Eight classic tracks by the legendary band of Demetrio Stratos for two electric guitars and live electronics: an unconventional and provocative re-work of Area music, between free improvisation, jazz, rock and progressive.
Maledetti
[Area Music]:
1. Evaporazione
2. La Mela di Odessa [1920]
3. Cometa Rossa
4. Hommage à Violette Nozières
5. L’Elefante Bianco
6. Luglio, agosto, settembre (nero)
7. Vodka Cola
8. Il Bandito del deserto
Enrico Merlin, Valerio Scrignoli:
electric guitars
[playing through Fattoria Mendoza stomp boxes]
«This is an album dedicated to Area ‘International Popular Group’, the most important and innovative band in italian music history. Maledetti has been a great challenge for us: we wanted to play Area music in a ‘sacrilegious’ and odd way, we didn’t want a replica. Our guitars live in a perpetual tension and we are contemporary musicians, our Area reinterpretation is not a tribute, but a ‘re-playing’ and ‘re-writing’». These are the certain words of Enrico Merlin and Valerio Scrignoli, two of the most exciting electric guitar players in Italy and abroad: they have different experiences, different styles, tastes and musical horizons, but have a common vision, because both love to explore the boundaries between musical genres. Maledetti (Area Music) contains eight Area classic songs reworked by two electric guitars and live-electronics: is released by Musicamorfosi (distr. Egea Music), the longtime Milan-based label that produces high quality music and festivals.
Evaporazione (from Maledetti, 1976), La Mela di Odessa (from Crac!, 1975), Cometa Rossa (from Caution Radiation Area, 1974), Hommage à Violette Nozières (from 1978 Gli dei se ne vanno, gli arrabbiati restano, 1978), L’Elefante Bianco (from Crac!, 1975), Luglio, agosto, settembre (nero)(from Arbeit Macht Frei, 1973), Vodka Cola e Il Bandito del deserto (both from 1978 Gli dei se ne vanno, gli arrabbiati restano, 1978): these are the eight Area tracks played live in studio by Merlin and Scrignoli, capturing the sparks of a practice and philosophy much important for them, the free improvisation. Maledetti is not a tribute-album: Area music is just the starting point for a guitar trip around the expressive opportunities offered by improvisation, walking through jazz, rock, electronic, progressive, funk, avantgarde and fusion. These two flaming and visionary guitars play legendary tracks once marked by the outstanding voice of Demetrio Stratos, furthermore they play some 1978 tracks, when Paolo Tofani and his distinctive guitar were no longer in the band. They work on surprising ideas, developments and connections, moving from Area to Joe Zawinul, Miles Davis or King Crimson, and James Bond theme too.
Enrico Merlin says: «When Musicamorfosi proposed us to face and play Area, I thought it was very crazy… Area music is very complex, it contains a lot of improvisation strictly connected to very constructed compositions, full of odd time signatures and polyrhythms. In our opinion Area music is a sort of “sacred repertoire”, but we have decided to search for an alternative way to play it, developing our personal vision of this arduous but amazing music». Valerio Scrignoli adds: «We’ve thrown ourselves into thematic fragments of Area music: we’ve let ourselves go and it’s been wonderful. Maledetti is an instant live in studio: two guitars and a lot of pedals, recorded in only six hours, straight away!».
Enrico Merlin (Milan, 1964) is one of the most intriguing personalities in the european music scene. Guitar player, author, teacher, curator for various jazz festivals, Merlin is known for the unconventional aspect of his work: he writes music for theatre and plays in outlandish bands Frank Sinapsi, Molester sMiles and Funky Football, his essay about Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew is one of the most complete about.
Valerio Scrignoli (Milan, 1960) is one of the most original musicians of the italian avant-jazz scene. Playing since Eighties, he is a jazz-trained guitar player but many bands and projects – from jazz to rock – feature his own style: he worked with great italian musicians as Giulio Martino, Carlo Nicita, Orange Quartet and above all trombonist Giovanni Falzone, very appreciated for the albums Around Jimi, Led Zeppelin Suite, Requiem Around Requiem and Rossini Barbiere.
Maledetti (Area Music) has been launched with an incredible showcase on 2nd march 2017 in Fondazione Mudima, Milan: an eminent art gallery (the first foundation in Italy for contemporary art) by Gino Di Maggio, who worked a lot with Gianni Sassi, the unforgettable intellectual, publisher, photographer, artist and producer, whose Cramps label released Area music during the Seventies.
Musicamorfosi:
https://www.musicamorfosi.it/maledetti/
