Italian Experimental Progressive
Prati Bagnati del Monte Analogo
2023 Repress. Of all the releases on Italy's legendary Cramps Records, Raul Lovisoni and Francesco Messina's seminal LP from 1979 has long remained among the most beloved. Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo not only introduced the world to the work of two gifted composers, but also is notable for being produced by electronic pioneer Franco Battiato. A sister album to Prati Bagnati would be Giusto Pio's breathtaking Motore Immobile, likewise graced with the maestro's gentle hand around the same time…
Principe di un Giorno
Tranquillity and lyricism. Italian Celeste expresses a fantastic sound world with well-chosen arrangements. The carefully woven compositions, reminiscent of an exquisite textile, symbolise the “quiet” sound of Italy. This timeless masterpiece has been remastered in 2024 for the first time in 14 years and is now available in an encore pressing! Paper jacket, SHM-CD, 1 bonus track.
Ictus
A real masterpiece....dreamy improvised music with eastern influences and electronics!! "Before his magnificent experiments with electronic music on Elektrictus (previously reissued on Wah Wah), Andrea Centazzo was already an accomplished musician who had issued his recorded works on the PDU and RCA labels. His first release was Ictus, a free-form avantgarde jazz oddessey on which he already started to experiment with electronic generated sounds. Ictus was a band formed by Centazzo, Armando Bat…
Midnight In Space
The third of the experimental electronic releases on the PDU label (along with recent Wah Wah's offerings Elektriktus' Electronic Mind Waves and Roberto Cacciapaglia's Sonanze) was released in 1978 and offered amazing cosmic passages in the purest Gillet Lethman & Cosmic Jokers style, built with piano, synth and even a spice of disco rhythms, plus sensual voices in a Cantori Moderni d'Alessandroni or Edda Dell'Orso feel adding for an exotic touch. Reissued for the first time in a limited edition…
Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale
** 500 copies only reissue, housed in its original artwork with the addition of a bonus 7" EP, a reproduction of a giant original poster and 3 inserts** Giacomo “Mino” di Martino started his musical career in several early 1960s Italian beat bands. By 1968 he had found enormous success with pop superstars I Giganti. After a brief split in 1970 –during which Mino formed Il Supergruppo with Ricky Gianco and other greats of the Italian scene– he came back to I Giganti in 1971. With them and with ne…
Mauro Pagani
Transparent turquoise vinyl / 180 grams, limited edition numbered to 300 copies. Mauro Pagani's first vinyl album, released in 1978, is a masterpiece of sonic cross-cultural contamination. After his experience with PFM, Pagani embraced Mediterranean sounds, mixing progressive rock, ethnic music and psychedelic atmospheres. Almost every of his former bandmates, anyway, plays in this record, together with other great guests such as Area - first of all, their incredible singer Demetrio Stratos - an…
Sulle corde di Aries
1973’s Sulle Corde Di Aries was Franco Battiato's third release and showed his fascination for electronic, minimalist and systemic musics, as well as his third chapter in Battiato’s foray into esoteric pop. While the artist would venture further out into avant-garde terrain on subsequent releases, his early records enjoy a lyrical and playful spirit—eschewing traditional, song-based composition in favor of kosmische voyages. On Sulle Corde Di Aries, Battiato guides the labyrinthine structural ch…
Gudrun
* 180 Gr. Vinyl Transparent Red Vinyl. Numbered Edition* Along with the likes of Franco Battiato, Opus Avantra and Piccho dal Pozzo, Pierrot Lunaire were one of the artists that contributed to the small, but artistically significant, avant progressive scene of Italy in the mid-70s. The second album of Pierrot Lunaire of 1977, long out of print, is finally reissued! One of the most important Italian electronic progressive, formed in Rome in the early '70s by Arturo Stalteri and Gaio Chiocchio, th…
Aktuala
Limited to 500 copies, hand-numbered. Gatefold cover, textured sleeve + printed inner. Red Vinyl. 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 acoustic dimension and the line-up seems to be a quintet of contemporary music more than a progrock …
Azimut
* 500 copies. 180 gr. Red vinyl, 50th anniversary edition * First album from the one of the best Italian jazz-rock band (formed in Rome in 71), and the first of a few masterpieces in a row, all of them being distinctive from one another. Perigeo has their sound somewhere between Free Jazz, Soft Machine, Nucleus and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew period. Rising on spacey noises, the sublime Posto Di Non Dove starts to grab you with a quiet electric piano over a Floyd-like organ and Tommaso’s superb …
Il Grande Mare Che Avremmo Traversato
* 300 copies, 180 gr black vinyl * Among the many ones who left their band to pursue a solo career in the '70s we find Ivano Fossati. In 1972 his group Delirium had become very popular, thanks to 'Jesahel,' the song they presented at the Sanremo Festival in February: it became a real chart-hit 45 RPM, a very unusual thing for a progressive rock band. But commercial success didn't stop Fossati from leaving Delirium and releasing in 1973 his debut album, under the name of Alberto Ivano Fossati - I…
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.…
Dedalus
* Crystal Clear vinyl 180gr. * One of the most experimental bands of the Italian Prog scene, Dedalus were founded at the beginning of the '70s by Michele Bonansone (keyboards, cello, vocals) and Marco Di Castri (guitar, saxophone) in Pinerolo, near Turin.Their first eponymous LP consists of instrumental jazz-rock compositions, influenced by artists like Nucleus, Miles Davis, Soft Machine, Stockhausen and many other musical innovators of the time. "Dedalus" was originally released in 1973, and i…
Picchio Dal Pozzo
2022 Repress. "One of the most original, impressive and highly respected of all the experimental groups to have come out of Italy in the 1970s." - Chris Cutler. "Picchio dal Pozzo can be considered as the definitive 'Canterbury' inspired band, coming from Italy's 1970s progressive rock scene. Their 1976 debut album shows an incredibly rich sound texture, made out of some peculiar musical ingredients. Oblique tunes and liquid harmonies, airy flutes, crispy horns, loads of electric piano, fuzz bas…
Galaxy My Dear
Synthesizer king J.B. Banfi, a.k.a. Giuseppe 'Baffo' Banfi, hit the record market with the great italian prog rock outfit Biglietto per l'Inferno who released a legendary LP in 1974 on Trident and have been reivindicated in several occasions since with the release of lost recordings from the era as well as unearthing an unreleased 1974 live album. The band existed between 1972 and 1975, and had both Pilly Cossa on Hammond doing the virtuoso work and Baffo's keyboard explorations adding sound tex…
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 …
Zora
Remastered Edition of the legendary occult prog album by Antonius Rex, with an unreleased song (Monastery) and original "nude witch" cover. Probably the most charismatic figure of all the Italian prog scene, Antonio Bartoccetti (Antonius Rex) began his career going to Milan from the Marche, forming Jacula, Dietro Noi Deserto (even with a single on Decca in 1971!), and Invisible Force (another lonely single in 1971). Not real bands but just a group of musicians working beyond the leading figures …
Suspiria
Special edition of Goblin’s masterpiece, here released on blue iris coloured vinyl with 30x30cm insert and new liner notes. After the incredible debut of “Profondo Rosso” (Deep Red), the soundtrack of the eponymous 1975 film directed by Dario Argento, no one could ever imagine that shortly afterwards Goblin would be able not only to reach its heights but even further refine what the band already delivered in their first record. While “Profondo Rosso” had been partly composed by Giorgio Gaslini,…
Concerto delle menti
There isn't probably a single fan of Italian Progressive Rock in the world that has never heard of Pholas Dactylus and their only opus (not just a simple 'record', in fact) "Concerto delle menti" (Concert of the minds), originally published in 1973. Pholas Dactylus have left, with Concerto delle Menti, a unique example of avantgarde prog containing only spoken lyrics that can be appealing to the most adventurous listeners even because the musical background is intense and mesmerising; the album …
Vietato Ai Minori Di 18 Anni?
Limited Time Offer Deluxe ltd. ed. LP edition with original gatefold cover artwork and 180 gr. Clear Red Vinyl. One of the best italian progressive rock/experimental album released in Italy "Vietato ai minori di 18 anni?" is Jumbo's third album from 1973, is their most ambitious work, containing strong lyrics and fragments of avantgarde-inspired music, with the help of Franco Battiato's great VCS3 oscillators and Lino Capra Vaccina's (of Aktuala fame) bells and chimes' sinister tolling. Long spa…