Written and performed by Gianfranco Biagini (with the help of Filippo Mastrangelo on extra guitars) DICOTOMIA is the first Project Morfeo album. Since the opening "Dark corners" (a track that remember me the good old Dead Can Dance dark orchestrations) you understand that this stuff is cool. With the second track the goth metal dances are opened with no hesitation and the music inspiration of Gianfranco opens its wings to start a convincing flight through the fields of the best goth metal around. Echoes of Paradise Lost and Tiamat (two bands he feels similar) make sound the album convincing and powerful. The electronic arrangement brings fresh ideas to a classic sound and underline the upbeat rhythm of some tracks (see the electro goth style of "Night creatures" for example) enriching the sound in an interesting way. I'm not that much keen about solos but fortunately only few tracks have some. Lately is difficult for me to be excited by a goth release in this way but Project Morfeo music sounds honest and with ideas (only "Vintersang" didn't convince me because of its hard rock/metal classic structure along with the following "Der siste kapittel" that has got some guitar sounds that remember me a midi soundcard). Check also the melodic lines that remember a little some 70s Italian band.

2006 will be a long year for Hefty! Records, because the tenth anniversary celebration will bring new special releases as well shows in Berlin, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. HISTORY IS BUNK Vol.1 and 2 are the third releases to bring the 10th year anniversary brand on them. They gathers ten tracks each, that despite the title, aren’t old tracks. The two CDs contain exclusively new tracks and new remixes of old tracks. Vol.1 opens with Slicker (label’s founder John Hughes III band) which present "Russian ice slide" a good i.d.m. track with funky melodies. The second track by L’altra titled "The last", immediately remember to people the label’s peculiarity to produce different genres thanks to a beautiful intimate pop song. After that one we have the first remix thanks to Daybre which reworks "Snowbreaker" (a track originally composed by Some Water And Sun). This first volume contains four original tracks (be sure to check "Mackinaw pepper division", an electro i.d.m. collaboration made by STS9 / Slicker / Retina.it) and six remixes (there’s also a Ryuichi Sakamoto minimal remix of Telefon Tel Aviv's "Sound in a dark room"). The second volume contains six original tracks and four remixes and it is only focused on electronic music (lounge, i.d.m., jazzy and electro). I really appreciated the retro style of Plus Device’s "Compose the beat", a electro hip hop track really catchy as well the following Elliot Lipp track "Heat" that sound so 80s and funky. If you want to catch the essence of the label, enjoying also some good remixes, try these releases.

Lately dance music is taking inspiration from the most various musical scenes and the concept of dance music played with electronic instruments is fading fast. The target is to make the people move, no matter how. At this purpose mixing funk, punk and electro is not a problem. This is what Neonman do: music to dance to with thousands influences played with guitars, drums and keyboards. In this way the nine tracks of GIFT OF THE GAB sounds like a mixture of XTC, Clash and Gang Of Four with a pulsing rhythm. Listen to "One last breath" and it will seems to listen to Talking Heads playing with Grandmaster Flash. Each track have a dominance of one of the styles mentioned so you have to discover the tracks little by little because if "Bombs in the backdrop" sounds tense and funky, "Rude boy" is a punk reggae song a la Clash. GIFT OF THE GAB is a multifaceted album that will please all the punk wave kids that like also electro sounds. Check also the three remixes of "Buy now , pay later" by Shapemod (cool version with electro arrangement using original sounds along with electronics) and "Rich kids" remixed by Warren Suicide (he did a punkish techno version really good) and by The Scandals (they extended the track adding some punk/dub/techno moments).

Songs of Eta Carinae, Orbit Service's BLRR debut CD, is dark rock that reminds one of a slower, quieter and murkier V.A.S.T., but with more thoughtful and interesting lyrics containing deeper poetics. A minor drawback would be Randall Frazier's vocal deliveries and intonation, in need of improvement in some places; on the other hand, there is good chord phrasing, with lyrical tropes and piano lines in a sort of loungey, torch-song vein, and some songs ("Sparrows") have appropriately added distorted guitar gloom. "Asphyxia" has echoey, reggae-dub accordion recalling old Bauhaus and OMD treatments, while "Halos" is an unabashed homage to early-to-middle Pink Floyd. The big prize goes to production quality, and this CD is arguably best listened to on headphones -- or on a really good stereo for an extended make-out session. The title, by the way, is named after a star in the southern constellation Carina, "the Keel". Steady as she goes, boys, stay on course.

To celebrate the ten years anniversary of Hefty Records, here comes this double compilation HEFTY 10 DIGEST. It gathers sixteen tracks/bands on the first CD and a Prefuse 73’s mixtape on the second one. Here Sott Herren uses label's released and unreleased stuff mixing them in an hour long session. With the sixteen songs of the first CD you can check the different musical styles produced by the label: elegant electro (Savath + Savalas, Euphone and Samadha), jazzy minimal upbeat (Phil Ranelin), electro funk (Slicker), experimental pop (Bill Ding), minimal breakbeat (Telefon Tel Aviv, John Hughes, Beneath Autumn Sky and Retina.it) and alternative rock (Ilium). The PREFUSE 73 MIXTAPE is more interesting for me because the polished atmospheres typical of some bands are treated with sandpaper and the beat result the main thing. In this way the various bands like Mondii, Eliot Lipp, Slicker, Some Water and Sun, Scott Herren and John Hughes, Retina.it, to name few, are there to serve the supreme divinity: the rhythm. Don't get me wrong, there's still melody and everything on the final result, but Prefuse 73 did a good job giving to his set a sense and a direction I enjoyed.