Enrico Gabrielli is a well known italian composer & performer. The kind Italy has very very few of, unfortunately. He plays keys in two bands called Mariposa and Calibro 35 but is also an excellent wind instruments/reed player. He has played with Afterhours, Capossela, Marta Sui Tubi, Mike Patton and many many others.
In his side project Der Maurer (german for "the Masons"), Gabrielli pays homage to some great composers, such as Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen and Giovanni Gabrieli (unrelated) and offers one of his very own compositions as well. A very reed-heavy collection of songs, Gabrielli manages to give compositions that are as old as 1597 a "new music" luster that is in many ways very familiar to the NY downtown scene. The opening 11 minute 1985 Reich composition is a fragmented and heavily multi-layer orchestration of clarinet lines that intertwine and interact subtly echoing Glass and Riley or even Jeremiah Cymerman's all-clarinet record from a few years back. Gabrieli's 1597 work sounds decidedly more European and although I wasn't familiar with this composer before, it sounds like the kind of piece that would have been written for a harpsichord and a baroque court, but is here offered in a rendition that features voices, clarinets and saxophone. Enrico Garbrielli's very own composition also features a number of reeds but brings in organ, wurlitzer, piano and clavinet. The closing 1975 Andriessen piece for clavinet, wurlitzer, sax and drums is the most bombastic and stochastic and relentlessly hammers away for 15 minutes evolving, constructing and deconstructing into an intense avantgarde climax of staccato notes played with the precision of a machine and the subtleties of a human!
The CD comes in a cardboard folding package with a poster inside in which the composer invites us to "unload free cement for modern sound buildings".
This is a prime example of new classical music that pushes the boundaries by taking the old and re-penning it for this day and age. As you might imagine this is definitely not an easy listening record, but Enrico Gabrielli's sophistication and background is way ahead of most of his local contemporaries and he should therefore be followed closely.

German ambient duo Troum's newst release called "Saiws" has been released as a picture disc 7" 33 1/3 rpm vinyl limited to 179 copies. As much as I am trying hard to remind myself and the readers that ultimately we are talking about music here, it is hard not to talk about the visual presentation of "Saiws", because it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful musical artifacts I've ever held in my hands. "Saiws" comes encased in a transparent water-proof plastic die-cut printed liquid gel pacck sleeve. The sleeve-bag is filled with a blue gel and some glitter to represent sand and the whole thing was designed by artist Alan McClelland a.k.a. eyel.lyft. It's hard to really describe how stunning this object is so I'd invite you to check out the great pictures at the label's website page for this release (http://www.chronoglide.com/Equation_mc27.html).
Water is obviously the main theme here. "Saiws" is an old german word for "sea", the primordial element from which we came from and to which we will return. Troum was inspired by sea, water and sand and created two fluid and ethereal tracks of beautiful guitar drones that sound quite solar and almost hopeful, rather than dark and somber. The diluted tones and chord changes depict an image of vastness and grandiosity, and if it wasn't for the sea gull evoking sounds of the title track I would almost say that it makes me think of a desolated and lonely aftermath, the sea to which we will return, in a way. The other side is entitled "Segeler" (german for sailor) and is a bit darker in tone, but nevertheless not murky. Troum calls it "a soundtrack for oceaning imaginations" and the soundscapes are of oceanic proportions, as if the line at the horizon is blurred and you can't see where the water ends and the sky begins.
As you might imagine this will set you back quite a bit financially (around 30 bucks I believe), however, should you decide to buy it, you'd be one of very few lucky ones. This is a rare and truly astonishing workd of art and Troum decided not to do any twitter, facebook, myspace, not even a digital download. The only way to have this music is to buy the vinyl and there are only 170 of them total, so you better hurry. Chain D.L.K. is honored to be deemed worthy of one.

I met Antonio Trinchera many many moons ago, in Southern Italy in the mid '90es, and I never forgot his name because he was one of the more interesting artists in his area, one of those cats who push the boundaries and move beyond what everyone else is doing. As with a lot of people from that time and those places, I've completely lost track of him and his musical endeavors until recently I randomly came across his music on the web and got back in touch with him again. Unsurprisingly (or not) he has continued to make music and just released this new record on Irish label Psychonavigation records.
"Voce Falena" is eleven tracks of blissful and ethereal ambient music with plenty of diluted and floaty soundscapes, some chill downtempo beats and even occasional bursts of new jazz/fusion (his background shows) and some intimate piano moments. These beautiful atmospheres are occasionally enriched by lively beats and more soloistic guitar playing.
At first it all comes off as enchanting and worry-free and maybe at best unintentionally vaguely troubled... It just so happens that Trinchera's approach is much more disenchanted and draws inspiration from the slow and steady loss of rights and freedoms across nations. Inspired by a trip to Egypt before Egypt was in the turmoil it is now, he observed the absence of certain freedoms that most of us grew up taking for granted and reflected on what might happen to the rest of us if we allowed those freedoms to continuously be tested, weakened and thinned out by those who are in power.
Unfortunately Trinchera missed the chance of explaining his thought process to everyone else and so, sadly, those who listen to this CD and don't know him or haven't read this review will see songs titled "Egypt", "Sevilla", "Cantus Paris" and might think that it's some kind of new age travel CD. Obviously there is a lot more to this than meets the eye, so go ahead and explore for yourself. It is worth your time!

Austin-based duo Clay Walton and John Wilkins have been making music together as Fires Were Shot since 1998 and, if as it is said, they use little more than their acoustic guitars and some pedals, the heterogeneousness of their sonic palette truly is impressive. The duo quietly and unceremoniously strums along creating relaxing and almost trance-inducing soundscapes loosely structured around loops of themselves and smeared with thick layers of lush reverbs, sometimes long delays, and other eerie unidentified ambiance or background noise. Engulfing, ethereal and definitely a bit noir, their sound is simple yet powerful and mysterious. "Awakened by a Lonely Feud" collects eleven pieces, which are like small vignettes, openings or windows into a state of mind that can be yours or might have been theirs when they played this music. At times their approach reminds me a bit of a stripped down and more minimalistic version of Lycia, but they also could be compared to Brian Eno's quietest records (think "Apollo") or some of Steve Reich's or Terry Riley's more loopey and droney chapters.
"Awakened by a Lonely Feud" comes 7 years after "Solace" was released on Asphodel rec and is available as a CD, a 150-gram double vinyl LP and an mp3 download from their new (also) Austin based label Quiet Design's website.

Ich Niente ("Ich" is german for "I" and "Niente" is italian for "Nothing") is a collaboration of Mirco Rizzi and Daniele Brusaschetto and "Incerchio" is their second album together (after 2004's "Ri_Tagli").
The two long time guitar players improvise for over half hour and go straight to tape (first take) using effects and other pedals as well as different playing technique (bowing, picking, plucking...). As you might expect from an improvised record there is a lot of noodeling and the two players interact but often go off on their own tangents more than you might wish for. Some pieces are a bit more structured and others are purely vamps or individual rubatos.
The record opens on a dark note and although it takes on different shapes and colors throughout its duration, both guitars seem to want to retain a certain lo-finess to their sound and yet do manage to become a bit more solar form time to time. One of the musicians even sits down at a seemingly un-miced drum set at one point on the last song.
They definitely draw from a vast array of musical influences from noise-rock to jazz. Reverb is their allie and freeform is their playground. Some tracks are as short as 26 seconds and the opener is more than 10 minutes long. For clarity and spatial results the two guitars are mostly panned almost hard left and hard right but you can't always tell who's who.
The record really comes off as a live recording, which it is in a sense, but it's almost missing the applause of the crowd.