THE DOORS OF NOSTALGIA

Tangerine Stoned are a young band from Rimini that was formed in 2011 on the initiative of Chris Jei Gasperini and Alex Key Masti with the aim of recreating the sounds and atmospheres of late sixties and early seventies psychedelic rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Doors, Cream, Seeds or Jimi Hendrix Experience just to name but a few. The approach of the band to the song-writing is almost philological and the their sources of inspiration are apparent but they managed to add to their palette a pinch of colourful exoticism and a good deal of freshness and enthusiasm.

In 2013 Tangerine Stoned released an eponymous debut album on the independent label Moonlight Records featuring six tracks for more than 33 minutes length where from the very first notes you can perceive the ghost of Jim Morrison freely riding all around. “Venice”, “Clean Window”, “Blues In Door”, “Dirty Ceiling” and “Nave da bar” (Pub ship) are all sung in English (even if the last has an Italian title) and flow lightly away one after the other opening the doors of nostalgia. Of course, the music here does not shine for its originality, nonetheless it's a pleasant listening.

However, the last one, “L'urlo della strega” (The scream of the witch), in my opinion is by far the best one. It's a long instrumental track that begins softly with a strange oriental flavour, then the rhythm rises taking you on a mystical, cosmic trip through the unconscious... On the whole an interesting debut although I'm sure that Tangerine Stoned can do better in the future. By the way, soon after the album was released the keyboardist left the band and now the current line up features Chris Jei Gasperini (lead vocals, harp, bass), Danièl Gasperini (bass, guitar), Francis J. Bartowski (guitars, backing vocals), Alex Key Masti (guitars) and Vince Vincenti (drums, percussion).

You can listen to the complete album in streaming HERE

Tangerine Stoned: Tangerine Stoned (2013). Other opinions:

Jack Gillen: Tangerine Stoned have made a bluesy, psychedelic album on par with some of the best from the height of the genre, circa 1967. And yes, at times, this album is very much a Doors-ian trip. Young Doors, though, not bloated, alkie, bearded-to-hide-the-double-chin Morrison Doors... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/TangerineStoned 

ANOTHER ADVENTURE

Lineateorica come from Rome and their roots date back to the early nineties when Daniele Lausdei and Alessandro Milza formed a band called Praetermittel to play original compositions along with covers of bands such as Jethro Tull or Marillion. Later they changed their name into Lineateorica and in 2005 recorded a first demo, Adesso. In 2014, with a renewed line up, they finally self-released an eponymous official debut EP featuring four properly re-recorded tracks from their old repertoire. The current line up features Daniele Lausdei (bass), Andrea Giuliani (guitars), Simone Serra (guitars), Roberto Ciai (drums) and Nello D'Agostino (vocals) plus Luca De Marchis on flute as a special guest. Although there are no keyboardists involved in this project, the band successfully managed to weave a fine musical fabric with a perfect interaction between all the instruments blending prog, folk and melody. This promising EP sounds fresh, rich in ideas and it is really worth listening to...

The opener “L'ipocrita” (The hypocrite) features a brilliant drumming and sudden changes in rhythm and atmosphere. The music and lyrics describe the inner struggle of a cynical man who conceals his goals. In some way he wears a mask of hypocrisy that can blot out his feelings but now he needs to get rid of it. The price to pay is high but his reward is freedom...

The following “B-friend” describes another inner struggle. Every day you have to make some choices but you can't stop growing up even when you realize that you can't change the world... Then comes “Non c'è più veleno” (There's no more poison), a track full of energy that tells of a broken friendship and of the therapeutic role of forgiveness, of faded photographs, timeless memories, doubts and obsessions, sounds and colours... “Set your words free from resentment / There's no more reason that can push you back again...”.

album cover

The complex “Un'altra avventura di Kohn” (Another adventure of Kohn) concludes this interesting work. It's a beautiful piece featuring hermetic lyrics about hope. There are no liner notes to explain who Kohn is but he seems a man in trouble who gets help from a woman called Anna, a kind of angel, maybe a nurse who can speak to his heart... “Every time you try to go further / You know there's Anna / Who takes you by the hand...”.

On the whole, a really good work!

You can listen in streaming to the complete album HERE

Linateorica: Lineateorica (2014). Other opinions:

Michael “Aussie-Byrd-Brother”: Lineateorica should be very proud of what they've delivered here. It's a shorter album full of charismatic vocals, melodic tunes, exciting playing and dangerous instrumental passages, that you just want to keep playing over and over. The possibilities of what the band could achieve on a proper long-play album is very promising and exciting... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/Lineateorica 

http://www.lineateorica.it/ 

GOING UPHILL

Anabasi Road are a young band from Reggio Emilia that came to life in 2009 with the aim of blending prog, hard rock and blues with a touch of freshness and a great passion for vintage sounds. The name of the band refers to the Ancient Greek and evokes a hard march uphill. After a good live activity on the local scene, in 2014 they self-released an interesting eponymous album with a line up featuring Andrea Giberti (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Massimiliano Braglia (guitar, drums), Alessio Gambarelli (guitar), Riccardo Vecchi (bass), Luca Orlandini (keyboards, organ, piano) and Nicholas Corradini (drums, guitar). Although they can't be considered the most original band on the rich current Italian prog scene, Anabasi Road are a talented bunch of musicians and on their debut album they showcase a good potential. If you like bands such as Wicked Minds or Psycho Praxis I'm sure you will appreciate this work as well.

Anabasi Road 2014

The opener “Pleasure In Me” starts by nervous electric guitar riffs and dark organ waves. The music and lyrics describe a haunting presence and an insane, dangerous passion that rises like dust on the road while a strange, silent feeling sets hope and time on fire. The following “Clashing Stars” is a kind of wild prayer to the sky for a new life and tells about a desperate, merciless need for vendetta in an endless war where there's no room for respect and pity.

Next comes the disquieting “Dreaming For You” where the music and lyrics describe a strange experience: a restless dream, a fall into a windy grave, a lapse of reason with blind lies whirling inside your mind... It leads to the long psychedelic blues “Say Man”, haunted by the ghost of Jim Morrison.

“Guerra Mondiale” (World War) is the only track sung in Italian on the album and I think that it's a real pity that the band didn't exploit more their native language. It begins by a delicate piano pattern, then the music and lyrics describe the feelings of a soldier in a dark, wet night before the battle... There's blood on the ground and on the hearts, you can hear cries and shouts, marching men and bombs falling all around... A great track!

album cover

The following “Maybe Tomorrow” is full of rebellious energy and invites you to fight against the people who try to manipulate your conscience and your mind. It leads to the long, dark “I Walk Alone” that depicts in deep red colours a man possessed by a haunting vision who looks at him through a shining glass. Filled with pain and rage, with no hope nor God, now he walks toward his new dark Lord... The bluesy “Requiem” concludes the album with no prayers, no cries and no shouts but a great electric guitar solo.

On the whole, a good album for classic rock lovers.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://it-it.facebook.com/AnabasiRoad 

http://www.anabasiroad.it/ 

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

Elettrosmog began life in Verona in 2003 with a first line up featuring Michele Antonelli (vocals, guitar, flute), Francesco Delli Paoli (bass), Alessandro Pontone (guitar), Massimo Babbi (keyboards), Cristian Maselli (drums) and Alessandro Savelli (bouzuky, banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar). They were clearly influenced by Italian prog bands of the early seventies such as Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Le Orme or Delirium (on their official website you could even find a short history of Rock Progressivo Italiano) but also by hard rock, jazz, blues, reggae and Italian canzone d'autore. After an interesting demo recorded in 2004, they started performing live on the local scene. Later, Alessandro Savelli left the band and in 2006 Elettrosmog self-released their first full length album, “Monologando”. According to the liner notes, it's a concept album dealing with the difficulties that human beings can experience when they have to communicate with each other in different situations. Well, probably the beautiful art cover by Andrea Sbrogiò describes the content of the album better than my words.

The opener “Trappole per topi” (Mousetraps) is a nice track full of obscure energy. The music and lyrics depict a man who's on the verge of folly, a dreamer who desperately search for a shelter from the daily grind. He's surrounded by people he can't understand and who show off a false serenity... “Enough is enough! My head is blowing up / I have to run away from here / A stereophonic madness completes my mania / It reverberates and swings for me...”.

The following “Economania” is a caustic track about the “New Economy”, where money rules and the marketing laws decide what you have to do. So, you have to stop thinking of social ideals, nothing matters but your ego... The new economy ethic becomes a silly and vain vicious circle where men act like marionettes stumbling on the threads of the Euro-autarchy, pushed by ambition and materialism.

“Fiore di carta” (Paper flower) is a melancholic, introspective track where the music and lyrics depict a man who gets lost in a labyrinth of madness and who's burning out like a paper flower, stranded and poisoned by a nightmarish solitude. Suicide or hypocrisy can't save his soul...

“Dialogo” (Dialogue) is a short acoustic, instrumental interlude that leads to the following “Quanto costa un litro di benzina?” (How much does a litre of gasoline?), an ironic track that blends reggae and Jethro Tull. The music and lyrics tell about a man obsessed by the ever growing cost of oil who decides to buy a bicycle and ride it feeling like Fausto Coppi.

“Non è così (Il mio regalo per te)” (It's not so – My present for you) is a complex track featuring many changes in mood and rhythm. It begins softly, the atmosphere is dark, melancholic then the rhythm rises and at some point Focus and Jethro Tull could come to mind. A man realizes that he's adopting ideas that he doesn't share just to get along with his sweetheart and he's getting tired to live as a hypocrite. The breaking up is traumatic, his last present might be mischievous and dishonest... Just his voice recorded on a tape: slow, magnetic words that will take him away forever.

The following “Monologo” (Monologue) is a short, delicate instrumental piano solo track that leads to “Compromesso storico” (Historic compromise), a powerful, complex track that draws in music and lyrics the portrait of a cynical politician who's good for every season, a demagogic media metastasis who knows how to use democracy in spite of ethics.

“Tu ti senti meno” (You feel less) is another track that describes the crises of a relationship in an effective way. A woman wants too much from his man, but she can't have everything and the game is over and there's no room left for words... The final track “Rootood” is a short instrumental where you can hear a telephone call and the recorded voice of an answering machine. A good conclusion for a very interesting album that in my opinion is really worth listening to.

After the recording sessions bassist Francesco Delli Paoli left the band and Paolo Iemmi stepped in. Unfortunately, the new line up didn't last for long and in 2007 Elettrosmog split up. Anyway, two years later a new band called Astrolabio came to life from Elettrosmog's ashes... But this is another story!

More info:
http://www.astrosito.it/altro-materiale/ 
https://myspace.com/elettrosmogrpi 

MEMORIES AND TRAINS

La soluzione semplice (The simple solution) is the fifth studio album by Sithonia, an Italianprog band from Bologna whose roots date back to the mid-eighties. It was released in 2011 on the independent label Lizard Records, after a long hiatus and a hard studio work, with a line up featuring Paolo Nannetti (organ, Mellotron, synth, backing vocals), Roberto Magni (guitar, mandolin), Oriano Dasasso (piano, synth), Orio Cenacchi (drums), Valerio Roda (bass) and Marco Giovannini (lead and backing vocals). The final result of their efforts is a good mix of vintage atmospheres and new musical flavours and I'm sure that fans of Italian prog will appreciate this concept album about dreams and time passing by, where the music and lyrics draw an imaginary bridge across past and present. But maybe the art work by Roberto Magni describes the content of the album better than my words...

The opener “Treni di passaggio” (Passing trains) begins by some hypnotic piano notes and the noises of a railway station in the background. Then the music and lyrics depict a commuter who is coming home after a working day. All according to routine, it's just another day in his life. But suddenly something happens and you can experience a kind of emotional short circuit: the man has always fought against his dreams but now he realizes that he might be wrong while time is passing by... Then the rhythm rises and whirling waves of vintage keyboards draw him in the past where he gets lost for awhile like a child in a fairy-tale wood. After the instrumental middle section the vocals come back and the atmosphere becomes calmer... The commuter comes out from his dream with a new awareness: now he can accept his dreams and get along with his present life. Now he runs to catch his train, a new day can't separate what we are from what we were or what we had wanted to be... “But we live, it's sure / There's nothing to dream / I’m running fast, there’s a train waiting for...”.

Sithonia 2013

What kind of magic made change the protagonist's mind? The second track, “Tornando” (Coming back), is a beautiful short instrumental that starts with the sound of a tape in reverse. Now you have to set your watch back forty years, you're in a time warp... The following “Cronaca persa” (Lost chronicle) is a long, complex suite divided into six parts that tells about a lost summer full of music, colours and glances towards the sky. An obsessive voice repeats that those days can't come back and that you can't go back in time. Nonetheless there are moments that seem everlasting, imagines that you can't forget, memories that can't melt into the mist of the daily grind and dreams that keep on flying through the clouds of a rainy day... “The music goes, can't you hear it? / It soars through the brambles, it dances among the flowers and then it will remain... It comes from afar and plays with us / It won't go away...”. Those lost days now seem be running along the banks of a river, searching for a bridge to cross it while time is just a face on the water... Now you look in a mirror and see just a stranger, but sometimes memories come back with an overwhelming force and you have the illusion to be back there, just for a last time, just for a last stolen look... “The last time, just a last time / I do not want to ask for more... Nothing can change if you can't change a bit...”.

The short, evocative instrumental “Il tram del topo” (The tram of the mouse) leads to the title track that tells in music and words of a clash between different feelings in front of a difficult choice. The protagonist is now on the edge of an immense abyss and he's going to take a risk that he has never taken before... “I will not be asking from you the simple solution / You will not be the one who will look with me for all the answers we have never asked...”.

The short, delicate instrumental “Passeggiata” (Walk) leads to the conclusive “Il vento di Nauders” (The wind from Nauders), another long, complex track that conjures up the memories of a beautiful day of music and friendship spent in the Alps (Nauders is a lovely place in Austria, near the border with Italy and Swiss). Now the air is redolent of the smell of the woods and you get lost among sweet sounds and warm colours... Then the dream comes to an end, the mist of time disappears and you can listen again to the same hypnotic notes of piano that opened the album. The circle is closed, the protagonist is back to reality on the train that takes him home...

On the whole, I think that this is an excellent album, a real must for Italian prog lovers!

Sithonia: La soluzione semplice (2011). Other opinions:

Jim Russell: From short interludes to 20-plus minute epics it's all here: grand upbeat synths and warm melancholic piano pieces, lofty mellotrons, drop-dead gorgeous passages of Ant Phillips-like acoustic guitar, rippin' melodic electric leads, and hearty Italian vocals. The combination of the earthy sunset mellotron and the bucolic acoustic guitar segments give the album a truly gorgeous feel, contrasted with occasional feisty elements... Sithonia break no new boundaries and seek not to impress via technical ecstasy, instead, this is an album of lovingly crafted tales which seep into you over time. More than anything else this is progressive rock with tons of heart, a passionate pastoral world of folksy musical storytelling and vibrant rock... (red the complete review HERE)

More info:

http://www.sithoniamusic.it/sithonia/Intro.html 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sithonia/162973983745374?fref=ts