Shame on me, I should have reviewed this one a long time ago, but there's no excuse, so I just can say I'm sorry. Here we've the debut release of this new label run by the guy who's behind Solar Ipse, one of the the few printed fanzine still kicking in Italy and without any doubt one of the few interesting printed matter you can read if you can speak italian. The debut work of the label is a guitar plus drum duo, Ninni Morgia has a respectable solo, he's also collaborated with people like William Parker, but he's also paid duty in La Otracina, White Tornado, Right Moves and a plethora of other bands. Marcello Magliocchi is an unconventional drummer/percussionist that played with many people from the radical free/off jazz circuit. This' the second time they join their sticks and strings and follow the footsteps of their early collaboration on Ultramarine records. This recording is basically evolving around free-noise as you know it, so if that's your cup of tea you better look for it, since they definitely know how to play, since Morgia goes straight like an arrow toward his own way and Magliocchi is a very versatile drummer he can play psychedelic mantras, free jazz or experimental music with his own personal post Seventies unique style. It's an odd release sometimes it hits your nostril like an uppercut, sometimes it's more misty and warm. As I've said, if you're into this style of music, go for it you will dig it for sure.

Some years ago Luca Sigurtà has been brought to my attention from my Chaindlk-mate/musician Eugenio Maggi aka Cria Cuervos, Eugenio gave me some of his early releases, later I've bought myself his cdr on Afe records, his cds with Pocket Progressive, Harshcore and so on. We're not writing about a newjack since the guy has an intense touring schedule both alone and with bands like Harshcore or Luminance Ratio, he's also been sharing splits or collaborative efforts with Andy Ortmann, Claudio Rocchetti, To Live and Shave in La, Slicing Grandpa and Fhievel just to name a few. For this second chapter of Fratto9's Microcosmos series Sigurtà has shaped his best work so far, finally enriched by a boombastic production with the aid of Giuseppe Ielasi during the mastering process. This piemontese musician has put together a release that is intriguing, meditative but at the same time relaxing. Always close to the border of ambient music, this crepuscular collection of drones is really inspired, by some means I've been quite surprised during the early listenings and it has to be addressed to the fact Luca has basically worked with weird, noisy, electro-acoustic projects and his live acts, without being exactly "power-noise" oriented, are physical and angular (whatever it means). I think despite the many influences you can perceive here and there the sound of this music is really "american", I mean even if this music sometime may suggest you comparison to Oren Ambarchi, Brendon Labelle or similar artist, Sigurtà stylistically is probably closer to John Wiese or Aaron Dilloway and this' more evident if you have the luck to see one of his shows.

Along with Giuseppe Ielasi, Fabio Orsi is probably the most talked about italian musician that surprised me the most release after release. Differently from Ielasi, despite some different works, Orsi has more stylistic continuity infact if we have to draw in some comparison to picture what kind of artist we're in front of, he could be the italian answer to Aidan Baker. Even if both Aidan and Fabio are crossing a post ambient music field their approach is considerably different, infact the italian artist relocated in Berlin has a less depressive e more ambient feel that doesn't remind anything in particular. Release after release and after several collaborations, many of which see him involved together with Gianluca Becuzzi, Orsi developed his peculiar musical language and beside melancholia I'd add his modus operandi is high emotionally charged. This new triple cd came out on Silentes (if you've never given a try to this label you'd better check it) shows this guy is in full blossoming and after having seen him live (a less than quarter of an hour minutes blast) I can confirm he's a real talented musician. Even if I was afraid three distinct cds were just too much, after having experienced all of them one after the other I can truly say while they can be listened as three episodes of the same movie, there's no superfluous repetition and considering it's post ambient music it's surprising. Why do I define this music post ambient? Cause Orsi added an electronic percussive beat that animates the first cd, he's also add some dark passages that later leave room to dreamy and almost evocative feelings and everything well mixed in a really relaxed mood. I really don't know if this the apex of Orsi solo carrier but I'm sure this' one of his best works so far and like Aidan Baker it amazes me how he managed to maintain such a high quality considering they both are unstoppable under the releases profile. Believe it or not this' probably one of the few triple cd releases you can repeatedly listen without finding everything excessive. The general atmosphere of this album made think to this french sentence "le ciel bleu est plus joli après la pluie"

This project involves Stefano Gentile himself, he's the head-chief of Silentes records, one of the most renowned italian label for what concerns ambient music, field recordings, soft electronics and anything in the likes. His cohort in this band is Gianluca Favaron who has a few ambient, experimental releases out on several labels. This' an equilibrated duo considering Gentile takes care of objects, guitar (he's already played guitar for other projects including his all star "band" called Maribor) while Favaron uses microphones, electronics and loops and both are credited for the field recordings. Considering one of the members is the man behind such a label I don't think you'll be surprised to discover the release has been somehow influenced by ambient music, but beside that obvious conclusion I wouldn't define "the other room" as an ambient recordings, this music has much more to share with minimalism. I guess the most learned now reading will be thinking by some means minimalism and ambient music have always been linked by an umbilical cord people like Brian Eno has never tried to hide. As said this' minimalist music to the bone and with a strong relaxing edge, don't expect something explicitly melodic, but no doubt this' a soft blanket to get asleep while catching a train of thoughts.

Instead of older and bolder I've become older and slower, shame on me, infact I received this work a while ago, right after I've seen this guy playing live before and together with Manuel Mota. The only thing I can say is that in the meanwhile I've been listening to this collection of guitar works repeatedly and considering who many solo recordings I've stumbled into during the last decade the fact itself would help you to figure out this one can't be filed in the "hell boring" category. More than far from boredom, this young guitarist has assembled a series of compositions and improvisations that without indulging in technics and in self complacency brought in some fresh inspiration. M Tabe style, despite his young age is quite mature, hey if you're into Derek Bailey and if you think this' another petty clone of that improvisational hero you're wrong, the style of this italian musician is more classic guitar oriented. These guitar works are soft, warm and quiet...another possible definition could be meditative, whatever this may suggest. The fact is despite its asperity this release has an all-italian taste for melody, don't think we're dealing with some napolitan oriented guitar or whatever, but I dare you to say the music has no mediterranean aftertaste.