SILENT COLOURS

Illusioni (Illusions) is the second album by Quarto Vuoto, a talented band from Mogliano Veneto, in the province of Treviso. It follows the excellent eponymous debut work from 2014 and was released in 2017 on the independent label Lizard Records with a renewed line up featuring Edoardo Ceron (bass), Nicola D'Amico (drums), Mattia Scomparin (keyboards, piano) and Luca Volonnino (guitar) plus some guests. In fact, in 2015 Federico Lorenzon (vocals, violin) left the band and wasn’t replaced but during the recording sessions Giulio Dalla Mora (sax) and Mauro Spinazzé (violin) gave their contribute to enrich the sound on some tracks.

The new album is completely instrumental and the images provided by Lorenzo Giolin’s wonderful art work in some way take the place of the lyrics in describing the concept behind the music. According to the band, all the pieces have a meaning, a story to tell, but the listener is free to interpret them with the help of his own imagination and sensitivity… Through our music we want to tell and describe the perception that men have of the reality that surrounds them... The six tracks represent different phases of human perception...

The dreamy opener “Nei colori del silenzio” (In the colours of silence) is calm and nocturnal. The music tries to evoke the innocence of childhood and the power of imagination typical of that age. An animated cartoon video directed by Lorenzo Giolin himself was shot to comment this piece and to represent its magic...

The following “Coscienza sopita” (Asleep consciousness) is nervous and tense. It tries to depict the spirit of rebellion of youth and the awareness of maturity, when the daily grind begins to produce its effects and starts to wear you out. The picture in the booklet portrays the lights and shadows of a big city at night. Behind the window of a lighted office there’s a bent man, he seems tired. That office might be his cage...

The long, melancholic “Impasse” tries to evoke the difficulties that you have to tackle in your life, the obstacles that you have to overcome. In the booklet, in the picture chosen to comment this piece you can see a bizarre world of flying rocks connected by ropes and crumbling bridges...

Quarto Vuoto 2017

The title of the following “Apofis” (Apophis) refers to the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos and was thus the opponent of light and Ma'at (order/truth). This piece starts with sudden bursts of energy, the mood is dark and seems to mark the explosion of a deep crises. Then a calm jazzy passage follows with a sax solo evoking nostalgia and regret. As the music flows, there are many other changes in rhythm and atmosphere where you can perceive growing tension, rage but also positive memories. Here the picture in the booklet with its explosion of colours on a spectral background evokes a world falling apart in an infinite space...

The reflective “Due io” (Two I) seems to evoke the wisdom and calm of the old age. The atmosphere here is almost mystical while the picture in the booklet marks the contradictions of the life in a big city where lighted skyscrapers contrast with the hidden underground net. This piece comes like the calm after the storm...

The closer “Tornerò” (I’ll come back) begins by a beautiful soaring violin passage and a nice melodic pattern. It’s a wonderful track that marks the come back to the origins, a reflection about the sense of a life that is coming to an end. What will remain of us in the afterlife? Of course, there’s no answer. It’s just a starting point for a reflection while the world is turning upside down… Set your imagination free!

On the whole, I think that this is a really good album!

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/quarto.vuoto/

A SOLAR RIDE

Agorà 2 is the second album by Agorà and their first studio work. It was released in 1976 with a renewed line up featuring Roberto Bacchiocchi (keyboards), Ovidio Urbani (sax), Renato Gasparini (guitar), Mauro Mencaroni (drums), Nino Russo (sax, percussion) and Lucio Cesari (bass, percussion) and marks a step forward for the band that here is clearly focused on refining their jazz-rock sound showcasing a strong leaning for experimentalism and great musicianship. The wonderful artwork by Mario Convertino in some way captures this attitude with a nice black and white drawing...

The dreamy opener “Punto Rosso” (Red Point) is a nice, accessible track with a great interaction between all the instruments that every now and again could recall The Mahavishnu Orchestra. The following “Piramide di domani” (Pyramid of Tomorrow) starts calmly by hypnotic bass lines and a good acoustic guitar work, then the other instruments come in building a mysterious atmosphere sprinkled with exotic flavours. 

The long, melancholic “Tall El Zaatar” ends the first side of the original vinyl. Here the title refers to the tragic siege of Tel al-Zaatar, a fortified, UNRWA-administered refugee camp housing Palestinian refugees in north-eastern Beirut that was carried out by Phalangist forces in August 1976. It’s a kind of committed jazz elegy in memory of the victims...

The second side of the album opens with “La bottega di Duilio” (Duilio’s workshop) that, according to an interview with Ovidio Urbani, was inspired by a man who owned a workshop near the rehearsal room of the band in Serra San Quirico, a very special character in the life of that little town. The piece starts by a percussive pattern that introduces you in his strange laboratory and ironmonger’s shop... 

“Simbiosi (Vasi comunicanti)” (Symbiosis – Communicating vessels) was built up starting from a piano improvisations in the studio by Roberto Bacchiocchi and then elaborated with contribute of the other members of the band in a perfect symbiosis. In fact, the subtitle of this track refers to the name given to a set of containers containing a homogeneous fluid: when the liquid settles, it balances out to the same level in all of the containers regardless of the shape and volume of the containers. If additional liquid is added to one vessel, the liquid will again find a new equal level in all the connected vessels. Here this principle is applied to the music...

The long closer “Cavalcata solare” (Solar ride) is a kind of psychedelic jazz ride through the space. It starts slowly, then the rhythm rises for a long journey into unknown territories and forgotten dreamlands. This track was also released as a single and ends an album that is really worth listening to.

Unfortunately, despite the good quality of their music, Agorà disbanded in 1978 on account of the difficulties to make a living in the troubled, asphyxial Italian music business of the years of lead… 

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Agorà: Agorà 2 (1976). Other opinions:

Conor Fynes: Agorà never seems to stray needlessly, but the music often feels driven more by exploration than composition. The saxophone and Rhodes piano are given the most range here, with the thoughtfully melodic leads of the former generally paving the way on most of the songs… Even during the album's most laid-back passages, Agorà offer plenty to keep the attentive listener occupied. The approach to composition has clearly been designed with the intent of giving the instrumentation room to breathe and explore, but the way the music will always fall back on thick, band-oriented harmonies keeps the album feeling focused… It's not often a 'new' jazz band impresses me like this; if you're any bit into the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the jazzier end of Van der Graaf Generator or the classic sound of prog-fusion in general, check out this album and see what you think of it… (You can read the complete review HERE)

More info:

http://www.agora-ichinen.com/

ON A NEW LEVEL

Born in Siena in 1970 from the ashes of two other bands called respectively Arf Arf and I Diamanti, Livello 7 had been active until 1976, initially as a cover band and then playing original music inspired by bands such as Weather Report and Perigeo. Although they were very popular in their home town, in those years the band never had the chance to release an album. After the band split up, one of the former members of Livello 7, Franco Caroni, turned to jazz and in 1983 formed another band called Juice Group to play fusion but the project had an ephemeral life. It wasn’t until 2013 that Franco Caroni met with some other musicians to work on the material of his previous bands and on some new composition forming a new band, Acqua Libera. After a hard, painstaking work in the studio, in 2016 Acqua Libera self-released an eponymous debut album with a line up featuring, along with Franco Caroni (bass), Jonathan Caradonna (keyboards – from Profusion), Fabio Bizzarri (guitar – from Vicolo Margana) and Marco Tosi (drums, percussion – also from Vicolo Margana). It’s a real good work where jazz rock and progressive rock influences are perfectly blended with great musicianship and maturity...

The opener “Tempi moderni” (Modern Times) is a wonderful track where melody and rhythm give life to the shadows and lights of a modern, busy world. The title seems to refer to a 1936 silent comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in which his iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world while on a short video posted by the band on YT they chose a drawing of Battersea Station (without flying pigs) to symbolize the good and bad consequences of modernity and progress...

The following “Nautilus” is another excellent piece that could be a perfect score for an exotic maritime adventure. The title refers to the fictional submarine captained by Nemo featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (1870) and The Mysterious Island (1874)...

The nocturnal “Alla luce della luna” (Under the moonlight) comes from the old repertoire of Livello 7 and was originally entitled “Undiciottavi” (Eleven-eight time) after its time signature. It’s a long, complex piece that evokes dreamy atmospheres and far echoes coming from the dark side of the moon...

The lively, light-hearted “Mr. Lou” was composed in the eighties by keyboardist Luigi Campoccia and comes from the legacy of the Juice Group. It was re-arranged by Acqua Libera that gave to it a new life. It leads to the more recent “Marcina” where strange, haunting waltzes merge into cheerful jazzy passages and vice versa...

Acqua Libera 2016

The title of the following “Sans tambour ni musique” (With no drums, no music) was taken from the verse of a poem by Charles Baudelaire… — And long hearses, with no drums, no music, file slowly through my soul: Hope, conquered, cries, and despotic atrocious agony plants on my bent skull its flag of black… (translation by Geoffrey Wagner from Selected Poems of Charles Baudelaire, Grove Press, 1974). Here the music blossoms like a flower of evil in a rainy spring day...

Then comes the tense, frenzied “Quo vadis”. Quo Vadis (Latin for "Where are you going?") is also the title of a 1951 American epic film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and set in ancient Rome during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign. Although in the liner notes you can’t find any link between this track and the film, I think that it could be a really good soundtrack for a thriller...

The last track, “Prog Mood”, is another piece taken from the repertoire of Livello 7 and was originally entitled “Seiottavi” (Six-eight time). It’s a piece full of energy and sudden changes in atmosphere that closes and album that absolutely worth listening to...

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/AcquaLiberaSiena/

REPEATING THINGS HELPS

Repetita Iuvant is the second album by Ad Maiora, a band from Milan  influenced by the likes of Genesis, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Yes, Pink Floyd, Premiata Forneria Marconi or Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. It was self-released in 2016 with a consolidated line up featuring Enzo Giardina (drums), Flavio Carnovali (electric guitar), Moreno Piva (bass, classical guitar), Paolo Callioni (vocals) and Sergio Caleca (keyboards) and follows the very promising debut work, Ad Maiora!, from 2014, confirming all the good qualities of the band in mixing vintage and modern sounds with brio and gusto. The art cover by Marcella Arganese in some way seems to portray this attitude: one glance towards the future and another one towards the past... 

The opener “Molokheya” is a dark, melancholic track with Middle Eastern flavours. The title refers to a typical dish of the Egyptian cuisine that here evokes a strange sense of nostalgia. It’s sung in English and the music and lyrics tell about one of the many recent tragic stories of illegal migration in the Mediterranean sea depicting men and hopes that sink in a dark and stormy night along with an old, battered ship overloaded with desperate people trying to escape from their bitter present made of misery and war... 

“Life” in another committed track sung in English. It’s against racism and religious hate, against the murders and slaughters committed in the name of God, against lust and greed. The music is tense, the rhythm is nervous, the music and words express indignation, rage and a desperate need for mercy... 

The surreal “Fermati” (Stop) is a kind of tribute to Premiata Forneria Marconi with smells of geraniums and sounds of strange carriages in the background. The sense of the naive lyrics is that you can’t change the world and burn down everything if your lighter is empty and you have no matches but, to be honest, to find a meaning for this piece would be like promenade a puzzle...

The long, complex “Torba” (Turf) is a beautiful instrumental piece where dark organ waves and soaring electric guitar solos are blended and shaped with maestria and painted with crimson touches of brush… Then it’s the turn of the ironic “Invisibile” (Invisible), a track that stigmatizes the subtle means used by the media to push you into the vortex of consumerism creating artificial needs to sell useless items. The music and lyrics depict the invisible threads that influence your behaviour, you can almost see cool advertising flyers vibrating in the air like confetti to promote status-symbols objects without consistency but essentials for your ego...

Next comes the excellent instrumental title track, “Repetita Iuvant”, with its mysterious atmosphere underlined by pulsing bass lines and haunting organ waves. The title refers to a Latin maxim meaning repeating things helps and usually said to defend the speaker's choice to repeat some important piece of information to ensure reception by the audience...

The following “Etereo” (Ethereal) begins by a nervous electric guitar solo, then the atmosphere gets more relaxed. The music and lyrics tell about the transition from this world to the unknown in the eternal cycle of life, a passage full of doubts about what is going to happen. Imagine to walk the last steps of your life in a state of disquieting serenity and calm anxiety, under an ethereal, starred sky, pure and intangible. Your sweet memories and all your regrets are starting to melt...

The lively, swinging instrumental “Never Mind” could be a good finale for this interesting work, but there’s still room for a bonus track, a cover of “Whaling Stories” by Procol Harum previously released on a compilation by Mellow Records entitled Shine On Magic Hotel.

On the whole, a very good album and an excellent addition to any prog collection!

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Ad Maiora: Repetita Iuvant (2016). Other opinions:

Michael "Aussie-Byrd-Brother": Ad Maiora should be absolutely proud of this addictive disc that hints at so much potential for further albums, with their instrumental and melodic skills firmly on display, and it makes `Repetita Iuvant' one of the most welcome and surprising releases in Italian prog for 2016! (read the complete review HERE)

Tomas Szirmay: The debut was outright terrific, this is a quite definite step up. Ad Maiora is a proud player on the prog scene and needs your immediate attention…  (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/admaioraprog/

http://admaioraprog.altervista.org/

ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES

Ælementi come from Rome and have been active for more than ten years before realising their debut album. Formed in 2007 and led by guitarist and composer Daniele Lulli, all along this time they have honed their skills and tried to find a personal way to merge different influences ranging from Italian prog bands such as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso or Premiata Forneria Marconi with newer, heavier sounds inspired by likes of Rush or Shadow Gallery. In 2017 they finally managed to release their debut work, entitled Una questione di principio (A matter of principle), thanks to the interest of the independent labels Lizard Records and Andromeda Relix. On the album, the line up features along with Daniele Lulli (guitar) also Francesca Piazza (vocals), Manuele D'Anastasio (drums) and Angelo Celani (bass) plus the guests Dario Pierini (keyboards), Giordana Sanfilippo (backing vocals) and Carlotta Sanfilippo (backing vocals) while the nice art work is provided by Maria Chiara Santoro. The overall sound blends vintage and modern with strong melodic accents and a slight leaning to AOR that is worth listening to, especially if you like other Roman bands such as Magnolia, Layra or Laviàntica...  

The opener “Principio” (Beginning) is a very short instrumental that sets the atmosphere and leads to the melancholic “Lontananza” (Distance) where the music and lyrics depict an overwhelming feeling of absence and where the idea of distance becomes almost a real character to blame, a merciless enemy to fear. As the music flows, reality and bad dreams get blurred under the moonlight...

The careless, melodic “Vuoto” (Emptiness) tells in music and words of an emotionless person who can’t get out of his state of apathy and find a new interest for what’s going on around him. Then it’s the turn of the more elaborated “Straniero” (Stranger) that features an excellent instrumental middle section and is one of my favourite tracks on the album. It’s about a ghost that lingers on Earth expressionless, lost and confused, uncertain about what to do next. He feels like a shadow that tries again and again to take off and fly away without success, a transparent, solitary stranger walking on the streets of the world without a goal, haunted by nostalgia and charmed by new shapes and colours. It’s pointless wondering where he’s bound… Who knows what’s waiting for us in the afterlife?

Aelementi 2017

The light, melodic “Delirio” (Delirium) is about haunting, irrepressible feelings and overwhelming pulsations while the following “Voce” (Voice) is more complex and deals with the regrets and memories unchained by an old yellow piece of paper with a familiar telephone number written on it. A sensual voice comes out of the blue but it might be too late for listening to it...

The closer “Addio” (Farewell) is a beautiful piece about a troubled relationship where hate and love seem almost be playing a never ending game on the chessboard of fate and where emotions and passions are blended in explosive mix under the eye of a threatening sky. There’s an impending sense of tragedy but there’s also room for hope as the music flows in a crescendo of tension and intensity…

All in all, I think that this a good album even if it’s not one of the most challenging you can find. Anyway, have a try! You can listen to it on deezer or spotify

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/aelementi/

http://www.aelementi.com/