Italian Experimental Progressive
Arbeit Macht Frei
Temporary nicer price * 500 copies, numbered edition. Clear Splatter Vinyl *Appearing as it did in 1973, Area's debut album must have sounded to the average Italian pop critics like the end of the world. Issued on the Cramps label, the album highlighted Area's early sound, which featured overt folk melodies, Canterbury Scene prog rock, acid psychedelia, and vanguard jazz all filtered through a particularly Italian sensibility. Those who came to love PFM later will not be able to handle the beaut…
Radius
**Red vinyl, numbered edition** Alberto Radius first solo album - Originally released on Numero Uno label, cat. # ZSLN 55153. September, 1972.- and regarded as one of the Italian prog rarest though not particularly representative of the genre, was issued in 1972 when Formula Tre were still active, and was a sort of jam session with important Italian musicians of the time, including Franz Di Cioccio from Premiata Forneria Marconi and Area's Demetrio Stratos and Giulio Capiozzo along with Gianni D…
l'Egitto prima delle Sabbie
*White vinyl repress* Mindblowing! The last album of what could be called Franco Battiato's "experimental prog" period, L'Egitto Prima Delle Sabbie consists of two sidelong compositions strictly arranged for piano only, without any vocals; and even more intriguingly, neither of the performers on the album are Battiato himself. He limited himself strictly to the roles of composer and producer. After Battiato's many different sonic explorations and efforts throughout the '70s, such an effort may s…
The World of the Doubling Riders
**The definitive Doubling Riders box set with a load of previously unreleased material is finally here. Complete discography, remastered from the original tapes. 6 x CD boxset includes 1 disc of previously unreleased material, plus 24-page booklet of liner notes and never-before-seen photographs.** From its earliest days, Italian avant-garde and experimental music has always been a fascinating world of intersecting lines, unexpected meetings, and networks of conversation and collaboration. This …
Per Le Strade dell'India
* Original 1977 copies. Comes with a 8 page booklet * voices, small bells, big cymbals, sarangi and drums, street musicians, buskers -- this puzzling collage of a journey made in 1976 on the roads of North India by Aktuala's sitar player Fabrizio Cassano is hypnotizing. It opens the way to the state of trance.
Hieros Gamos
Of all the recent Italian prog comebacks, Pholas Dactylus' return is certainly the most unexpected. Exactly, Pholas Dactylus, the authors of the unreachable masterpiece "Concerto delle menti" (1973). Forty-five years later, "Hieros Gamos" ('sacred wedding' in Greek language) marks one of the most resounding rebirths for a band that everyone believed to be lost forever. The album, divided into two parts - one that bears the album title and consists of a long suite, and a second entitled "Ognuno d…
Reflex
Francesco Messina is perhaps best known for his collaboration with fellow composer Raul Lovisoni on the album Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo, originally released on seminal Italian label Cramps in 1979. Along with contemporaries Franco Battiato, Juri Camisasca and Giusto Pio, Messina would help reshape the world of modern composition with an organic rawness and haunting beauty.In 1979, Messina was asked to perform at the Teatro Quartiere in Milan. As the composer writes in the liner notes, "Due…
Encyclopedia of Italian progressive rock, experimental, electronic music (Book)
A Fistful of Spaghetti, Encyclopedia of Italian progressive rock, experimental, electronic music, etc. by Steven Freeman & Alan Freeman. From the writers of The Crack In The Cosmic Egg, probably everything you needed to know about Italian Progressive music & the wider prog, electronic, experimental music scenes from Italy. Although centered on the progressive rock scene of the 1970s, the authors have attempted to cover all related genres here, amounting to more than just another prog rock guide…
Sabba
Recorded in 1975 this is the ideal following of Tardo Pede in Magiam Versus. Fiamma Dallo Spirito was the Lead Vocalist of the Jacula album and Federico Bergamini wrote most of the music.. Bergamini and Fiamma, together with some guest musicians, recorded "Sabba" in 1975 which remained hidden for almost 50 years. Damnation, Mystery, Magic are the main themes of this concept album where the human being gets lost in the black hole of damnation searching desperately for salvation. The story should …
Electronic Mind Waves
Out of the mysterious mind of Andrea Centazzo came Elektriktus. Originally released on the PDU label in 1976, the LP Electronic Mind Waves offers a collection of eight synth-fueled songs that sound very close to what kraut/cosmische heads were doing at the time, think of Conrad Schnitzler, Deuter or Cosmic Jokers, and also other European experimentalists like Richard Pinhas' Heldon, Spacecraft, Didier Bocquet, Seesselberg, F.G. Experimental Laboratory, Roberto Cacciapaglia or Hydrus. Along with …
Darwin!
*500 copies, numbered edition. Clear Splatter Vinyl* The perfect mixture between complex and beauty. The best of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, a superb album. Incredible instrumental richness, lots of variations, very expressive voice, long epic tracks and beautiful short songs, all in the same bag. This stuff is the pearl of the great Banco's trilogy (the first three albums they edited), and deserves a privileged place in a serious prog discoteque. One of the Italian monsters, highly recommended! (…
Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
*500 copies, numbered edition. Clear Splatter Vinyl* Legendary Italian progressive rock band Banco del Mutuo Soccorso released its first LP in 1971 on the label Dischi Ricordi. The lineup included Vittorio Nocenzi (keyboards), Gianni Nocenzi (piano), Francesco Di Giacomo (vocals), Renato d'Angelo (bass), the newly arrived Pierluigi Calderoni (drums), and guitarist Marcello Todara, who would soon be replaced by Rodolfo Maltese. Although plagued by poor sound quality (something frequent with Itali…
Suan
Acid-psychedelic ballads, with lots of acoustic guitar, bursts of fuzz guitar and excellent use of electric instruments. The fuzz bass on “The House on the Hill” will blow your mind and… speakers away. It is considered to be one of the best and rarest European psychedelic folk rock albums. Original Mint copies go nowadays for 1000+Euro. English lyrics. Armando Piazza, singer-songwriter from Naples was joined by renowned US guitarist Shawn Phillips on bass, acoustic and electric guitar. "Suan" w…
Scerizza
* Edition of 200 copies * Archeo is back with another stunner - a true gem of Italian, minimal and ambient music - Pepe Maina’s Scerizza, originally self released in 1979, and until now never reissued. Like everything they do, Archeo has taken it the next level, expanding this edition with a previous unreleased work. Almost entirely overlooked for 40 years, Scerizza is sure to leave listeners reeling and take 2019 by storm.Born in Milan, Pepe Maina, like a great many of the figures at the vangu…
Ipotesi
* Deluxe Edition. Released in a gatefold cover. Black Vinyl Numbered Limited Edition of 899 copies 1 page insert 2 OBI strips * Another great italian avantgarde progressive rarity from 1972! Complex and excellent album, with classic moments, jazz-rock influences in the Canterbury vein, acoustic parts, sudden rhythm changes and complex arrangements, in a few words everything we love from vintage italian prog! "Part of the charm of the Italian progressive rock is undoubtedly due to its inner prese…
La Banda Del Sole (LP)
500 numbered copies Remastered from the original tapes. Orange Vinyl During the 1970s, Italy was one of the most exciting and fascinating musical contexts in Europe, birthing seminal projects and artists like Franco Battiato, Aktuala, Lino 'Capra ' Vaccina, Giusto Pio, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Futuro Antico, and so many more. Defining the scene was an ethos that rigorously pursued creative freedom and experimentation, with its artists fluidly moving between popular music - rock, prog, jazz, etc. -…
Complete discography
This special bundle collects Aktuala's complete discography on three coloured vinyl LPs:Aktuala "Aktuala" (1973)**Red vinyl reissue. Milestone! Faithful reproduction of the original release!** 1973 Aktuala debut, a stunning overall work where you can hear a lot of different musical influences : avant-garde folk, mediterranean blues ,jazz improvisation, minimalism, african percussions, indian ragas all played with a true psychedelic feeling. The album was recorded in a few days in a totally acous…
Tappeto Volante
Yellow Vinyl. Exclusive LP reissue of "Tappeto Volante", third and last one release by Aktuala, replica of the original Bla Bla release. "Tappeto Volante" is the third and last one of this series, made by an 'open musical collective' from milan, a fixed nucleus with many different contributes from guest musicians. As the Third Ear Band have always been inserted in the international prog panorama, the same happened with Aktuala, who were real music pioneers able to blend world, ethnic, jazz and a…
Perchè Si Uccidono
"Perché si uccidono" by Reale Impero Britannico surely is the rarest record of the Goblin universe, together with Cherry Five of course. Released in a very small batch of copies in January 1976, as the soundtrack of an obscure movie called "Perché si uccidono" though it was recorded some time before, when the members of Goblin still called themselves Cherry Five, as the band still featured Cherry Five singer Tony Tartarini (who sings in the excellent "My damned shit") and drummer Walter Martino.…
Alla Periferia Dell'Impero (LP)
500 numbered copies Remastered from the original tapes. Like many of his peers, Mino Di Martino first emerged within the context of popular music, working in numerous Italian beat bands, before finding enormous success as a pop star as a member of I Giganti, whose 1971 LP, Terra in Bocca, is often cited as a spark for the sea change in Italian music that would emerge over the coming years.
After his experience with Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale (together with the actress and singer Edda 'Terra…