Deadburger is one of the smartest and most interesting bands to come from Italy's underground scene of envelope-pushing avantgarde-electro-rock bands. Their sound is eclectic and mature and their lyrics are intelligent and thought-provoking. In fact Deadburger walks the fine line between definitely underground and potentially mainstream (since bands such as C.S.I., R.S.U., Subsonica have broken through mainstream media before) and add fruition-friendly meaningful words and mysterious poetry into the mix (like C.S.I. or Battiato have done). However if Deadburger were a product of the States, you know they'd be a recurring name on the bill of the ex-Tonic in NYC (r.i.p.) or of similar avantgarde-downtown-music joints.
I had heard a pre-release version of this record some time ago. The final version of "C'e' ancora Vita su Marte" (which is italian for "There's still Life on Mars") comes with a beautiful super-glossy art work and thick booklet with lyrics to complement the 22 tracks. The album also features a number of collaboration with prominent local instrumentalist which add that touch of collaborative magic.
I think this record has a lot of great songs and some fillers (but with 22 between songs and interludes it couldn't be otherwise) and could have maybe be more direct and immediate with a shorter and more selective track list.
However, the average quality of the songwriting is still really high and makes for a completely enjoyable record. I strongly urge anyone interested in original music to give this album a serious listen. If you happen to understand Italian you really have not excuse not to, but in either case you should!

A weird cd for the average target of this webzine, but it's 2007 we're a bunch of good folks and we can take almost everything even if that doesn't imply you've to submerge our mailboxes of releases…honestly it's already too hard. This one is one of those releases sung in italian language with an unconventional "poppy" attitude, probably nothing intentionally mainstremam but Deadburger has all those characteristics that could push the band between the new italian indie sensation like it happened with Offlaga Disco Pax, Bluevertigo or Bugo. Being a “weird” (nor fish nor flash somehow) release, with that bit of irony and with electronics it also made me think to that masterpiece titled "Il cucchiaio infernale" that a while ago had shown the incredible talent of R.U.N.I (believe me, if this world was really round these guy with a record like that should have become rich). The first approach with "c'è ancora vita su marte" was so and so, but this an ok cd, I've been too quick to judge, infact this’ much smarter and more inspired than the many demential/ironic band looking for a chart-climber single. I don't think these guys have the chart-climber, but this effort is well done, well recorded and well produced, it reminded me of R.U.N.I., Devo, some Bluvertigo for the fact they all mix a bit of electronica with a indie-melodic-whatever-rock attitude. If it was still the end of Y2K this could have been on Consorzio Produttori Indipendenti for the fact it now follows the footsteps becoming the modern answer to Utsmamò and above all to Acid Folk Alleanza but also something of Cccp. Not my cup of tea but with some good points.

Italian composer Margoo's first full-lenght CD (after his EP "Eh?") is a digipack-ed fifteen track work of love released on British/Dutch/Italian label WoT4 (don't ask, I still haven't figured it out myself...). Hard to file under anything specific, Margoo's sophisticated atmospheres deliver a finely woven melange of jazzy warmth, estranged pop culture, experimental dadaism and progressive lounge music (the chill factor is probably what sets this apart). What makes me a happy man (I know I'll be crucified for this) is that not once would I be able to pin this album on the map (geographically speaking that is), which to me is a plus considering much of Italy's music sucks (plenty of due exceptions of course, but usually you can still hear that "Italian" thing somewhere). Margoo's approach is as diverse and global as it gets and I would even go as far as too say that I'd lean towards the UK if I had to take a wild guess, maybe because of the fact that there's a nice Brit-style trumpet (made in Italy too, played by Giorgio Li Calzi) hovering over some of the most interesting pieces or maybe because of the Warp-style lounge-passages the record is filled with. Worthy of mention is the fact that the title track is based exclusively on samples of the artist's squeaky kitchen door. Why am I thinking about Studio Pagol again? oh yes... might just be logo on the CD, but then again, maybe there's more to that... Other Italian references that might help you here could be Margoo's label-mates Deadburger or the great Vittore Baroni's collage project Le Forbici di Manitu'.

Ready to put aside that politically-lousy, nutritionally fat, all together disgusting McDonalds burger that you are getting your greasy fingers on for a buck badly spent to taste a much better one? How about a dead one? The Deadburger have been around for a long while (1995) but unlike any other burger I know of, they get better every year that passes (more like wine, really, so they tell me). So instead of being putrid and rotten, the mutated murder-burger from Tuscany is ready to unleash a new sonic assault on you that is completely different from their previous material. The Deadburger are an open collective of artists and musicians orbiting around founding members Vittorio Nistri (electronics) and Alessandro Casini (guitars and graphics), who also work under Microonde (symphonies for microwave oven) and Vibroplettri (guitars played with rotating machines) monikers, respectively. These dudes have always have been ahead of the curve in the Italian scene, and were doing things that few others were doing when they were, and even hit the sweet spot well before the Italian-sung electronica-rock formula even appeared on mainstream radio and tv. The new breed of bread that these "good guys" have baked for us, defies expectations for those who were familiar with their previous musical course; as a matter of fact the new album "s.t.0.r.1.e" (which, once you replace the 0 with an "o" and the 1 with an "i", in Italian means "stories") definitely goes down a new road and initiates an all new artistic evolution that embraces rock and electronics (better interacting and merging than ever before) but integrates and interfaces them with bits, samples, loops, parts and influence from territories as wide apart as theater music, hip-hop, classical music, dark wave, punk, hard core, psychedelia, free jazz/no wave you mention it... Deadburger also have a new singer, whose vocal characteristics (ranging from dramatically melancholic to screamingly angry) many Italians will appreciate, I can tell. Of course the fact that they choose to sing in their own language takes this to a different level and if you are familiar with the lame Italian music scene you'll think of some of the better bands from that scene (such as C.C.C.P., C.S.I., CP/01, Subsonica, La Crus and many other bands from the post-punk post-core post-rock post-fuck scene now going digital)... Unfortunately the Deadburger didn't think of providing translations of their lyrics for non-Italian speaking folks, but those who understand Italian will be delighted to find out that there are still bands out there that really care about and work on their lyrics, passing from intimate and personal to thought-provoking and political to some extent. As db themselves point out in their bio-burger «the goal was to make a record where words and music were of equal importance; and where the two components aren't just "layered" on top of each other, but actually interact with each other, in a mutual exchange of input». I gotta say these words hit the nail on the head and they sure don't fuck around, they are truly committed and they put their money where their mouth is (hopefully not chewing on a dead meat hamburger). All in all this burger is dripping with many sauces and is most definitely very tasty. If you need to be enlightened in terms of references, and you have a grasp on the Italian scene, names such as QuintoRigo, Otto P' Notri, Diaframma, Marlene Kuntz, Jacopo Andreini, Bz Bz Ueu, Jitterbugs, Erpice (and many others I can't think of right now but that I am alarmingly aware) of should give you the best idea, but unless you lived in Berlusca-land I don't expect you to know these names, which makes for a perfectly good additional reason why you should immediately buy this very record and get an idea of what else is out there... If you are sick of hearing Cold Play tune into the burger's airwaves and get a bite of what for all of you out there who don't know who the hell I am talking about, could roughly be considered a sandwich of Pink Floyd (for the psychedelia), Jeff Buckley/Bob Dylan (for the songwriting intimacy), NIN/Stabbing Westward (for the industrial component and the pop feel), Sonic Youth (for the scratchy guitars), Muslimgazue (for the worldly vibe of some songs), Beasty Boys (for the rock-biased hip hop stuff), Adrian Sherwood (for the dubby tweaking), Tom Waits (for the lo-fidelity originality), John Zorn (for the free/jazz/wave approach), My Dying Bride (for the dark violin/viola strings arrangements), Underworld (for the watery dance sounds) - beware, if you take any of the above international names as a standalone reference it won't likely be true to the Deadburger sound (most of this stuff doesn't make any sense to me, unless I consider is as a whole, and I am really just mentioning these far out names to try to give you an idea, because this is 100% original Italian stuff)! As multifaceted and variegated as it is, this album also offers you a dynamic line up that includes many national guests (including trumpet virtuoso Roy Paci) making the burger even spicier and multi-dimensional (bet you didn't hear any burger referred to as being multi-dimensional in McShitDonalds' dollar menu...). The CD is released by a very cool little label called Wot 4 based in the Netherlands and in the UK, run by some cool eco-anarchic mate called Charlie Holmes who lives and pro-actively works and organizes things in Tuscany, where he lives part of the year. And because today is your lucky day, let me tell you about the cool full-color 28 page booklet that comes with the CD, where you'll find lyrics, credits but most importantly graphics that are supposed to go along with the saucy sounds. I think if you buy the CD from them or from the label directly, you also get a full-size A4 32 page xeroxed b/w enhanced booklet. It's your turn now. You can get this from Audioglobe in Italy and from UK's Shellshock 4 in the rest of Europe and Australia. Run out to your local burger factory and buy "s.t.0.r.1.e", because if I write a review this long you can bet your ass it sure as hell outta be real good!