Jackie O-Motherfucker (Usa / Fire)

Beginning in portland or. in 1994 as a duo, tom greenwood and nester bucket began JOMF as a conceptual/musical project exploring the possibilities of combining tape collage, free improvisation, and folk song structures. both greenwood and bucket had roots in the 1980's american d.i.y. scene, greenwood having started the project a-bomb label in minneapolis in 1988, and bucket founding the imp label in portland around the same time.
In 2005, JOMF released the critically acclaimed flags of the sacred harp, followed by valley of fire in 2007, in between these milestone studio records, the band has released several sprawling live sides, including- america mystica, freedomland, and the cryin' sea. these records document the bands free-form approach to live music, where their absolute belief in the moment bears witness to stunning moments of creation.the release of -the blood of life, in 2008, the bands first record for influential UK imprint FIRE RECORDS, captures one of these moments. recorded live in one take at the VPRO radio studio in amsterdam, the record combines the fragile immediacy of a live set with the sound quality of a recording studio, and provides the band with a starting point for a new body of work.
BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION is the bands 10th studio record, and the culmination of 15 years spent defining their unique take on american music.
The record begins with an arrangement of a traditional ballad, -nightingale features greenwoods vocals and guitar with the lush, open accompaniment of bob jones' double bass and the pedal steel guitar of lewi longmire. dark falcon is an improvisation and re-mix of a song written and recorded by the LUCKY DRAGONS. built on samples and loops of the original recording (from their marriage records LP -the window) including vocals by honey owens, appropriated from the liner notes of a record by the mamas and papas. side one closes with JOMF original, skylight, which has been a part of the bands live set for a few years, and has been been beautifully rendered in the studio. side two begins with a brand new song, written and sung by greenwood and owens, -the corner begins with the pulsing bass of a roland keyboard, accompanied by turntable manipulations and the sparse, sting of owens guitar, its dark minimalism, a new classic moment for the band. the cryin' sea was written in arhus denmark, during an amazing live set where an enthusiastic audience pushed the band to bonkersville. featuring incredible guitar work by nick bindeman, and special guest michael dustdevil, who also appears on skylight, and fills out the recording with raw, fuzz guitar. the closing track, -a mania, is one of those rare, JOMF radio friendly tracks. written and sung by greenwood, with beautiful wah-wah guitar lines by joanne robertson, vocal accompaniment and closing fuzz guitar solo by honey, the songs melancholy, knocking us out. the albums cover features watercolor paintings by tom greenwood, beautifully art directed by james nicholls.

12/02/10 Cesena @ Officina 49
13/02/10 Varese @ Twiggy
14/02/10 Padova @ Pixelle
16/02/10 Milano @ Conchetta

hi-re photo: #1
myspace/jomf

last update: 20-gen-10 4:25 PM

Sin Ropas (Usa / Madcap, Shrug)
EUROPEAN TOUR

SIN ROPAS has a way of making the familiar strange. Alumni of Red Red Meat and early Califone, Tim Hurley and Danni Iosello find buried truths and turn them into something essential and new, making music so resonant and evocative that their records are simultaneously featured on Top 10 Alt-Country lists while appearing on "Best of Rock" reviews and psychedelic music websites. Elements of all music are there, seeping into the long-dark places where it meets everything you've ever heard or have longed to hear.

SIN ROPAS' first CD, THREE CHERRIES (Perishable Records 2000) was received in this way:

FROM PUNCTURE: "It's easy to imagine each of this records' eight juggernauts as a deconstructed and slightly decayed version of a conventional pop song, falling apart at the seams and unraveled at both ends...If this sounds to you like words of highest praise, you heard right".
FROM FASTER THAN SHEEP: "Three Cherries is unique in that it sounds both old-fashioned (in a sittin' on the porch watching the dust bowl fill itself to the brim kind of way) and new-fangled (all the parts that sound like snake charmers playing plastic horns while on mesculine) all at once"

SIN ROPAS' second CD "TRICKBOXES ON THE PONY LINE" (Sad Robot Records 2003, Konkurrent Records 2004) was a turning point for them; a foray into more mainstream music and media.

From PITCHFORK: "Trickboxes' abstract song-movies rely heavily on a series of unfixed, user-provided images--pictures replace sounds, sensations supplant rationalizations, everything goes a little blurry...It's hard to establish a stanch reference point for any of its cagey tracks: the perpetual puzzle is part of what makes this record so endlessly intriguing...It has far less to do with mechanically processing a series of notes than with establishing abstract, pre-linguistic relationships with art".
FROM INK 19: "There are razors inside these tumbleweeds...f---ing country My Bloody Valentine or Spacemen 3 reincarnated as The Carter Family"
FROM ROLLING STONE: "Red Red Meat alumni Sin Ropas create mesmerizing sound on their second album. This collection of beautiful, interweaving off-the-cuff riffs and slow-motion observations suggests a futuristic Appalachia".

SIN ROPAS' third CD "FIRE PRIZES" was first released in Europe only on Konkurrent/ Zeal Records in 2005. Released on vinyl as a picture disc in the US on the specialty label Shrug Records in 2007 with art by filmmaker Brent Green.

John Schacht, ALL MUSIC GUIDE: "Throughout this remarkable recording Sin Ropas conjure catastrophic landscapes and threatening scenarios, but deliver them in music so timeless and urgent, hearing it is like a purifying rite of passage..there were few, if any, better American-made records in 2005".
FROM COKE MACHINE GLOW: "Tim Hurley’s guitar sounds strange, sick, and glorious-- think the sort of tooling and multi-tracking that goes on in a Built to Spill album but shying away from orchestrated nirvanas in favor of messy “Down by the River” wanderings. That Neil Young & Crazy Horse influence is also something apparent... meaning that if you want to hear what Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969) sounds like in the 21st century, Sin Ropas might be the only place to look".

EUROPEAN TOUR

04/02/10 Amsterdam @ Parooltheater
06/02/10 Amsterdam @ OCCII (w/ King Me + U.S. Girls)
07/02/10 Utrecht @ dbS (w/ This Leo Sunrise + Bob Corn)
08/02/10 Amsterdam @ Desmet10/02/10 Savona (IT) @ Raindogs
11/02/10 Genova (IT) @ La Claque
12/02/10 Pegognaga (IT, Mantova) @ Arci Casbah
13/02/10 Udine (IT)@ Arci Cas*Aupa
18/02/10 Castellon (ES) @ Veneno Stereo
19/02/10 Valencia (ES) @ OCCC
21/02/10 Don Benito (ES) @ Rincon Pio sound
27/02/10 Varese (IT) @ Twiggy
28/02/10 Osimo (An) @ Loop
02/03/10 Roma @ Dal Verme tbc
03/03/10 Marina di Carrara @ Tagomago Events
04/03/10 Verona @ Esposta
05/03/10 Prague (CZ) @ 007 Club
05/03/10 Prague (CZ) @ 007 Club
06/03/10 Pisek (CZ) @ Pi Club
08/03/10 Brno (CZ) @ Sklenena louka
09/03/10 Wien (AT) @ Fluc
10/03/10 Frankfurt @ Drei Konigs Keller
11/03/10 Berlin @ Schokoladen
13/03/10 Groningen @ Viadukt (w/ King Me)

hi-re photo: #1, #2, #3, #4
myspace/sinropas3

ultimo aggiornamento: 1-feb-10 12:06 PM

Parallel 41

Julia Kent (cello + pedals) + Barbara De Dominicis (voice + live electronics) + Davide Lonardi (video installation)

Live/Impro performance/project in progress for cello, electronics,voice & visuals

Parallel-° 41is a small journey that we decided to embark on after a series of musical events experienced  together that go under the name of Intermittenze.(youtube.com/watch?v=eYzwNQKQKl8)
We aim  to realize some sessions of "spontaneous" recordings (audio/video) influenced by the environment in which they happen (Recording sessions can be "open" to a public but not necessarily and/or  can be followed or preceded by a live performance--in the vicinity of the chosen-place (but not necessarily....) We decided and tried to play completely free, an improvisation without any set parameters or compositional ideas but the unique influence of  the places that host us. We use  cello, pedals, voice, images, casuality, laptop, field recordings,found sound and a few toys.
We have been and still are looking for unique locations with an inner acoustic potential in order to let our music interact with the environmental sounds... A magic room; a cave, a valley, a path between the mountains, a room with a view, a factory, a meadow, an arcade, a museum, a room of  dolls, a secret or forbidden place, the attic of the grandfather, a farmhouse, a church (pref. deconsecrated!), a farm, a shed by the sea, a mule track, a dismantled factory, a barge.. A "room" where we can spend some hours or a few days, have the chance to recordOur sonic adventure started at Val da Pozzo. A beautiful farmhouse-artists in residenceplaced in the Piedmont  valleys. This first "session"  happened at the end of September 2009.
The second "Parallel 41" session  happened at the end of october. We were in  an abandoned tunnel in the near of Bolzano, located in the mountainssurrounding beautiful Alto Adige Valleys........

05/02/10 Napoli @ Teatro Instabile
11/02/10 Modena @ Galleria Vetusta

hi-re photo: #1
myspace/barbaradedominicis
myspace/julia_kent

last update: 2-feb-10 9:45 AM

16/01/10 Roma @ Brancaleone

myspace/murcof

last update: 18-dic-09 1:24 PM

Hauschka (Ger / Fat Cat)

16/01/10 Firenze @ Le Murate (Hauschka with two cellos)


13/11/09 Firenze @ Sala Vanni

hi-re photo: #1, #2
myspace/hauschka

last update: 5-gen-10 3:08 PM

Guano Padano (Ita / Important rec)

GUANO PADANO:
ALESSANDRO "ASSO" STEFANA: chitarre elettriche ed acustiche, banjo, steel guitar, pedal steel guitar, raagini, omnichord, stylophone.
DANILO GALLO: contrabbasso, vibrafono, piano, organo.
ZENO DE ROSSI: batteria, slit drum, bull buster, glockenspiel.

"...Jack Frost has all the comforts of home; fireplace, wood floor, banjo, whiskey soaked reverb electric guitar, drums and upright bass....
....Del Rey is built on a Hawaiian guitar motif followed by star spinning string arrangements that seem to race across a chromatic night sky. Reverb drenched lines, vibraphone tremolo and eastern influence chord changes makes this song stand out amongst the other tracks. The diminished melodies and transitions helps build a deep sense of tension throughout the song until the second half picks up with the rhythm section running down the country style romp... it is these wonderfully weird pairings stylistically and within the arrangements that makes this album a unique and bold outing...
....Epiphany starts with organ and glockenspiel scoping out a night time scene all the while strange sounds gurgle and boil in the background making this another track destined for the soundtrack files of Hollywood's up and coming movie scores.... At the end of the song, the band gets caught up in a dub delay web that feels more like a lasso is trying to slow down an iron horse out of control. Great liveliness and performances here...
IF THERE EVER WAS A SOUNDTRACK WAITING TO FIND ITS MATE IN THE CINEMATIC WORLD, THIS ALBUM BY GUANO PADANO WILL SURELY FIND GOOD COMPANIES WITH THE LIKES OF FELLINI, LEONE, JARMUSCH and SOFIA COPPOLA"
- Joey Burns, September 9, 2009, Calexico, Tucson, AZ

07/01/10 Genova @ La Claque-Teatro della Tosse
08/01/10 Roma @ Circolo degli Artisti
09/01/10 Faenza (Ra) @ Clandestino
10/01/10 Ariano Polesine (Ro) @ Porcupine Pub
12/01/10 Lubiana @ Metelkova
07/02/10 Milano @ Magnolia
27/02/10 Firenze @ Sala Vanni
28/02/10 Pegognaga (Mn) @ Casbah
08/04/10 Torino @ venue tba
09/04/10 Brescia @ Lio Bar
10/04/10 Verona @ Interzona
13/11/09 Brescia @ Latteria Molloy
14/11/09 Vasto (Ch) @ Beat Café
16/11/09 Roma @ The Place
17/11/09 L'Aquila @ Casematte
18/11/09 Terracina (Lt) @ Le Scalette

hi-re photo: #1
myspace/guanopadano

last update: 15-gen-10 10:22 AM

Savage Republic (Los Angeles, Usa / Neurot)

After their official return with two 2007 releases (both EP and LP on Neurot Recordings) SR got recently featured on Fear Drop # 14 Magazine's tribute CD to the Cure's "Pornography" album (with a personal and mesmerizing version of "The Hanging Garden) and last september released the 7inch single "Sword Figher / Taranto" on the italian cult label A Silent Place (beautiful special package: die-cut cover with silk-screened printings designed by Andrea Scarfone). But, most of all, their live activity, which is what assured them an astonishing reputation, their performances blurring the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music, is very intense again.

Throughout the 80's SR was a deep-underground phenomenon, playing highly unorthodox shows in remote desert locations, abandoned factories, skid-row parking lots and grimy bars across the U.S. and Europe with such luminaries as Einsturzende Neubaten, Minutemen, Sonic Youth and Live Skull as well as hardcore-punk slugfests with the likes of Bad Religion, Angry Samoans and Final Conflict. Known for their oddly-tuned guitars, tribal beats, shouted vocals, metal percussion (typically 55 gallon oil drums and items gleaned from dumpsters and junkyards), and Morricone-meets-Dick Dale melodies, their performances were at times ritualistic and occasionally involved fire and explosives.
Beginning with the arrestingly aggro 'Tragic Figures" in 1982 on through the wildly diverse experimentations of their final studio album "Customs", recorded while on tour in Greece in 1988, SR produced music that seemed to come from some distant uncharted region. A land at turns harsh and beautiful where elements of Mikis Theodorakis' film scores smashed into 60's psych, tribal punk and oddball Mediterranean folk-pop. Jarringly eclectic, they often sounded like a completely different band from album to album--at times from song to song on the same album. The music was packaged in beautifully distinctive chipboard covers hand printed by noted graphic artist, letterpress printer and band founder Bruce Licher. They even issued their own postage stamps.
Then in 1989 everything went quiet as the republic scattered to pursue other interests. After reuniting in 2002 for a brief U.S. tour supporting the boxed-set reissue of their five studio albums by Mobilization Records, several of the members began sharing ideas for new songs, reviving the band officially in 2005.
In their current incarnation Savage Republic core members Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port and Greg Grunke are joined by noted drummer and percussionist Alan Waddington (known for his tenure with The Unforgiven as well as live and studio work with everyone from Willie Nelson to Gwen Stefani) and by talented LA bass player Jack Housen. In their recent european tours and fstival appearances (2007, 2008, 2009... Italy, Greece, France, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany etc etc) they proved to be in great shape and as powerful and intense as ever.

"Very few artists can stand as being actually unique. Artists who make sound that fills the holes in your soul that nothing else touch. Savage Republic is one these very few. As a founding member of Neurosis I can say that we are very aware and vigilant of all things that happen around us. There is no tolerance for disruption in our ritual. For the last 13 years we have played one band and one band only for our preshow music, Savage Republic is the soundtrack that sets the tone for whats to come and what existed before." - Scott Kelly / Neurosis

Jan 14 Athens @ An Club
Jan 15 Larisa @ Stage Performances Venue
Jan 17 Thessaloniki @ Block33
Jan 18 Taranto @ Gabba Gabba Rock Club
Jan 19 Roma @ Init w/ Sea Dweller
Jan 20 Marina di Carrara @ Tagomago Events
Jan 21 Lyon @ Sonic
Jan 22 Antwerpen @ Trix
Jan 24 Eindhoven @ TAC
Jan 25 Metz @ Les Trinitaires
Jan 26 Strasbourg @ Molodoi
Jan 27 Villafranca di Verona (Vr) @ Arci Kroen
Jan 28 Genova @ La Claque - Teatro della Tosse
Jan 29 Marseille (FR) @ L'Embombineuse
Jan 30 Castellon (ES) @ Tanned Tin Festival

hi-re photo: #1, #2
myspace/savagerepublic

last update: 19-gen-10 10:12 AM

Egle Sommacal (Bologna / Unhip)

16/01/10 Pisa @ Caracol

26/11/09 Genova @ La Claque - Teatro della Tosse
18/12/09 Bologna @ Fienile Fluò

hi-re photo: #1, #2
myspace/eglesommacal

last update: 5-gen-10 12:47 PM

Above the Tree (Ita / Boring Machines, MarinaioGaio, About a Boy, etc)

08/10/09 Padova
12/10/09 Roma @ Fanfulla 101
15/10/09 Caserta @ Jarmusch
30/10/09 Codroipo (Ud) @ Edera
01/11/09 Carpi (Mo) @ Mattatoio

hi-re photo: #1
myspace/bluerevenge1

last update: 23-ott-09 5:25 PM

Barbara De Dominicis ”Anti Gone” (Italia / WM Recordings)

02/07/09 Live a Village-Radio 2 Rai
24/07/09 Bologna @ Giardino Lorusso, via L. Berti 2/3 (ex Bestial Market)
27/07/09 Bolzano @ Terrazza Caffé Teatro
22/08/09 Carpi (Mo) @ Coccobello

hi-re photo: #1
myspace/barbaradedominicis

last update: 23-jun-09 3:19 PM

Musica da Cucina (Milano / City Living)

Fabio Bonelli's side project, of Milaus.

24/11/09 Faenza (Ra) @ Showindow

05/02/09 Potenza @ New Evoé
27/03/09 Anghiari (Ar) @ Live at Home

myspace/musicadacucina

ultimo aggiornamento: 23-ott-09 5:28 PM

Father Murphy (Ita / Boring Machines)
www.maledetto.it

“Truly masterfully put together, amazing songs with tons of space and utterly original arrangements. [...] Just an incredible album.”, - John Dieterich of Deerhoof, from Pitchfork, about ...and He told us to turn to the Sun
.

20/02/09 Parma @ Veronika Club
21/02/09 Giussago (Pv) @ Ortosonico

hi-re photo: #1
myspace/reverendmurphy

last update: 10-mar-09 2:45 PM

Bevel (Usa / Contraphonic)

TBA

hi-re photo: #1, #2
mp3: The Purchase

last update: 14-jul-08 10:23 AM

Blessed Child Opera (Napoli / Seahorse rec).

Alessandro "Asso" Stefana (Brescia / Important Records)

Musica da Cucina (Milano / City Living)

last update: 5-gen-10 12:46 PM