NORA ORLANDI, FRANCO TONANI – SFERE LUMINOSE

(LP on Sonor Music Editions, Holy Basil Records)

 

This is a perfect time capsule of classic Italian Library music from 1970, newly reissued on vinyl.  Produced by the maestros Giancarlo Gazzani and Roby Poitevin, the lead artist credits are given to vocalist Nora Orlandi and jazz drummer Franco Tonani.  Originally released on the cult Record – TV Firmamento label, it’s a wonderful mélange of Hammond and Wurlitzer grooves, wordless Da-Da-Da-Di vocals by Orlandi, funky piano, groovy flutes, pseudo-Brazilian bossa nova hip shakers, psychedelic takes, ultra-cool jazz, lounge sounds and much more.

 

As with all Italian and British Library music, the musicians behind the scenes are seasoned experts who deserve far more credit than they received, in this case including the incomparable I Marc 4 outfit who was everywhere in legacy Italian Library music, and excellent uncredited trumpet and flute players.

 

My favorite types of library tracks are all represented here.  When I listen to a library album, I imagine in my mind’s eye the kinds of film and TV scenes the tracks would have soundtracked from the era.  My favored styles are the scenes of people and things in motion (“Orme di James,” “E Bene Persistere,” “Corro da te”); a beautiful woman being, er, beautiful (“Le belle 7,” “L’ombra di noi,”); and last but certainly not least, the hip Euro party scene (“Pan de Azucar”).

 

It's all so entertaining, a well-rounded collection sure to bring a smile and lighten up your day in these insane times.  Out now on the great Sonor Music Editions as well as Italy’s Holy Basil records, grab one now or check one out of La Biblioteca.

 

(Mark Feingold)


     
   
=  February 2025 =  
Teonanacatl
Nora Orlani, Franco Tonani
Doka
James Waudby












 
 
 
 
 
 

TEONANÁCATL – TEONANÁCATL EP

(Smolder Brains Records)

 

There sure is some great new rock music coming out of Latin America these days.  Last month we looked at Las Fuerzas Extrañas from Argentina, and now we turn our ears to Mexico and Teonanácatl.  Named after magic mushrooms (just look at the cover), here’s a young band who uses their supreme musical chops to proffer a blend of rock, prog, space and psychedelia sure to please many around these parts.  It may be a four-song 27-minute EP, but many of the tracks have songs within songs.  They’re chock full of variety in many ways.

 

The band always keeps you guessing with time signatures.  Each track starts with a unique rhythm, some of them pretty complex such as opener “Caronte.”  But they also frequently shift to new tempos mid-track, just when your ears are nicely settled into the groove.  The variety of instruments on display is also impressive.  Whether it’s Baruch Hernandez’s sprightly organ solos, Carlos Chavez’s smoking guitar workouts, or the incandescent violin playing of Raul Calva, the instrumental breaks are always by nature captivating and different.  So are the moods.  “Caronte” is somewhere in the middle of the rock-prog spectrum, while “El Teatro de las Ilusiones” is a riff-heavy blues boogie.  “Mi Ego y Yo” begins in a spacy mood courtesy of Hernandez’s keys and Calva’s soaring violin, before a long and winding tour of styles, tempos and instrumentation, occasionally venturing into Santana and Allman Brothers Band territory.  “La Creatura” has some fine early Crimson touches in another imaginative multiple section journey.

 

Even the choice of languages doesn’t sit still.  “Caronte” and closer “La Creatura” are in English, while middle two tracks “El Teatro de las Ilusiones” and “Mi Ego y Yo” are in Spanish.  Whatever the tongue, singer Roy Cabrera displays extraordinary vocal strength and range, once in a while hitting some notes I could last reach before puberty.

 

Their sound reminded me a little of another excellent Mexican band I’d enjoyed and written about a few years ago, Rostro Del Sol.  A little bit of checking revealed sure enough, several members are in both bands.  I wanted to especially call out Raul Calva, whose violin playing is full of range and emotion, and reminded me somewhat of another Terrascope favorite, Vespero, and their brilliant violinist Vitaly Borodin.

 

Teonanácatl is working on their first full length LP, which they say won’t include any of these tracks.  That’ll be high on our wish list this year.  Also of note, their debut single “Lights of the Universe,” which predated this EP, is in a similar combobulation of proggy/rocky/psych styles and is well worth your time as well.

 

(Mark Feingold)






DOKA – CYCLI

LIMITED LP (100 copies)/ CASSETTE/ DL www.twindimensionrecords.bigcartel.com  

Doka is the vehicle for Dutch musician Marijn Filius. This, I believe, is his first release and it is quite firmley in the space rock/krautrock genre. Purely instrumental, these 5 tracks may well constitute more of an EP than an LP, running to just 28 minutes in duration. It is released on Twin Dimension Records, the same Dutch label that Joost Dijkema releases his records on.

The opening song and also the album’s title track ‘Cycli’ starts with a motorik drum pattern, over which synths squelch and a loping electric guitar noodles into view, and that is pretty much the sound of the entire record. I’m reminded of Ripley Johnson’s Moon Duo/Rose City Band or perhaps Träd, Gras och Stenar, it motors along quite nicely, not outstaying its welcome and fading out to synth. ’Super 8’, hoves into view and follows a similar trajectory, the guitar has a bit more bite as it progresses, in no hurry over a bed of chugging rhythms, perfect for a long moon light drive as it twists and turns, it also fades out to a howling synth squall.

A change of pace for ‘Jardim De Mar’, a slower song, lazily spun, it develops as it progresses towards its climax, again the guitar is to the fore and like all the tracks the guitar provides the melody and tune, gradually building but fairly sparse. The next track ‘Meander’ does indeed meander all over the place, the motorik beat is back, it has more synth which drives the song along nicely, fading out to a drone. The final track is ‘Howl/Mexican Dog’, a two-parter that is a touch more aggressive, but follows a similar trajectory as it reaches for the stars.

(Andrew Young)



JAMES WAUDBY – IN THE SMALLEST THIRD

LP/CD/DL East Riding Acoustic

www.jameswaudby.bandcamp.com

We very much enjoyed the previous album by James here at Terrascope, it announced the arrival of a major talent, although some of us were already aware of James through his work as guitarist in psychedelically inclined Hull band Salako, who put out a few albums and singles on the Jeepster record label in the latter part of the nineties, home to Belle And Sebastian, Looper etc. That debut album ‘On The Ballast Miles’, was notable for its unadorned, unaffected songs, performed (as is this album) by James on acoustic guitar and vocals.

This album continues as before, with ten songs written and performed by James, recorded, mixed and mastered by fellow Salako band mate Luke Barwell. The album was recorded in a barn, deep in the East Riding countryside. Things begin with ‘The Potter’s Strain’, a beautiful sounding tale of forbidden love between a serf and a noblewoman, James acoustic guitar playing is a thing of quiet beauty, indeed this album is intended to be listened to as a whole in one sitting and it certainly works very well in that regard. ‘Beverley Gate’, unfurls gently on ringing strings, belying its bloody history throughout the years.

You can hear James’s acoustic guitar creaking under the pressure of taught strings on ‘A Portable Fiction’, which tells of a returning fortune seeker. The songs have a medieval setting none more so than ‘The Stare Beyond The Wolds’, a pretty song which tells of blood on the cellar door and a body cold on the floor. This first side ends with an intimate ‘Robert Adams’, a timeless plangent tale sung over more of that lovely finger-picked, warm acoustic guitar.

Side two opens with ‘The Fall Of Ravenser Odd’, a tale of a medieval city lost to the sea, a lovely acoustic guitar figure accompanies this tale of a crumbling chapel throughout the years, much like Dunwich in Suffolk. This is followed by the bruised beauty of ‘Saxston’s Hand’, informed as it is by the fading blooms of summer roses; James’s acoustic playing is so good, this is followed by ‘The Queen Of Holderness’, a topographical song concerning this particular marshy area of Hull, between the river Humber and the North Sea. ‘From The Boulder Clay’, is deftly sung and played, elemental; of gravity and soil. The album ends with a public execution in the short, sombre tale that is ‘The Hanging’.  This is another fine album from James and one which I can heartily recommend; it is due to be released on February 24th.

(Andrew Young)