Italian Experimental Progressive
Integrati... Disintegrati
It was 1977, the year when punk rock exploded in the face of disco-music, but some thinking heads in Italy managed to escape the set trends of the year and walk a totally different path. Pioneers like Franco Battiato had already been experimenting with a crash of rock and electroacoustic music since the beginning of the decade, and others like Roberto Cacciapaglia or Riccardo Zappa would explore farther in those lands, mixing acoustic instruments with the bourgeoning synth technology. Among all …
Prati Bagnati del Monte Analogo
2023 Repress. Of all the releases on Italy's legendary Cramps Records, Raul Lovisoni and Francesco Messina's seminal LP from 1979 has long remained among the most beloved. Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo not only introduced the world to the work of two gifted composers, but also is notable for being produced by electronic pioneer Franco Battiato. A sister album to Prati Bagnati would be Giusto Pio's breathtaking Motore Immobile, likewise graced with the maestro's gentle hand around the same time…
Tappeto Volante
Yellow Vinyl. Exclusive LP reissue of "Tappeto Volante", third and last one release by Aktuala, replica of the original Bla Bla release. "Tappeto Volante" is the third and last one of this series, made by an 'open musical collective' from milan, a fixed nucleus with many different contributes from guest musicians. As the Third Ear Band have always been inserted in the international prog panorama, the same happened with Aktuala, who were real music pioneers able to blend world, ethnic, jazz and a…
Picchio Dal Pozzo
2022 Repress. "One of the most original, impressive and highly respected of all the experimental groups to have come out of Italy in the 1970s." - Chris Cutler. "Picchio dal Pozzo can be considered as the definitive 'Canterbury' inspired band, coming from Italy's 1970s progressive rock scene. Their 1976 debut album shows an incredibly rich sound texture, made out of some peculiar musical ingredients. Oblique tunes and liquid harmonies, airy flutes, crispy horns, loads of electric piano, fuzz bas…
Galaxy My Dear
Synthesizer king J.B. Banfi, a.k.a. Giuseppe 'Baffo' Banfi, hit the record market with the great italian prog rock outfit Biglietto per l'Inferno who released a legendary LP in 1974 on Trident and have been reivindicated in several occasions since with the release of lost recordings from the era as well as unearthing an unreleased 1974 live album. The band existed between 1972 and 1975, and had both Pilly Cossa on Hammond doing the virtuoso work and Baffo's keyboard explorations adding sound tex…
The World of the Doubling Riders
**The definitive Doubling Riders box set with a load of previously unreleased material is finally here. Complete discography, remastered from the original tapes. 6 x CD boxset includes 1 disc of previously unreleased material, plus 24-page booklet of liner notes and never-before-seen photographs.** From its earliest days, Italian avant-garde and experimental music has always been a fascinating world of intersecting lines, unexpected meetings, and networks of conversation and collaboration. This …
Clic
180gr. Black vinyl. There is no figure in Italian music, nor within the country’s shimmering, expansive avant-garde, who demands the respect and awe offered to Franco Battiato. He is the beginning and the end. An artist whose output, stretching across six decades, is so diverse and singular, that it defies any concrete definition - darting from psychedelic Prog, definitive gestures in the history of Minimalism, to the heights of explicit Pop. Like many of his contemporaries, Battiato’s journey t…
Zora
Remastered Edition of the legendary occult prog album by Antonius Rex, with an unreleased song (Monastery) and original "nude witch" cover. Probably the most charismatic figure of all the Italian prog scene, Antonio Bartoccetti (Antonius Rex) began his career going to Milan from the Marche, forming Jacula, Dietro Noi Deserto (even with a single on Decca in 1971!), and Invisible Force (another lonely single in 1971). Not real bands but just a group of musicians working beyond the leading figures …
Suspiria
Special edition of Goblin’s masterpiece, here released on blue iris coloured vinyl with 30x30cm insert and new liner notes. After the incredible debut of “Profondo Rosso” (Deep Red), the soundtrack of the eponymous 1975 film directed by Dario Argento, no one could ever imagine that shortly afterwards Goblin would be able not only to reach its heights but even further refine what the band already delivered in their first record. While “Profondo Rosso” had been partly composed by Giorgio Gaslini,…
Samadhi (LP)
* Gatefold sleeve – a faithful replica of the original edition on 180gr. Clear transparent vinyl. * Samadhi could be considered a sort of supergroup, as most of their members came from well-known bands, it were formed after the split of Raccomandata Ricevuta di Ritorno by singer Regoli and guitarist Civitenga, along with keyboard player Sabatini (from Free Love and Kaleidon), Aldo Bellanova from Teoremi on bass and drummer Ruggero Stefani (L’Uovo di Colombo), and two other members.
The album mix…
Sabba
Recorded in 1975 this is the ideal following of Tardo Pede in Magiam Versus. Fiamma Dallo Spirito was the Lead Vocalist of the Jacula album and Federico Bergamini wrote most of the music.. Bergamini and Fiamma, together with some guest musicians, recorded "Sabba" in 1975 which remained hidden for almost 50 years. Damnation, Mystery, Magic are the main themes of this concept album where the human being gets lost in the black hole of damnation searching desperately for salvation. The story should …
Concerto delle menti
There isn't probably a single fan of Italian Progressive Rock in the world that has never heard of Pholas Dactylus and their only opus (not just a simple 'record', in fact) "Concerto delle menti" (Concert of the minds), originally published in 1973. Pholas Dactylus have left, with Concerto delle Menti, a unique example of avantgarde prog containing only spoken lyrics that can be appealing to the most adventurous listeners even because the musical background is intense and mesmerising; the album …
Electronic Mind Waves
** mini-lp replica, housed in a gatefold cardboard sleeve with an OBI ** Out of the mysterious mind of Andrea Centazzo came Elektriktus. Originally released on the PDU label in 1976, the LP Electronic Mind Waves offers a collection of eight synth-fueled songs that sound very close to what kraut/cosmische heads were doing at the time, think of Conrad Schnitzler, Deuter or Cosmic Jokers, and also other European experimentalists like Richard Pinhas' Heldon, Spacecraft, Didier Bocquet, Seesselberg, …
Suan
Acid-psychedelic ballads, with lots of acoustic guitar, bursts of fuzz guitar and excellent use of electric instruments. The fuzz bass on “The House on the Hill” will blow your mind and… speakers away. It is considered to be one of the best and rarest European psychedelic folk rock albums. Original Mint copies go nowadays for 1000+Euro. English lyrics. Armando Piazza, singer-songwriter from Naples was joined by renowned US guitarist Shawn Phillips on bass, acoustic and electric guitar. "Suan" w…
Vietato Ai Minori Di 18 Anni?
Limited Time Offer Deluxe ltd. ed. LP edition with original gatefold cover artwork and 180 gr. Clear Red Vinyl. One of the best italian progressive rock/experimental album released in Italy "Vietato ai minori di 18 anni?" is Jumbo's third album from 1973, is their most ambitious work, containing strong lyrics and fragments of avantgarde-inspired music, with the help of Franco Battiato's great VCS3 oscillators and Lino Capra Vaccina's (of Aktuala fame) bells and chimes' sinister tolling. Long spa…
Palepoli
* Deluxe LP reissue on 180 gr. Clear Red vinyl * Third album, and Osanna best one, "Palepoli", from 1973 sees the band at their peak. The album only contains three long tracks and is housed in a nice gatefold whose inner picture is based on the band live stage background. 18 minutes of sheer heavy progdom is 'Oro Caldo', a raw jambalaya of moody atmosphere, experimental samplings, greasy garage dirt, and some flat out classic symphonic prog with a great-sounding mellotron - and other unique and…
El Tor
* Deluxe LP reissue on 180 gr. Clear Red vinyl * Another band from Naples, and also connected to Osanna, formed by Lino Vairetti and Massimo Guarino when that band split in 1974. But Città Frontale were in fact two different bands, the first one being active in 1970 before Osanna were formed with four of that later band members and Gianni Leone, that left to join Balletto di Bronzo. After first Osanna's split up in 1974, former members Lino Vairetti (vocals, guitar, mellotron, harmonica) and Ma…
La Valle Dei Templi
** Limited edition red vinyl 180 gr. numbered edition ** Perigeo were founded in Rome in 1971: five professional musicians, all of them already largely active in the jazz and rock circuits of those years, who gathered in the studio to wisely blend together the two aforementioned music genres: this is probably the first example of jazz-rock music in Italy, admittedly influenced by Miles Davis and that legendary “Bitches Brew” that just two years earlier had shocked the jazz scene worldwide.Purist…
Non E' Poi Cosi' Lontano
* 45th Anniversary. 180g pressing, Coloured vinyl, numbered edition of 600 copies * A heavy-hitting, full-on jazz-rock progressive record from this Italian group – and probably their most underrated effort of the early years! Perigeo is in great form throughout, with a talent for time and chord changes that displays many years spent woodshedding solos from their biggest influences. Claudio Fasoli's reeds are nice and choppy, and work very well with Tony Sidney's strident guitar parts. Frando D'…
Suddance
High quality vinyl reissue with remastered sound. Osanna are considered one of the best bands to emerge from the fertile Italian prog scene of the 1970s known not only for their excellent blend of various musical genres but equally for the live performances that made them stand out from the pack from the getgo. This band from Napoli formed all the way back in 1970 and was known for changing things up radically on each album with the 1973 magnum opus "Palepoli" still considered one of the greates…