100+

Following on from the Slovak and Czech survey of adventurous releases from 2015, here’s a list of 100+ from Italy. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to have compiled an “official” list as yet, so the following is bound to be incomplete, but it’s a start to delve into a very productive year for Italian artists. Once again, I’ve also picked 10 albums which are not meant to be “the best” from 2015, but only indicative of the diversity of what’s been on offer. – Gianmarco Del Re

Acoustic…

Stefano Pilia plays both as a session musician as well as in different bands and it can get difficult to keep up with his busy schedule and output. As a solo artist, he’s both been releasing field recordings based compositions (Strings), which function as audio diaries, and sparse guitar albums (Action Silence Prayers) reminiscent of Loren Connors. Blind Sun – New Century Christology sees the Bologna based musician moving towards more straightforward blues and fingerpicking territory, whilst still retaining a clear taste for the experimental on a number of tracks throughout the album.

Ambient…

Triac is a new trio project led by Rossano Polidoro of former duo TU M’ whose beautiful 2009 sold out LINE release Monochromes Vol.1 (LINE_040) garnered great acclaim. ??Days is an album of dazzling yet smooth distant drones that almost hover in the air. The sound of the slowest moving picture and subtle flickering lights beyond it. For listeners who appreciate the works of Celer, William Basinski, and Stephan Mathieu.

Abstract…

Ennio Mazzon, Fabio Perletta and Franz Rosati have worked together before in different shapes and forms, but Différances is their first real collaborative album. On it, they manage to retain their very distinct and individual voices whilst still creating a very cohesive work that turns out to be surprisingly moving at times. The album, was recorded live in Rome and mastered by Franz Rosati.

Archive…

M. Zalla was an alias used by the late Piero Umiliani, best known as a soundtrack composer. Released by the ever intriguing Milan based label, Black Sweat Records, this is an extraordinary soundtrack for Italian society’s problems with titles ranging from Azione Sindacale (Trade Union Action) to Mafia Oggi (Mafia Today).

Beats…

Kuoyah is the techno alter ego of Marco Donnarumma. Iride (Italian for Iris) is a sparse nocturnal affair, which is captivating and yet never obvious. Using “drastic vocal edits”, Kuoyah goes for a fragmented approach that frequently sways off course, only to revert to a cogent and accessible direction.

Electroacoustic…

Tiziano Milani is an acoustic architect by trade, which allows him to create compositions that always have a clear sense of space where delicate sounds are allowed to breath. Following up from his previous album Touch also on Setola di Maiale, Materia is a more introspective and solitary work that builds up a lightly tinged nostalgic atmosphere infused with an occasional fuzzy digital pulse.

Electronic…

“Gorgeous, intricate suite of microscopic, textural dub electronics and bass pulses sounding somewhere between Alva Noto, Pole and Bernard Parmegiani, Italian electro-acoustic maestros Giuseppe Ielasi and Nicola Ratti, aka Bellows, serve an engrossing, labyrinthine LP of freeform concrète dub” on the Boomkat Editions label.

Field Recordings…

Loud Listening is a format created by Alessio Ballerini, Enrico Coniglio and Attilio Novellino, members of the Archivio Italiano Paesaggi Sonori, an association founded to promote the culture of soundscapes. The current material was collected and recorded around the famous glassmaking workshops in Murano and reworked by a number of different artists.

Improv…

Even though Enrico Malatesta and Adam Asnan have played together a number of times, this limited DIY edition is the first official release of their collaborative improv sessions. It sees Enrico Malatesta on drum skins, metal, wooden and rubber objects and Adam Asnan on mixer, playback devices, loudspeakers, and flat objects.

Reel to reel…

Lettera 22 is the duo of Riccardo Mazza and Matteo Castro. General Tempo, released on vinyl by Second Sleep combines tape works and field recording manipulated through reel to reel, tape machines and digital effect to produce a dark and detailed composition that takes no prisoners.

For those who wish to explore things further, here’s the full list of 100+ adventurous releases from Italian artists.

AA/VV – Loud Listening Murano
Ab’She + Uncodified – Applied Misinformation For People Control
Maurizio Abate – Loneliness Desire and Revenge
Adamennon / Altaj – Turiya
Aspec(t) / Zalaski – Droga
Giulio Aldinucci – Yellow Horse
Giulio Aldinucci + Pleq – The Prelude To
Giulio Aldinucci – Spazio Sacro
Giulio Aldinucci – Sagrada Familia
Giulio Aldinucci – Cattedrale di Aleksandr Nevskij
Luigi Archetti – Nul I – VII
Luigi Archetti – Nul IV – VII
Arbre Du Ténéré – La Pelle del Fantasma
Andrea Atzeni – Simbiosi 
Av-k – Fracture
Av-k – Perspective / Prospective
Bakunin Commando – S/T
Alessio Ballerini – Beautiful Ground
Gianluca Becuzzi – Deceptionland
Roberto Begini – Agosto 14
Andrea Belfi + Andres Jancis – Szczyz
Bellows – Rustl 
Maurizio Bianchi + Saverio Evangelista – Micromal Sonorities
Maurizio Bianchi – Ecta
Black Tears – The Long Decline
Cage Suburbia – Argument #03
Massimo Carozzi – Punti Sulla Curva I
Massimo Carozzi – Punti Sulla Curva II
Matter – Paroxysmal 
Mingle – Static
Massa Sonora Concentrata – Boe
Osvaldo Coluccino – Dimensioni
Controlled Bleading / Sparkle in Grey – Perversion of the Aging Savant
Alessandro Cortini – Risveglio
Alessandro Cortini – Forse 3
Alessandro Cortini – Live At Nuit Noire IX
DBPIT & XxeNa / Daniele Pinti – Lympha Obscura
Elena De Angeli – Abbazia di Praglia
Deison + Gianluca Favaron – Nearly Invisible
Deison / Maurizio Bianchi – Black Panorama
Deison + Mingle – Weak Life
Deison + Uggeri – In The Other House
Gianmarco Del Re – St Giles’ Church
Nicola Di Croce – Istruttiva Serie
Giovanni Di Domenico / Jim O’Rourke – Arco
Riccardo Dillon Wanke – Cuts
Riccardo Dillon Wanke – Oxidation States
The Doubling Riders – Garama
Drawing Virtual Gardens – Six Weeks Were Too Long To Wait
Drawing Virtual Gardens – The Osmotic Memory of JJ Bhagee
Ludovico Einaudi – Elements
Ludovico Einaudi – Taranta Project
Everest Magma – Modern/Antique
Exoteric Continet / Primorje – Split
Father Murphy – Lamentations
Father Murphy – Croce
Father Murphy – Calvary
Father Murphy – Pain Is On Our Side
Gianluca Favaron – Forget About Non Grey
Gianluca Favaron + Stefano Gentile – Entretien
Francesco Giannico + Thollem McDonas + Amy Denio – Erased
Francis M Gri – Empty Town
Stefano Guzzetti – Ensemble
Haruo Okada + Fabio Perletta – Kaiko
Heroin in Tahiti – Sun and Violence
Honzo – Das Unheimliche
Hunter/Game – Genesis
Giuseppe Ielasi – Untitled (Riga)
Joie De Vivre – Il portiere di notte
Joie De Vivre – Non Guardarmi/Vergogna
Kuoyah – Iride
Lettera 22 – General Tempo
Limbo – My whip Your Flesh
Mace. – Splendore Finanziario
Enrico Malatesta – Mèza Matèna
Enrico Malatesta + Adam Asnan – Superficie e Familiare
Elio Martusciello + Fabrizio Casti – Chamber Rites
Mazzon + Perletta + Rosati – Différances 
Metzengerstein – Alchemy to Our Days
Tiziano Milani – Materia (Storie da ciò che rimane)
Mushrooms Project – Rio Disco Ep
Mise En Abime – Crimini d’Odio
My Home Sinking – Sleet
Neil On Impression – L’oceano delle onde che restano onde per sempre
Neem Teatriz – 1983
Nimh – Black Silences
Not Waving – Human Remixes
Not Waving – Get Serious
Not Waving – Voices
Novellino + Rosi – Lanificio Leo
Fabio Orsi – Just for a Thrill
Fabio Orsi + Claudio Rocchetti – Act Number Acht
Perquod – Ex
Stefano Pilia – Blind Sun New Century Christology
Salvatore Piras – Zagreb Cathedral
Polbrone – Calypso Deep
Plaster – Mainframe
Pietro Riparbelli – Vacuum
Prima Materia – Prima Materia
Fabrizio Paterlini – Live in Bratislava
Fabrizio Paterlini – Collected Songs
Nicola Ratti – Wounded Boys
Pietro Riparbelli – Duomo di Volterra
Franz Rosati – Black Body Radiation
Saffronkeira – Synedoche
Samaru – Things Left Unsaid
Mauro Sambu – …ora combaciava perfettamente
Dario Sanfilippo + Sec_ – Fame D’aria
Satan is my Brother – They Made Us Climb Up Here
Shapednoise – Different Selves
Luca Sigurtà – Tangle
Luca Sigurtà – Warm Glow
(r) – Il segno del capro
Sec_ – Stalattite 
Somec – Source of Uncertainity
Somec – Arbitrary Function Generator
Sparkle in Grey – Es Proibido Cantar
Squadra Omega – Lost Coast
Squadra Omega – Il serpente nel cielo
Squadra Omega – Altri occhi ci guardano
Tempelhof & Gigi Masin – Hoshi
Templezone – Slowbeats
Giancarlo Toniutti + Tiziano Dominighini – Counterchronology
Triac – Days
Twyxu – Bark
Umanzuki – Porta
Piero Umiliani (M. Zalla) – Problemi d’oggi
Lino (Capra) Vaccina – Andante Ancestrale
Violet Poison – Absence Generator
Virtual Forest – Unconscious Cognition is The Process of Perception
Xu – Panpsychism
Xu – Floater
Xu + Tim Rowe – Blueshift
Manuel Zurria – Landscape with Tears
Zone Démersale – Figura
Zone Démersale – Motore Primo