Just got this one. Quite good stuff, balancing between keyboard-prog, jazz, classical, minimal and folk. I forgot all about having his first solo-efford Everyday's Life from 2007 too.Originally Posted by TheH
Just got this one. Quite good stuff, balancing between keyboard-prog, jazz, classical, minimal and folk. I forgot all about having his first solo-efford Everyday's Life from 2007 too.
Does anyone else feel that much of this newer Italian stuff is all starting to sound the same? I have difficulty really distinguishing a lot of these groups from each other. Even the newer Banco albums sound like this to me. Maybe I'm nuts, but very little that's coming from Italy right now really moves the needle for me. How are others feeling about it?
Bill
I actually like this one, but I know what you mean. It's not just Italian stuff. In general I think a lot of new Prog across the board (regardless of sub-genre) is OK to good to listen to while listening, but doesn't stick with me afterwards. It's rare for me that something clicks right away, it often takes more than one listen, but it has some quality that makes me want to come back to it. I follow a lot of the new release lists and it's often a parade of OK.
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This is probably due to a language barrier. I think that the main thing creating the illusion of the bands sounding the same is that you (as well as I) don't understand the lyrics the way the vocals are performed. If all those albums were instrumental, I think you would see them as being more different from one another
Yeah, there is that. This is why I'm really picky about what I buy. I don't have time for what I consider mediocre stuff. It's just that it feels like my hit rate for Italian Prog used to be much higher. Now, it's the exception that I hear that interests me, and so many just sound the same, but samey in their own, uniquely Italian way.
Interesting. Honestly, vocals were pretty much the last thing on my mind. The vocals in this track are probably its most distinctive aspect. They reminded me a bit of some older Banco at times, not Francesco, but rather times they do some those kind of "gang vocals" with the other guys. I was focused more on the overall sound of the music, the guitar and keyboard sounds, that depressingly overused 6/8 feel, the fact that they never really break ranks too much and try something kind of "out there" instrumentally. It just sort of noodles along, like so many other Italian bands I've heard.
I guess you could argue the language gives the music a similar "lilt," that is something I hadn't considered. To me, though, it's more about this kind of samey musical pattern so many of the Italian bands seem to me to be falling into. Even the host of Scandinavian retro Prog bands that have come out of late have more distinctiveness to my ears, and their languages have somewhat similar characteristics.
Bill
Each year, I purchased 12-20 new Italian albums. Starting around 2019 the Italian deluge dwindled to a trickle. I've averaged five purchases since then.
You buy way more than I do, but I've noticed my purchases slipping since about 2017. I'm not sure if this is simply due to a lower quantity of Italian releases, or my perception of their quality. What's your sense of that?
Bill
Quantity decreased a lot in the last few years and many of the best bands are MIA.
H nailed it. A bunch of the bands I bought during the 2010-2017 period went missing. Bands like:
Unreal City
Egonon
La Coscienza Di Zeno
Il Tempio Delle Clessidre
L' Albero Del Veleno
Ingranaggi Della Valle
Delirium
Il Castello Di Atlante
La Fabbrica Dell'Assoluto
Gran Turismo Veloce
Promenade
Ad Maiora
^^
You never know with Italian bands sometimes they reappear out of nothing.
Egonon and Gran Turismo Veloce have new fully recorded and at least partly mixed albums for years but refuse to release them.
Ingranaggi Della Valle have promised me news about a new album soon (but that was a year ago)
Delirium play live every now and then
La Fabbrica Dell'Assoluto did write some new stuff but nothing happened to that until now
Il Tempio Delle Clessidre are dislocated as Elisa moved to the Swiss
But we will have some new stuff sooner or later by
Balletto di Bronzo (this month I think)
Tale Cue (after decades)
Il Baccio della Medusa (yeah)
Psycho Praxis (if they manage to finish it)
Pitwine (promising new band)
MacroScream seem to have reformed (but might have ended again)
lots of very long running projects might still happen (see my list a few pages back)
Yeah, you're getting a lot more mileage out of a lot of bands that I find pretty mediocre. I have the Ingranaggi Della Valle and Promenade, but nothing else. I think your issue is quantity, or put differently, fewer releases coming out, not so much what I'm talking about.
Bill
Bill, you don't find Unreal City mediocre do you? They are pretty much my favourite modern Italian band!
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Sorry, man. I owned their first CD and ditched it. I've sampled later stuff, but find it very mediocre... my opinion only. I'm happy you love it, but you love the new Banco album that I find dreadful, too. Well, not dreadful, but not worth owning, imo. It's all just taste. If you suggest one thing by Unreal City that you think would blow my mind, I'll give it a listen with fresh ears.
Bill
Ahh well. Different ears! There are a lot of moments throughout their three albums that hit me in the right spot, but I figure if you don't like one of their albums you probably won't care much for any of them. Try this track anyway:
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 4 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
So, I like the first couple of minutes, though I think the opening riff is a bit awkward. But then at around 2:00, they do what EVERY OTHER ITALIAN BAND DOES, and go into this slow, saccharine, 4/4 cliched vocal section. Then, to add insult in injury, we have the "circus" section at ~4:00, in 6/8 no less. Never heard that before. Not.
After that, it sounds like an Italian Rocky Horror Picture Show, with narrative (never a good thing), and faux Metal histrionics that could have been written by a high school band. Back to the obligatory 6/8 around 8:00, then fade to black.
This is exactly what I'm talking about that everything sounds the same, except in Italian. What's special about this? I truly don't get it. If you like it, fine, but to me, it's just more of the same, and a far cry of the best of what Italy has been giving us in the 70s, and in the 90s through the mid to late 2010s. I actually think the Prometheo track is better than this, but not by enough to matter. Whatever. If people like it, who am I to complain, though sometimes I still do.
Bill
You are a hard dude to please, as I see it.So, I like the first couple of minutes, though I think the opening riff is a bit awkward. But then at around 2:00, they do what EVERY OTHER ITALIAN BAND DOES, and go into this slow, saccharine, 4/4 cliched vocal section. Then, to add insult in injury, we have the "circus" section at ~4:00, in 6/8 no less. Never heard that before. Not.
After that, it sounds like an Italian Rocky Horror Picture Show, with narrative (never a good thing), and faux Metal histrionics that could have been written by a high school band. Back to the obligatory 6/8 around 8:00, then fade to black.
This is exactly what I'm talking about that everything sounds the same, except in Italian. What's special about this? I truly don't get it. If you like it, fine, but to me, it's just more of the same, and a far cry of the best of what Italy has been giving us in the 70s, and in the 90s through the mid to late 2010s. I actually think the Prometheo track is better than this, but not by enough to matter. Whatever. If people like it, who am I to complain, though sometimes I still do.
BillNo problem, perfectionism has its charms - but they get old quickly. Thank goodness that I am easier to please, I guess, because I love all three Unreal City albums that I am fortunate enough to own. Nothing in their albums sounds like the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", not even close. And then there's the tempo, 6/8, maybe 4/4, I don't know or care. Sounds a little like someone who would complain if they were being hung by a new rope. And as you said, who are you to complain? Well, you are you to complain...
No question about it, I'm harder to please than many. Maybe it's due to being a musician, or maybe I came of age musically at a time when there were fewer bands that were more distinct from each other, and when Prog Rock had a bit more emphasis on pushing the envelope instrumentally and compositionally. I've always purchased less than many here, but other than Neo-Prog, which I avoid completely, I've never felt this pervasive sense of "saminess" among bands, especially from Italy. I guess if it sells, and most Prog fans don't care or can't tell the difference, then there's no real motivation for bands to do anything different or more daring.You are a hard dude to please, as I see it.
Bill
ok more of the same :-) slow and soft Hard Prog
Just received a promo from this one. It's been more than 12 years since their previous CD, but when I'm correct the sound has changed quite a lot. Quirky, some math-rock-like guitar-riffs combined with Mellotron-strings, syncopic playing, yeah, I like this.
I have this. Besides being miffed that it's a CDR, not as CD as advertised, I haven't gotten much into it. I need to go back to it. All I remember are pretty straightforward, somewhat repetitive melodies over simple chord progressions. I don't hear much Math Rock, more trance/techno elements. It's more about "atmosphere" than chops, which is not a bad thing, per se, but not really my thing. I'll go back to it and try to give some more attention.
Bill
Oké, I first thought that only the promo's from this new Fonderia were CDR's, but apparently the commercial versions are CDR's too. Bad thing, which will occure more often now CD's aren't popular anymore.
You're right about the math rock-element, that was my first impression, but now I guess I should have written Krautmathrock or something like that. Very much King Crimson-light guitar-riffs, a lot of atmosphere indeed, not much solo's. Some synthpop/rock-elements, EM-parts, etc. I guess it grows on you.
Happy 10th anniversary to this thread. Thank you for your support.
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Thx you are welcome.
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