, Hammond B3, synthesizer) also Andrea Scala (drums) and Emiliano Germani (vocals). The art cover, taken from a tableau by Antonio Notari named Paesaggio marino (Marine landscape), in some way depicts the musical content and its rarefied, dreamy atmospheres... 

The opener “Preludio: il principio di non contraddizione” (Prelude: the principle of non-contradiction) sets the atmosphere with its hypnotic ticking on the wings of time and leads to the long, complex “Visioni trascendentali” (Transcendental visions), that every now and again could recall King Crimson and is divided into three parts, “Il sogno” (The dream), “La caduta” (The fall) and the mystic organ finale “L'ascesa” (The rise).

The evocative “Interludio - Parte Prima” leads to the disquieting, exotic realms conjured up by “Frammenti (di idee perdute)” (Fragments – of lost ideas) for an oneiric journey on camel back through the cinematic lands of Goblin. Then, “Interludio - Parte Seconda” drives you back to safer territories.

The nervous “Radius” might be a very good score for a thriller film full of darkness and mystery while the following “Sulla linea del cielo” (On the skyline) is ethereal and dreamy and in my opinion could fit better a story filled with sensuality and romance...

 

 

The beautiful epic “Storia vana” (Vain story) is the only sung track of the album. The visionary lyrics evoke distant horizons and a man running against the wind, trying to overcome the ancient challenges of humankind. While pointless games deceive his ever hanging dream, he looks for a clue, for someone who can show him where the strength of live goes. Strange images and drops of madness, legendary distances, useless miracles and uncertain fates, a stream of ideas and blurred memories flows through perilous waterfalls. You can see a confused crowd lost in the mist, look for easy money and listen to significant words. Then the music and lyrics evoke the image of a wise man painting an unpredictable future, but beyond the myth there’s a current of air that keeps on pushing you up and up... Eventually the melancholic instrumental “Coda: visioni ascendentali” (Coda: ascendental visions) ends the album.

On the whole, an interesting work that needs more than a spin to be completely appreciated.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Frammenti di idee perdute (2002). Other opinions:
Chris "Seventhsojourn": There are several moments of excitement and aggression but overall the album is the musical equivalent of the cover art, being an intimate setting of hazy soundscapes... (You can read the complete review HERE)

JAZZ ROCK IMPRESSIONS OF ITALY

Möbius Strip are an Italian progressive jazz-rock band from Sora, a town in the province of Frosinone, in an area called Ciociaria. They came to life in 2014, rising from the ashes of another band called Yellowcake, with the aim of blending jazz improvisation with progressive rock structures and a strong sense for melody. Soon they started to compose and perform their music live on the local scene honing their skills and in 2017 they released their first eponymous album, self-produced and distributed by the Musea Records label, with a line up featuring Lorenzo Cellupica (piano, organ, keyboards), Nico Fabrizi (sax, flute), Eros Capoccitti (bass) and Davide Rufo (drums). The beautiful artwork by Francesco Tersigni portrays the band members as comic strip heroes and tries to give an idea of its musical content. In my opinion it’s a very good work that should please fans of bands such as Perigeo or Agorà.

The opener “Bloo” is a long track that starts softly with the organ in the forefront before going through many changes in rhythm and mood. I don’t know if the title refers to the character of Mac’s blue-coloured imaginary friend in the American animated television series Foster's Home but this is an intriguing track that can stir your imagination…

Mobius Strip 2017

The following “Déjà Vu” begins by a nice melodic piano pattern and is my favourite track on the album. The atmosphere is dreamy and light, the perfect score for an imaginary journey around the world...

The lively “First Impressions” is another nice track where you can hear echoes from the Dave Brubeck Quartet mixed with jazz rock and sprinkled with a touch of prog, then it’s the turn of a short piece for piano solo and bass, the dreamy, romantic ballad “Call It A Day”.

“Andalusia” is another great track where the band showcase all their musicianship mixing in a brilliant way jazz, Mediterranean flavours and rock digressions. The last track, “Möbius Strip”, is the band’s manifesto and ends the album with its almost nine minutes of fresh energy and inventiveness.

All in all, this is an instrumental album that’s really worth listening to. Have a try and judge by yourselves… You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/MobiusStripGroup/

LAZIO (part 3)

Well, the current Roman prog scene features also some bands trying to blend music and cinema in their live shows. RanestRane (MySpace) were formed in 1996 with the goal to compose and perform a “rock-opera”. The band chose a famous Werner Herzog film, “Nosferatu The Vampyre”, and commented it with music and original lyrics. They started their live activity in 2000 and conceived their shows as a “cine-concerto”, with the images of Werner Herzog’s film flowing in the background. In 2006 they released their rock opera on a self-produced studio double album and at the moment they are working on a new “cine-concerto” inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s film “Shining”. RanestRane’s multi-instrumentalist and composer Riccardo Romano also started a melodic progressive side project called Maredelnord (MySpace). Another local band performing “cine-concerti” is Memoria (MySpace), that was formed in 1991. In 2004 they tried to comment with notes and words Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner, from the science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Memoria’s bass player Gianfranco Vigneri is also involved in another melodic prog rock project called Colmena (MySpace).

In Rome there are many pubs and venues where you can attend prog rock concerts, but at least two in particular deserve a mention, Stazione Birra and Crossroads. Among the many Roman emerging bands and artist in my opinion worthy of mention are, in no particular order, Ederadirame (MySpace), La Bocca della Verità (Facebook), La Stanza dei Sogni (Facebook), La Danza dei Fauni (MySpace), Lineateorica (MySpace), Progetto Esperia (MySpace), Il Cavallo di Don Juan (MySpace), Simposio d’Agosto (MySpace), KeyBridge (MySpace), Echoesthree (MySpace), Layra (MySpace), Ampio Spettro (MySpace), No Disc (MySpace), Gandalf's Project (MySpace), Seventh Will (MySpace), Ingranaggi della Valle (MySpace), Neroieri (MySpace), Turbo Elephant Project (MySpace), Master of Ceremony (MySpace), Effetto Catherine (MySpace), Grendel (MySpace), Vendetta di Montezuma (Facebook), Praeludium (My-Space), Fausto Bisantis (MySpace), Nogales (MySpace), Inior (Facebook - formerly Apple Device - Facebook), Arvalia (MySpace), Overfourteen (Official Website), Civico 23 (Reverbnation), Sunday Recovery (Reverbnation), Amministrazione Caos Popolare (Facebook), Macroscream (MySpace), Tiresia Raptus (Facebook), Idee Confuse (MySpace), Camelias Garden (Reverbnation), Sailor Free (Official Website), Afasia (Facebook), Laviàntica (Facebook), La Fabbrica dell'Assoluto (Facebook), Masquerade (Facebook) Over Waking Life (Facebook), Venus's Delight (Facebook), So Does Your Mother (Facebook), Lateral Blast (Facebook) and Alchimia (MySpace).

The best known experimental post metal bands from Rome are probably Novembre (MySpace) and Zu (MySpace). By the way, members of Zu are also involved in a completely different project that might be of some interest to prog lovers, the folk oriented Ardecore (Official Website). For post rock lovers there are AIIR (MySpace), Il Silenzio di Ghisa (MySpace) and La Seconda Eclisse (Facebook) while jazz rock lovers might well be interested in Anagramma (MySpace), Reagente 6 (Facebook), Dumbo Station (Facebook), Circolo Culturale Federico Magnani (MySpace), Garuà (MySpace), Worldream (MySpace), Virtual Dream (MySpace), Quartech (MySpace) and Staralfur (MySpace).

On the prog folk side there are the committed folk rocker influenced by prog Enrico Capuano (MySpace), then guitarist and composer Pasqualino Ubaldini (MySpace) and some bands as Ypsos (Bandcamp), Pentamerone (Bandcamp), Stilema XXI (MySpace), Arabeski Rock (MySpace), Sequoia Bisquits (MySpace) and Verbamanent (MySpace). Folk prog lovers will probably also appreciate Giulia Tripoti (MySpace) an interesting and eclectic female singer-songwriter in love with experiments and musical blending. She’s involved as a vocalist and songwriter in many projects such as the progressive-literary Beta Elements (MySpace), the ethno folk Terramaris (MySpace) and the post-rock alternative Blumenberg 67 (MySpace).

Last but not least Marco Lo Muscio (Official Website), a classical organist and pianist with a strong passion for prog who re-arranged and interpreted some prog classics for organ and piano solo. He also recorded some albums featuring original tracks that should be of some interest to prog lovers. His last album The Book Of Bilbo And Gandalf features guest stars such as Steve Hackett, John Hackett and Pär Lind.

Anyway Lazio is not only Rome. There are prog bands also in the other towns of the surroundings such as The Balmung (MySpace) from Mentana, Cambio della Guardia (Facebook) from Fiano Romano, La Sfera (MySpace) and La Sezione 8 (Facebook) from Velletri, Falena (MySpace) from Rocca di Papa, Protean Circus (Facebook) from Colleferro, Le Maschere Vuote (MySpace) from Cerveteri, Castle Fusion (Facebook) from Ostia, Nemesis (Facebook) from Civitavecchia, VZ69 (MySpace) and La N.A.V.E. (Facebook) from Tivoli and Lily Alice (MySpace) from Anzio. North of Rome, in VITERBO, which in the seventies gave us Blocco Mentale, we can now listen to some emerging bands as Cinetica (Facebook) and Archaeopteryx (MySpace) and an experimental project called La Guerra delle Formiche (MySpace) while Civita Castellana.is home to Il Giardino Onirico (Facebook). South of Rome, in LATINA we can listen to the neo prog Mytho (ReverbNation), then Clan Banlieue (MySpace), La Quinta Armonia (Facebook) and Mururoa (MySpace) while the near town of Formia is home to En Taro Adun (Facebook). East of Latina lies FROSINONE where we can listen to a folk rock project called Musicisti del Basso Lazio (MySpace) that recently released an interesting album called Terra di fuoco, while Sora is home to the jazz-rock Mobius Strip (Facebook).

We conclude our visit to Lazio in the province of RIETI, east of Rome. Here we find a band called Novalia (Official Website) that were formed 1985 on the initiative of multi-instrumentalists Raffaello Simeoni and Stefano Saletti. Their music features strong Mediterranean influences and should be of some interest to prog folk lovers. Raffaello Simeoni (MySpace) has also released two solo albums and is involved in some side projects. Stefano Saletti (MySpace) has released some solo works too and he’s also involved in another interesting folk project called Piccola Banda Ikona (MySpace).