Psych /
Tic & Tac
Yellow vinyl / 180 grams, limited and numbered edition 300 copies. Following the tragic passing of the legendary Demetrio Stratos in 1979, the band Area wisely chose to forgo vocals (save for a few backing harmonies) on this album, as no one could ever replace the "maestro della voce". While this instrumental album may not push boundaries like its predecessors, it showcases a commendable blend of talent, with each musician shining brightly, particularly the remarkable bass work by Ares Tavolazzi…
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 …
Dedicato A Frazz
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* Legendary Italian dark sympho band Semiramis disappeared from the scene in 1973, leaving only one album. Named after an ancient Babylonian queen who is said to have created hanging gardens, and to have been a lover and cruel and inhumane, their sound can be described as dark symphonic. This long out-of-print album was, oddly enough, reunited and released a new album this …
Picchio Dal Pozzo
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* "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 music…
Lord Cromwell Plays Suite For Seven Vices
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* Opus Avantra is an Italian treasure. As the name suggests, Opus Avantra is a one-of-a-kind sound space that combines opposing elements - tradition and innovation - in an aesthetic manner. The sound will forever be etched in the history of Italian rock. As with the previous album, a unique aesthetic avant-garde world where baroque and avant-garde coexist. Reissue in paper …
Live
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 reissue* Legendary Italian dark sympho band Semiramis disappeared from the scene in 1973, leaving only one album. Named after an ancient Babylonian queen who is said to have created hanging gardens, and to have been a lover and cruel and inhumane, their sound can be described as dark symphonic. This long out-of-print album was, oddly enough, reunited and released a new album thi…
Tempi Dispari
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* Tempi Dispari is a live album from 1974 by the Atomic System variation, a line up formed by guitarist Vittorio DeScalzi after three members left to form what would end up being Ibis. DeScalzi is aided by future Nova keyboards player Renato Rosset, who influences this variation in a more jazzy oriented way than any other New Trolls incarnation. Two side-long suites (includ…
Sera-Mattina
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* The only solo album by renowned session drummer Gianni Dall'Aglio, a member of Il Volo, released in 1972. Dall'Aglio handles vocals, piano and drums, and presents a cantautore-like sound with a progressive flavour. A deeply moving gem, reminiscent of Il Volo's first album ("Sonno" was composed by Dall'Aglio), with a heartfelt, songful spirit. The mellotron echoes idyllica…
Corte Dei Miracoli
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* Corte dei Miracoli (Court of Miracles) is the first studio album released by the Italian band of the same name. The album was first released in 1976 on the Grog record label. The album is characterised by melodies distinctly oriented towards symphonic rock, which are fully in the groove of great Italian progressive rock. Some similarities can be found with Banco del Mutuo…
Ποα
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* Their only album, released in 1973. The sound of the band's stable ensemble, with mellotron, flute, piano and saxophone adding colour, creates a unique world view. A high standard of Italian progressive rock, with elements of classical music and jazz. First domestic paper-jacket reproduction of the variant jacket, SHM-CD, two bonus single tracks not included on the LP, an…
Cogli il giorno
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* CD reissue for the ultra-rare second work of acclaimed keyboarder Luciano Basso. As usual a great instrumental work, mostly unknown, underrated and of course very rare in its original form. Musically it is the usual and great blend of classical-influenced progressive music and avant-garde, just as its stunning debut “Voci”. Among the guest musicians on this album, Leonard…
Caution Radiation Area
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* With their new quintet format (including the entry of bassist Ares Tavolazzi) Area managed to consolidate their radical avant-garde approach to jazz-rock and achieve a more powerful ensemble sound: the result was properly incarnated in their genius second album “Caution Radiation Area”, a manifesto of bold inventiveness and sheer energy. Their explosive mixture of Weather…
Alphataurus
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 stock* The only album released in 1973 as the first Magma Record release. Heavy sympho sound with keyboards as the main instrument, faithfully reproducing the three-sided cover, which was considered a phantom album in the LP era. Released in paper jacket, remastered in 2010 and on high-quality SHM-CD. Long-awaited encore pressing of this long-unavailable album!
Il Tuffatore
* 300 copies, machine-printed numbered edition, 180gr vinyl *A beatiful reissue of Flavio Giurato's second album released in Italy in 1982, whose original edition usually sells for crazy prices on the second-hand market. This undervalued piece of work was perhaps too unusual during the time of release to get the full attention it deserves. The powerful image of the high diver re-emerging to the light and air after his performance orchestrates and subsumes the spirit of the whole work, in which s…
Gelato Metropolitano
“I was born in the sun of a big country that free maybe never was, a big country of happy people, of big forests and big cities.” This is how Alberto Camerini's second album opens, and it is clear from the outset that one is dealing with something not easy to categorize, wild, but equally enveloping and fascinating. The overall sound, while diverse, retains its own continuity and comes across as a blend of Brazilian sounds, singer-songwriter songwriting, and DIY bedroom electronics, with Camerin…
Per... Un Mondo Di Cristallo
* 2024 stock * The Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno (also called RRR) were a Roman group dedicated to progressive rock in the years in which the genre, in Italy and in Europe, lived its best years with enthusiasm. Formed by Luciano Regoli (vocals, acoustic guitar), Francesco Froggio Francica (drums, percussion), Manlio Zacchia (bass), Damaso Grassi (flute, sax), Nanni Civitenga (guitar) and Stefano Piermarioli (keyboards) they released only one album in 1972 - "Per un mondo di Cristallo" - and then…
Astrolabio
2024 reissue. The origins of the Genoese band Garybaldi date back to 1965, the year in which guitarist Pier Niccolò "Bambi" Fossati, together with Maurizio Cassinelli (drums), Angelo Traverso (bass) and Marco Zoccheddu (guitar), founded the Gleemen, authors of a self-titled LP released in 1970: an excellent album, still linked to certain 1960s sounds, but in which Bambi Fossati's Hendrixian style began to make itself heard. In 1971 the band changed its name to Garybaldi and the following year re…
Biglietto Per L'Inferno
Legendary 1974 eponymous album by Biglietto per l’Inferno! Reissued on 140gr. white vinyl!!!Born in 1972 in Lecco, in northern Italy, from the ashes of Gee and Mako Sharks, Un Biglietto per l'Inferno are still regarded as one of the most influential Italian prog bands, despite a single LP release, their magnificent eponymous album from 1974. The band had an intense live activity, that took to a very powerful sound driven by the twin keyboards of Baffo Banfi (of Klaus Schulze fame) and Cossa an…
Opus Avantra Box
The long-standing Italian imprint, ARTIS Records, returns with one of its most ambitious releases to date, the towering “Opus Avantra Box Collection” by Opus Avantra , a stunning Deluxe Box set which includes no less than five LPs, six CDs, two 7" records, a DVD, a book and various ephemera, offering a thrilling retrospective of one of the most singular bands to emerge from Italy's movement of Prog and “Rock in Opposition”. Ambitious, experimental, and wholly uncategorizable in the ways that few…
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…