Mano Nera (�A Manu Niura in Sicilian idiom) was a particular method of extorsion, exported by some Italian immigrants in the United States in the end of 19th century, generally beginning with a letter addressed to the target threatening kidnapping, murder or harms if the victim didnâ??t decide to satisfy black handersâ?? request (normally consisting of requests of large amounts of money). The name "Mano Nera" (Blach Hand) derived from one of the most common ways of signing this love letters, i.e. an hand imprinted in black ink. We could argue that the Italian free-jazz and improv combo Ffatso has decided to entitle this record not only in order to give an appropriate name to a sort of musical score on Al Capone, the historical character widely considered the symbol of Italian-American gangsterism, but also to refer to their particular style, featuring a lot of references to the swirling tradition of jazz (as it was played and "felt" in the first urban Afro-American communities... have an eyebeam and a reading on the Wu Ming releases to have an idea... ). The three members of the band â?“ the saxophonist Stefano Ferrian, the bass player Dominik Gawara and the drummer Stefano Colli â?“ demonstrate to be very skilled in weaving slices of improvised jazz wires in order to evoke a gangsterâ??s scenario and the madness of Mafia wars for the control of territories which "blood-painted" the streets of the biggest American cities in the first half of the previous century. They offer a somewhat synesthetic music experience as you could easily "see" the smoggy Chicago and New York streets of the Prohibition period, the violent eruption of a merciless massacre â?“ itâ??s mentioned one of the most ferocious one in the title of a track 2122 North Clark Street, theatre of the so-called St.Valentineâ??s Day Massacre -, the drumming explosions of gunshots, the suspicious characters in raincoats tilting their hats over their eyes while smoking cigars standing on the rear entrance of a distillery depot, the grime look of Al Capone and the Five Pointers, even their attitude and stereotyped movements as screened in a Godfatherâ??s sequence, the flash pasting of Old Cadillacs loaded with killers, the machine gun clattering, the expressional wrinkles of a typical resolute face of a Prohibition Agent (the notorious Eliot Ness is mentioned in one track, the famous leader of The Untouchables and the greatest enemy of Al Capone, which was defeated by the frightening weapon of tax evasion... Mister Ness should be charge by a large amount of work, if still in life today... ) and so on inside the frenzy drum sessions, the infective heavy bass plucking , the rushing fawning and the raving howl of the sax as well as inside the whole choral sound performed by this band and their tone-rolling a go-go which has nothing to share with more "polite" expressions normally associated with music scores for gangster movie on Mafia (you will not hear any remake of Piero Umiliani), but itâ??s supposedly more able to evoke and highlight such a theme in an easily appreciable vivid and emotional way, a plot which has been carefully dissected by Ffatso in its own harsh aspect through a cascade of instrumental improvised pulsations! Tracks such as the cinematic 2122 North Clark Street, the most experimental 1945 Apoplectic and Leaving CDS are surely the highest remarks of this interesting opus!

Younger generations could just imagine the explosive ferment swirling in the crowded classrooms of 80s English artsâ?? schools and what it happened in the Coventryâ??s ones was something that would have some consequences on the way of music making. Coventry is not only one of the milestones of 2-Tone ska, but also of verified intersections between various musical genres with DIY punkish attitude and one of the founder of the most "evergreen" electronic music band coming from those music fields, Martin Bowes â?“ originally giving a precious contribute to give a voice to the Coventry scene through his Xeroxed fanzine entitled Alternative Sounds â?“ is conscious about that and we could easily say that he worked as a sort of magnetic stone grabbing different sources for inspiration of moods and musical ideas orbiting around Coventryâ??s school backyards! We widely illustrated and gave support to this big work of reissues of some of their best albums as a consequence of the renewed interest in their rich repertoire. Thatâ??s why weâ??re proud of announcing the reissue of one of their most interesting release â?“ a respectable enterprise by Two Gods recordings -, A Tricky Business, an album which was partially performed in the mentioned arts school, but release only in the beginning of the 90s by the Italian music label Contempo. You could wonder why the fashion hierarchy press didnâ??t give any visibility to them, but nowadays time has changed and the overstanding interest in the roots of electronic music has given the possibility (better later than never!) to know the most unpredictable voices coming from the music produced in a past not so really remote... A potentially tricky business as well!!! By the way, you could easily notice that this album is not only an excellent mixture of dark-wave, industrial rock and steaming slices of Euro-pop, but also a melting pot of black humour, romantic lyrics (I particularly appreciate the general mood expressed in The Rising Tide... really tear-jerker!!!...as well as the erudite lyrics â?“ and music as well... - of First Love... Mr.Bowes, if youâ??re reading to this review, well... I have to admit we shared your second love... I hope youâ??re not jealous!), gothic â?“erotic fades (... the forerunners of philosophy standinâ?? behind a potential suicide girl could be find by cruelest commentators in the lovely "Can I be you right hand man?" lovely sung by Julia Niblock, the second Attrition leg!!!), ghostly tinged eyes peering into the gloom (or better into some glooms!!!), the entrancing lyrical grip and the breathy voice of A Girl Called Harmony... We invite to discover by yourself other parenthesis of this interesting document from this great English band... Iâ??m just noticing I repeated the word "Coventry" too many times... Thereâ??s no 6 without 7... Our respect to Coventryâ??s juiciest music fruits! ... and to Attritionâ??s music of course!

Once upon a time there was an album called Sylt. Their creator and craftsmen, Ollie Brown and Sam Britton, could never imagine that, after they changed course from theme variations on drumâ??nâ??bass (... appreciated for their renowned ability in lavishing scraps of minimal techno, psychedelic rock, avant-garde classical music and free jazz on hyperkinetic dnb rhythms... ) to avantgarde experimental artifacts, this nice workouts would have been so acclaimed that the Danish label Rump Recordings could decide to issue a collection of remixes. But the most astonishing thing that this collection of remixes looks like a sort of musical ambigram: you can listen to a remix, but by the way each track well represents a slice of the contemporary state-of-art of electronic musicâ??s wide universe and weâ??re almost sure that if you could listen it without knowing itâ??s a collection of remixes, you could imagine this release is a standing-alone album from a mysterious eclectic musician!!! Or maybe Icarus simply have satisfied their wish consisting of borrowing their legendary wax wings in their deafening sonic appearance to other potential explorer eager to learn some secrets of their musical flight... Youâ??re not going to take no account of this detail after youâ??ll listen the result. As a consequence of the running trend of dubstep spreading throughout the Old Continent, thereâ??s a vast assortment of dubby rhythmical movements among the mentioned explorations: we particularly appreciated the entrancing one proposed by the Throbbing Gristle collaborator Ivan Pavlov (ex Coil) aka oxy/CoH - his moniker doesnâ??t inherit with organic chemistry, but itâ??s a Cyrillic written Russian word meaning both sleep and dream... - as well as the powerful crescendo chosen by Karsten Pflum in order to give a new dress to the lovely anthem First Inf(E)Rænce. For an unknown reason, a lot of remixers have decided to re-assemble Keet mostly (thereâ??s also a remix or just to say better a sort of orchestral maquillage made up by Icarus itself... ), the track introducing to the listening of Sylt: maybe the most astonishing versions are the ones rebuilt by the abstracts trenches by Bjork-collaborator Opiate and the trickling drum patterns interweaving with flowy sounds by the esteemed Frank Bretschneider, but it could be easy to fall in love with the chinking rivulets tinged with a shoegaze-like vibe reminding the sunniest repertoire by Chemical Brothers instilled by Isan as well as the tonal dubbed-jazz insufflations by the label-mate Badun, which built an interesting and (a)melodic aggregate of noisy gears. But thereâ??s a plenty of highlights you will discover while listening to the album: the stretched frequencies having a tidy hip-hop hair of the inference in Zelaâ??s machine words, the 8-bit wood-shaving of Second Inf(E)Rænce exiting from the Swedish wizard Goto80â??s Commodore -!-, the dark dubstep (fitted to the tastes of Skull Discoâ??s fans) got out from Ital Tekâ??s laptop as well as the abstract distillate proposed by the refined improve-jazz duet of Isambard Khroustallov (just an alter ego for a solo project of Sam Britton, one of the two wings pushing Icarus nearby the sun... ) and the Swedish clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Lothar Ohlmeier... Last but not least a lovely trip-hop fuzzy lullaby as a remix of Jyske well-forged by Digitonal. The artwork â?“ with those London parakeets featuring a psychedelically colored plumage - is just a shot taken from a clip created by Alice Scott to the track Keet, available as a download from Icarus website as an accompaniment to the album.

One of the most eloquent and narrative forerunners (even if we cannot say that that musical movement could not be considered so "brand new"... ) of the darkest side of the "grayest" gothic wave, Life in Sodom also known as L.I.S. officially come back with the album Alone â?“ published with LIS onwed label mark, Nutrix!-, an attractive collection of new and old tracks anticipated by an EP, The New Year, including some new works by the exquisite band concocted by the vocalist Gerrie Brand far back in 1987. Its attractiveness mainly derives from its accessibility: they reduced the electronic devicesâ?? presence to the basic without stigmatizing its importance in modern composition, even if it seems they want to seal their favorite authentic sound keeping their faith to the traditional form of the dark-wave even in the matters they sing about. Feelings of solitude, deep (sometimes described as necessary or forced... ) loneliness, desperation, confusion and delusion have been drifted and sometimes ruthlessly analyzed throughout this record, which could almost be considered a sort of concept album dissecting the state of loneliness and many different shades of meaning for this particular feeling, often inspiring a lot of musicians and poets. Maybe someone could argue that such an album should have been filled with more dramatic moments and a certain pathos, but Life In Sodom decided to use a simple and uncompromised language even from the musical viewpoint., giving the idea of a subdued reflection especially when Gerrieâ??s voice seems almost a plaiting with resigned sighs...

The profound introspection surfacing from the lyrics appears as something gentle and fragile, almost appealing to the respectful leniency of the listener even if he/she doesnâ??t consider him/herself alone in this world!!! Itâ??s not so difficult to notice a certain narrative approach of some tracks â?“ such as the introductive The lonely march (with its grave and obscure piano and a "bony" lead guitar howl... as tenebrous as Gerrieâ??s vocal guessed interpretation... definitively not a quote of Death In June... ) and the gloomy ballad Heartache ("a desperate song/to say no more/to signal a friend/when tears must fall/to wash away/this heartache â?“chorused â?“"... so lyrics say... ) as well as the catchy Tied Tomowind -, epic somber episodes â?“ the cloudy Faction, the touchy Dead Memories sung by the skilled Virginia Fuillerat with some eyebeams on some electro-prog foggy atmospheres, the march-like ballad Violenza, a track already appeared on Charader, the first full length by Life In Sodom â?“ and rock-propelled songs (such as the darkish Angel Alone, She Cried and Young Waste, a touch of nostalgia walking on the darkest path traced by Smiths in the 80s... ). The final Alone with the atmospheric trimmings and the stunning explosions of the sounds is a good way to close a nostalgic but pleasant album.

Tout est vibration... Everything is vibe! Thatâ??s the hieratical preface adopted by the French duo of music therapists Crista Galli to explain their thaumaturgical audio-prescriptions based on natural soundsâ?? constant stimulation aiming at the harmonization of the human bodyâ??s parts with earth frequencies and we find a nice trick the contrast between the quiet audio-settings â?“ proposing a fascinating cross between Celtic sonorities and Asian scents, sacred music and perfumes of pagan rites, the deep and shamanic male voice by Jean Paul Trutet and the angelic and crystalline one by Sarah Trutet aka Shayna - and the title of the album, Hayaku, a Japanese expression meaning "hurry up!" or "faster!" as well as the name of a little poem inviting to a sort of return to life throughout a "new-age"-like elemental evocation (the translation of the lyrics says "Hurry up! The heart waits no more..Hurry up! The earth cannot wait longer... Hurry up! The light cannot wait... Hurry up! Humanity cannot wait... [... ] Where is my dream? Where is my love?[... ] The sea is beautiful" and so on... ). Filed in the Mandala series â?“ the ethnic-meditative one -by the French label Prikosnovenie, Hayaku is introduced by the band itself as the portrait of a long spiritual journey towards the realm of earth and light â?“ beware!!! thereâ??re a plenty of references to Aquarian cultures... but we argue that youâ??re going to appreciate their music even if you consider oddities such cromotherapy, mesmerian pools or crystal therapy (as well as cds filled with seagulls, bird choirs, sirens, waves and so on normally sold at newsagents... ) a plenty of bullshits invented just to grab money from depressed or stressed people... - . departing from luminous tracks such as Armor Mirror â?“ how many seagulls!!! â?“ and Procession â?“ really intriguing track evoking ancestral Tibetan monksâ?? choirs introduced by the siren-like "ohhhhhhh" by Shayna... even it seems that the lyrics are taken directly from the mysterious words written in an archaic partially deriving from Latin and partially from Celtic language on a 2000yrs old stele, which seems to be a dedication to Caticatona, an unknown Goddess related to Earth and natural forces... - to more obscure and mysterious ones â?“ we love the bell chiming and the Tibetan howling bow in the lovely Ambre et violet as well as the first gurgling chant by Shayna (Alleluyah!)in Joies et mysteries, a delightful hymn with a minimalistic piano session -, from intriguing natural snapshots â?“ such as the enchanting Messager de la pluie (Messenger of the rain) featuring an hypnotic zither session, a string instrument belonging to the same family of koto, harpsichord, dulcimer and guzheng (the Chinese zither) as well as the dreamy state of the heart-catching Clair de la lune, one of my favorite track of the whole album... . - to ancient cultures quotes â?“ have a listen to the hypnotic mantra in Pakawa Shaman!!! â?“ and sacred music gems â?“ such as the above-mentioned Joies and mysteries and Seacht ndòlàs nà Maighdine Muire (Gaelic expression meaning "The Seven Sorrows of Virgin Mary"), which are two intriguing and mysterious songs belonging to the Gaelic tradition, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, two wonderful historical pieces telling how the Gaelic culture absorbed the Catholic one... -. Hayaku is not only a rendez-vous of different cultures and natural elements, but even a rendez-vous between sounds as some ethic instruments (such as Celtic harp, Balkan zither, Jewâ??s harp, the ancestral sound of didjeridoo, the Japanese koto and a plenty of percussions belonging to different musical traditions) meet the canonic cello and piano! We could easily confirm that this album is a lovely spiritual voyage even if you dislike new age oddities and DIY devotional cults! And youâ??ll agree with me after listening to this graceful work...