Italy

Well, before I leave Europe, I better have one more taste of black metal from here in Italy. Or not, ha ha. 

This isn’t any wannabe satanic black metal. This is real Satan musick-sick-sick, the occult ritual prog of the mighty Jacula. Although Jacula's music was considered innovative for its time in prog circles, its dark Satanic leanings were in opposition to the other prog bands of that same era that were decidedly more psychedelic & spacey.

Jacula is the work of Milano Satanist Antonio Bartoccetti, his wife Doris Norton (also known as Fiamma Dello Spirito) computers & effects, organist Charles Tiring & medium Franz Porthenzy to round out the coven.

At times Jacula sound similar to Dario Argento’s favorite Goblin. At other times they seem closer to the music of the classic Hammer Horror films.

Their debut album In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum was released in 1969.

 Jacula - In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum, Gnome Records AR LP 00299, 1969.

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Side 1 -
Ritus

Magister Dixit

Triumphatus Sad

Side 2 -
Veneficium
Initiatio
In Cauda Semper

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Paolo Pavan was born in Rome in 1970. He has been studying music since he was a child. He was soon enamoured by jazz music. He studied with influential Italian jazz musicians like Stefano Sabatini & Riccardo Biseo. He received training in composition & electronic music from Michelangelo Lupone. He earned a degree while studing classical piano with Kostantin Bogino. Paolo achieved a second degree in ethnomusicology at Sapienza University.

Since the late 80s Paolo has been playing with several folk, rock, pop & jazz bands in Rome. He has collaborated on numerous studio recording projects. He has performed at musical festivals like The Eddie Lang Jazz Festival, Fabbricando Festival, & the Se Telefonando Festival.

It was after meeting the tenor saxophonist Davide Marinacci that they started playing & re-working classics from Thelonius Monk & John Coltrane in jazz clubs around the capital. The two work & inspire each other in many ways. Looking for a Way Out is just one of those ways.

Performing on Looking for a Way Out are: Paolo Pavan – piano, keyboards, & computer programming; David Medina – bass & double bass; Marco Roccuzzo – double bass; Michele Villari – soprano & alto saxophone; Davide Marinacci – tenor saxophone; Daniele Arena – trumpet; Fabrizio Boccardelli, Alessandro Cioffi, & Stefano Baldasseroni – drums. Cover painting by Mariarosaria Stigliano. Produced by Paolo & Roberto Pavan.

 Paolo Pavan – Looking for a Way Out, Self –produced, 2012. 

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Tracklist –

Opposites

Urban Slanging

Silent

Through the Night

Blue Night Dancing

Looking for a Way Out

Second

In Praise of Honey Rose

Third

Pablito’s Way

Slow Change

What’s Up?

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Massimo Di Nocera is an Italian guitarist/composer. He was born October 3, 1974 in Castellammare di Stabia, Naples, Italy. As a musician he tried many different kind of music. He started with classical music & pass through many genres until he began experimenting with electronic music. He reached a balancing point of softness & firmness through meditation. He settled into his own personal style of ‘soft wave music’. After a long period spent in the process of personal introspection & growth, he created a brand new musical project which he christened Music is Love. It is the music of love of our planet & all things that it holds. It is made in the spirit of the Nature. 

In the summer of 2010, in the Tuscany countryside, Massimo recorded 10 new songs in the style of Music is Love. He was joined by some old friends, Fulvio on bass & Soma on vocals. He experimented on two tracks with a new instrument for him, the teponaztli, a drum of Aztec origin. He has described this release as ‘a soundscape as infinite as the infinite sky, but with a bit of samba, bossa nova,& songs to sing along with’.

 Massimo Di Nocera – Armonica, 2010. 

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Tracklist –

Family

Medioriente

Si

Cantar

Canto Cuore

Fioritura

The Real Opposite

Immensita

Sing for the Rain

Sunlight

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Sostrah Tinnitus is the solo dark ambient project of Mario Costa from Chiavari, Italy which he began in 2002. He was previously half of the band Tvmvlvs Seraphim. Like TS, ST is dark droning ambient. The music is murky & cavernous, almost completely lacking any sort of melody. Great music to play as you drift off to Dreamland.

Costa has called Dark Ambient an “exhausted mine”. He has tried to dig in unexplored areas, attempting to mine fresh gems from unheard veins. So even though his connection to the music is still there in terms of genre, his output points in a completely different direction than much of the dark ambient has travelled. His love for art house cinema, his barren orchestrations, his minimal but highly effective doses of noise, & his intelligently arranged & complexly structured compositions with many overlapping & interleaved passages have shone through his music. Sostrah Tinnitus’ music is about the contrasts between the nocturnal & the brightly illuminated, the earthly & the ethereal, the sinister & the stunningly beautiful, the epic & the concise.

Mario Costa – electronics, lo-fi tape, rainstick, shells, metal objects, & stones. Limited to 100 hand-numbered copies.

 Sostrah Tinnitus –Caravanserraglio, Blade Records wmda068, 2005.
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Tracklist -

Smell Moisture After the Rain           

Meadow of Anemophilous    

Il Cimitero Delle Tartarughe  

Miramar

The Drowned City (long version)      

Transcentral I

Transcentral II

Enjoy,

NØ