Just received this little oddity in the mail earlier today, my first from
Vigiesse:
While I must admit I was quite skeptical of the date of release, check out that artwork! I couldn't resist.
Starting with the sleeve, I find the sparse liner notes a fascinating read. Accustomed to having no information about the LP presented except the tracklist and composer, I find what little additional info there is here tells a bit of a story in itself. Look at that list of equipment:
Per la realizzazione di questo album sono stati impiegati:
AKAI S-900, AKAY S-700, Alesis HR-16, Atari 1040 ST, Emulator II, Hybrid Art SMPTE Track, Ibanez SDR 1000 Plus, Lexicon PCM 42 MEO, Roland JX 8 P, Roland MT 32, Sequential Drumtrack, Sequential Pro One, Yamaha DX-7, Yamaha DX-7 II D, Yamaha SPX 90 II, Yamaha Rev 7
Quite the setup, wow. One can never have too many digital reverb modules, I guess?
The DX-7 and Emulator II stock sounds are quite evident at times (that ubiquitous-bordering-on-memetic shakuhachi flute sample even makes an appearance at one point), but the thing that really caught my eye here is the Atari 1040 ST and SMPTE Tracks.
For context, the Atari 1040 ST is no synthesizer or sampler, but a
Personal Computer™ system, and SmpteTrack an early, monochrome DAW:
(screenshot, for context)- That looks like an absolute pain to use.
Sounds like this was something of an early, professional-grade home recording-type project - fun!
Enough about the gear - what's the music like?This sound of the more
out there parts of this LP reminds me of video game soundtracks of the era, and that is by no means a bad thing.
What a peculiar mix, though. The drums sound downright terrible at times. And what's the deal with using untreated, dry stock MIDI sounds? There's a bit of a genuine, endearing air of 'this is new and cool, let's just experiment and play around with this' running through here.
I personally think it starts quite weak, with a very 'traditional' (tame) italo-disco-esque piece. Don't write it off completely, though! Moving toward the end of the A-side it really gets interesting - I find this to be at its best when it leaves its 80's roots behind and takes a plunge into the styles and tropes I associate more with the early 90's. Just listen to "Nirvana"! What a mood. Awash in MIDI and sampler sounds, the FM bell pads and abstract sounds and samples create a pretty unique soundscape here.
Hope someone else gets a kick out of this too.
Enjoy!
In glorious mp3:
senza://mega.nz/#!oAZEAK5I!zMuLdeSsouz0vz5lfHvMp-bN7OZ9M53-4w2chWufhFg
... and glorious FLAC:
zioni://mega.nz/#!wZZAAKIR!Rg_BLDSUpcXeLxvDVOeHmgxw3NVrd5U_gbcVsuJo1W0
ps. - and yes, "Gikey" is of course Mauro Morgia. I don't think he fooled anyone.
