| CD REVIEW Bad Stuff – Clan Bastardo – Fallingice – Ibrido_XN - Indigo |
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Alkemist Fanatix Europe special July 2011 : Bad Stuff – Clan Bastardo – Fallingice – Ibrido_XN - Indigo Oh my, you know, I've had this package of 23 albums (which was sent to our editor-in-chief for consideration of Belgian distribution through the record company he also works at) in my to-do box since mid May now, and I've had to postpone starting this first special until now because of literally being swamped in an on of other albums. At any rate, plans for the Belgian distribution of sóme of these albums were put on hold due to several practical reasons. Also, the only albums eligible for that distribution would be the ones with English vocals...which is a shame, because I found the bést stuff among the other albums. Not that all bands are apparently equally as eager to put info on themselves out on the Internet! A note on the side : where Alkemist Fanatix started as an agency promoting/ managing Italian Rock and Metal acts, they have in recent months enlarged their field into the world of Punk Rock, and have also started managing/ promoting Spanish bands/ albums! One investigative look on the agency's website (www.) alkemist-fanatix.com will show you that Carlo Bellotti (whom started the agency some 6 years ago) has a good reason to be proud of the amount of bands on his roster. ----------------------------------------------------- The original December 2005 line-up of this Forli (town situated some 15 km NW from Cesena by the Adriatic Sea, Cesena itself is about 25 km South of Ravenna) based Italian band consisted of lead singer/ bassist Federico, guitarist/ backing singer Lorenzo, and drummer Eugenio, whom started the band after leaving their former one with the desire to start a new band in order to see their own ideas (to combine Punk, Alternative Rock, and Pop in their own way) come to life. But they still needed a 4th man in order to bring in extra guitar parts, a person which they found in Federico's childhood friend Andrea, whom joined the band in February 2006. Writing of their own tunes started immediately after, and the best songs were filtered/ improved by live test. Eventually, in early 2007, the guys felt it was time to record some of those songs to the 5-track promo Are You Really Sure Of This. The band's live presence is increased (that's what having a promo usually does), and in the end the inconveniences and stresses that usually go with a small band's increased gigging may have been at the basis of its first split. By early 2009 the the drummer had simply vanished, the other members not knowing what happened to him. Andrea in his turn quit, and all of that happening around the same time when German label Antstreet Records was paying the band some serious attention. After some negotiations, the label agreed to sign the band on, providing Lorenzo and Federico find themselves a new drummer first. Well, they found Christian during the ensuing Spring, and by early July were duly signed, with a recording planned for April 2010 and a possible release for the following Autumn. Well, that was in an ideal world, of course, because for starters the entry into the fold of the new drummer brought about new inspirations, and all of the sudden the guys were no longer interested in their old material anymore. In other words, they started everything from scratch, and went about writing a completely new set of songs. Recordings at Westlink Recording Studios with producer Alessandro Sportelli took place in the Summer of 2010 (from July 15 to August 8), and the projected release date of May 19, 2011 was eventually set forward somewhat. Stylistically, it's probably the safest to catalog this trio in the Power Pop/ Rock genre, as the songs are all quite up-tempo. Due to their vocal stylings with harmonized lead and backing vocals (hey...done in English, by the way), I suppose comparisons with the likes of an adrenalized Weezer are in order. To find out how it actually sounds (words can be so meaningless), surf to (www.) myspace.com/bad.stuff, where you'll find 2 songs posted (one of those songs also has a video, which you can find on the band's own website – link via their MySpace). Very representative stuff, that, and a perfect picture of the 10-track album. 87/100 ---------------------------------------------------- There's not a lot I can tell you about this Italian Punk Rock act (that's '78 Punk lads!). Although their CD came in the same package as the rest of the Alkemist Fanatix things, the band is not even mentioned on the agency's roster. On top, the guys have made info on the Internet rather scarce. This is what I DID find out... They are based in the South Italian town of Andretta (situated some 90 km East of Napoli), and their current line-up (or at least the one from the current CD) consists of singer/ guitarist Pino Di Guglielmo, his bass playing brother Enzo, guitarist Stew Page, and drummer Dino Magnotta. Page may be a recent addition to the line-up, because when the band went a-recording this album (most probably their debut full-length) at Pisa's Westlink Recording Studio with studio engineer Alessandro Sportelli and Alessandro Paolucci (formerly of Raw Power), the latter added the second guitar to the album. One Vittorio Oliveiro is cited as second guest to the album on two songs, but one forgets to mention in what capacity he added to the recordings. On their facebook page, the band cites the likes of Rancid, Ramones, Dropkick Murphys, Motörhead, Misfits, The unseen, Bouncing Souls, Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards, UK77, Green Day, Offspring, Johnny Cash, Street Dogs, and The Clash as band they like to listen to, and that's something one hears in their music. To emphasize their Clash liking, the band even made a couple of Ska tunes : “Uscita Est” even getting an added mouth harmonica, awhile “Purtroppo O Per Fortuna” on the other hand getting a nice guitar solo in stead. Getting an earful of this band has proven to be another difficult thing. On both the band's own website (www.) clanbastardo.it and their facebookpage, the only of the album's 14 songs posted is “Hotel Babylon” (as video on their own site), and at (www.) myspace.com/clanbastardo, they only add the one track “Un' Altra Notte”. For more material, you'll have to go to the album's page at (www.) beezit.com, where you can listen to samples of all songs. '78 Punk with Italian vocals baby, ya don't like it, ya don't check it! Curious anyway? Then by all means dó go listen to this band's music! 84/100 ----------------------------------------------------- No idea as to why Alkemist sent us a second copy of this North Italian Grunge band after we'd already reviewed it (posted 26/11/2010). I mean, by the time I had gotten the new copy the band had already dóne it's “European tour” (in effect: 3 dates...one in London, one in Amsterdam, and one in Eernegem, Belgium). The only other thing worth mentioning is that the guys made a video for the track “Breathing Machine” (and you can check it out both at the band's own website (www.) fallinice.net as in the blogs of (www.) myspace.com/fallingice. My original rating and comments remain! 82/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Thus far (I obviously haven't listened to all 23 albums in the Alkemist Fanatix package we received) this band (pronounce the name as “eebreedoh per ehnneh”) from the surroundings of Italy's capitol city Roma is my favourite in the pack! Although only a trio, they deliver a very rich soundscape, adding a touch of experimentation by using the oddest of extra instruments (screwdrivers, lighters, low-fi self-made tools) and samples. Sure, Germano Tasselli (whom also handles synths) sings in his native language, but he has a delightful moan. As far as I can discern (again, info is scarce, and what's available is in Italian, a language of which I only have a reasonable passing knowledge) Tasselli and his mates Andrea Lucidi (bass and guitar) and Carlo Schiaroli (drums and samples) released their debut single Le Cose Cambizno E Tu...Non Te Ne Rendi Conto in 2004, following it up the year after with the promo CD xN 2005 Promo. A second promo CD entitled Policarbonato Transparente appeared in April 2008, preceded by a video for “Tutti Vogliono Essere Alternativi”, which was rotated the whole year on several Sky TV stations, and even got onto national stations Super 6 and Europa 7. In November of that same year the band was chosen by Sky Eco TV among 300 other Italian bands in different musical genres to participate in the Meeting Etichette Indipendenti band contest, where they got away with a price for Best Independent Italian Band. The band's second album would eventually attract the attention of famed Underground producer Christiano Santini (whom in the past was responsible for albums released by the likes of CSI, Soerba, and Luciferme to name but a few). In March of 2010 Ibrido_xN and Santini entered Bologna's Groove Factory studio, where they cut 10 songs which would make out the band's official debut album. Trying to describe the band's music, is like trying to compare apples with pears. I mean, there's so many different apples (ànd pears, for that matter) to begin with, and one would have to go down to basic biochemistry in order to get the job done, see? Well, of course not, but the thing is I don't feel like giving you a song-per-song description of what I hear, as that would make this review far too long! Not that the band don't deserve the attention, but I'm afraid I would bore the hell out of anyone reading such a description anyway. Best then, to just bluntly state that this band's Alternative Rock is littered in a ice degree with several effects on the drums, guitars, and additional samples and synth runs. Better even, to tell you to surf as quickly as possible to (www.) myspace.com/ibridoxn to get acquainted with no less than 5 tracks off the album. As the title of the song “Io Non Voto” will probably tell you, the guys are not afraid to express their criticism against the current socio-political situations in their home country. How much do I like this band? Well, at the moment of writing, I must've listened to the album at least 6 times already, and again put the album on at the beginning of writing. Having prepared elaborately befor commencing, there's still some 4 songs to go before the album's over...and though I have still another band to go in order to finish this special (and little time to do it in) I simply refuse to stop the album! Yeah...for sure...this is fodder for the year-lists! For an honorary place too!!! 98/100 ----------------------------------------------------- As far as scarceness of info goes, Viareggio and Lucca based Italian Modern Rock studio project Indigo gets first price without trouble! I mean, even when checking the booklet you'll only find first names of the people at the core of this project. However...of course I used a little magic, and a lot of perseverance to boot...there's a couple of things I got to know anyway, after lengthy research. Main members of the project are Alessandro Paolucci [former Raw Power bassist, he frequently helps out in the engineering and production of albums recorded at Westlink Recording Studios (that sure is a name which was dropped a couple of times already within this special, right?), and on this album he's responsible for all bass and part of the guitar and keyboard duties] and Lorenzo (no family name I could find) of Italian Hardcore legends Seed'n'feed (formed in 1993 and having already delivered 5 full-length albums, that band is still active today, and Lorenzo is their lead singer/ guitarist – a function he also performs here). Third person is one Catino (no family name found, his function within the band being the percussionist, but also playing pat of the keyboards and giving Lorenzo very tasteful backings, vocally). Guests on the album are Matteo Caldari (backing vocals to the track “Senza Fine”), Maya Bagnolini and Federica Ciampolini (backing vocals to “L'Orda”), Mattia De Paolo (drums on Sulla Penne E Nel Cuore”), and Ram Das Foschi (solo on same song). Another thing I found out, is the fact that this is the project's second full-length outing. Now it would be easy to assume that this band still has some affinities to its members' pasts, and therefore incorporates some of the Hardcore influences in the music of Indigo (in fact, at the band's MySpace the genre indication is one of “Punk/Rock”), but in reality Indigo's connection to that genre is very superficial to say the least. In stead, the band's Modern Rock has some Grunge affinities, with the added positivity that the singing is done is a rather clean way...with harmonic vocal backing almost throughout! Of course, from the album title and the mentioned song titles, you would deduce quite correctly that this band delivers its lyrics in Italian! Still, the complete picture is compellingly attractive, and I for one started singing along most of the texts after the 3rd listening session. The songs hàve indeed that singalong factor which makes one want to memorize the lyrics in spite of perhaps not knowing their meaning. Ach well...you know, the only thing that troubles me, is the fact that so little audio material (only the one song posted at (www.) myspace.com/indigo2006 - hum...that may well be an indication as to when this project was started, eh?) by this band available on the Internet (the same song, now as video, can be found at (www.) inconsepevolerecords.com). End conclusion: although again an album with Italian lyrics, Sfumature ranks up there with the Ibrido_xN album! Call me weird, but...hey, that IS me! 95/100 Tony. |
