This another chapter of the personal saga started a while ago by Matteo Uggeri, but stylistically this work brings the italian musician in what I think is his favorite musical habitat: a nowhere land where melancholy ties the knot with field recordings and melody. Melancholy could be the subtitle of the whole recording, infact Giannico (you probably know for some interesting solo releases) went for some minimal piano playing perfectly arranged by some more than inspired interventions by Luca Mauri (I/O, Luminance Ratio) and by some elegant cello harmonies by Andrea Serrapiglio (Carla Bozulich, Paramount Style). The high emotional impact and the overdose of melody of the cd makes me wonder if instead of ambient music or field recordings, we're simply in front of a minimalist, quasi pop, cinematic series of compositions. Do you really think I'm just exaggerating? So tell me if some of these litanies wouldn't be suitable for some romantic movie? In a way we've something that brings forth that language that some of these post-post-post meets camera music combos on Constellation have been recording during the last ten years and in my book that means elegance plus quality. This' one of those releases so mellow and so catchy that could be dug by a big range of listeners, not exactly a sunny release, I can't say why but it makes me think to autumn's leaves and to the end of the summer. Can you remember that Tears for Fears' line that says "Advice for the young at heart soon we will be older", it kept buzzing into my head for the whole length of the recording.

Some years ago I've been introduced to the music of Tiziano Milani thanks to the fact in the wonderful homage to Alvin Lucier, Claudio Parodi put out on Extreme records, the musical fragment used as sound source was sampled from Milani. From then on, this italian electronic composer has collected several works under his belt and the most of them have been released on Setola di Maiale (an experimental, avant jazz, uncenventional music label I can't but suggest to taste). Funny, but the title itself could suggest one of the labels suitable for a kind of recording like that, infact due to the compositions and for the amount of concrete-electronic sounds used, it brought to my mind some of the most intense and intriguing composers on Touch label. The framework is a classy collage-patchwork of music performed by several jazzy, classic, contemporary musicians, infact the line up of this recording includes: Koji Nishio on piano, Hiromi Makaino on electronic percussion and rhythms, Lars Musiikki on double bass and guitar, Cristian Corsi on Tenor sax and Lynn Westemberg on viola. After having listened to several of his releases I can say Tiziano Milani's style is clearly distinguishable, infact his magmatic-nightly soup has its own identity. Differently from his previous recordings, Touch has a more contemporary heart and some of the instruments tend to surface from the collage with their own characteristic sounds above all the piano and that's what may confer a conservatory aura to the whole work. An interesting composer/laptop musician with an identity.

I think many of you into unconventional/refined music have already stumbled into this label due to releases like Andrea Marutti, A Spirale or Jelousy Party, but this' a new division of the label and it's focused on musicians and composers with a minimalist, isolationist, electronic electroacoustic, whatever edge. The first release to open the series is Alberto Boccardo, I didn't know that much about him before this cd and even if you can't judge a book by the cover, it's a good debut both for the label and for the musician. Boccardo works on melodic, cinematic textures not too far from Ben Frost, Tim Hacker or music in the likes, even if I can assure you guitar is not is main element in most of the tracks, it looks like he's a guitarist (by the way who's not a guitarist in 2012?!). Even if this' a collection of "compositions", the ambient-electronic influence in many of the track is always pulsing underneath, this is not exactly electronic music and there's no intention to be filed under this category but as I've said I think the genre is overshadowing this work. I'm sure many critics will be complaining about some passages including the use of the soft melodic female vocals in the second track, but I totally approve the end result and you know why? Because despite the intensity e the phatos of the music, Boccardo managed to maintain a light touch there so if you're looking from some isolationist-post industrial heaviness stay away. Thumbs up to this young guy.

While Zu are floating in a undefined Hiatus and the ex members of this wonderful band sometimes appear here and there, Massimo Pupillo gets involved in this Germanotta Youth affair. I've really enjoyed Germanotta's debut cd but I think on this vinyl the band has given its best, infact here we go with four shots of pure electronic, grinding, neurotic mayhem. I think this time the maelstrom has been produced even better than before and the resulting magma has become even more refined so here you're gonna have that speed freaks drumming, crappy electronics synths-samples-whatever and the dirty-fast and furious-mindblowing bass of Pupillo. This power trio has gone back to the metal-punk roots to come back with this heavy pounding, ass kicking 7" where you're gonna meet this sort of hybrid that barely reminds of The Locust meets James Plotkin's Phantomsmasher but at the same time you can get one of them was involved in the rind and roll heroes Inferno. Four killer tracks for this new episode and I think the 7" format is really suitable for the Germanotta guys.

This final chapter of the vinyl series puts to close friend/collaborators on two different sides of a split, infact Iriondo and Cantù have been joining their instruments to pay duty in A Short Apnea, Six Minutes War Madness, Uncode Duello, Tasaday and many other projects. Cantù uses guitar, drums, organ, tapes, vocals, electronics and many other things to recreate something that is really close to A Short Apnea. This side is imbued of that Seventies freaky music aura, the second track for example is a pure exhibit of seventies melancholia with a bit of dissonance. You have to wait for the third of the four tracks to have a guitar driven song with a great singing, while the last track goes back to a acid, desolated world. Iriondo has left his guitar back home and here uses vinyls, field-recordings, bass drums and a couple other instruments. The use of vinyls becomes immediately central during the first track, sometimes he reminded me of an old 3" mcd he put out as Due Parti Molli Tremolanti, the atmosphere brings back to the past but the global result is experimental since he's been working on the sides and everything ends becoming quite odd. In the second episode you have again that "non-music" feeling, it looks like we have Iriondo vs himself, moderns sounds counter-posed to ancient samples, I know somebody may complain sometimes the result is not always focused, but without any doubt this' one of the most interesting work composed by this basque-italian musician.