Franco Battiato
As a student of Karlheinz Stockhausen , Franco Battiato was enthusiastic about electronic music, and found his voice as a minimalist composer who combined avant-garde minimalism , experimental rock , and popular forms into a strange hybrid of abstract sound that touches on Kraut-like passages. Titles such as "Una Cellula," "Energia," "Fenomenologia," and "Mutazione" may indicate that this is a heavy concept album indeed, and the theme of birth and rebirth may well have been a hot topic of the time.
As a student of Karlheinz Stockhausen , Franco Battiato was enthusiastic about electronic music, and found his voice as a minimalist composer who combined avant-garde minimalism , experimental rock , and popular forms into a strange hybrid of abstract sound that touches on Kraut-like passages. Titles such as "Una Cellula," "Energia," "Fenomenologia," and "Mutazione" may indicate that this is a heavy concept album indeed, and the theme of birth and rebirth may well have been a hot topic of the time.
Member of: Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale, Telaio Magnetico
Foetus
* Limited clear Green vinyl edition / Silver laminated cover* English language version! Fetus, housed in a outrageous cover (reproducing a foetus) was definitely a prog album, but a very original one, with a minimalist sound mainly based on the use of a VCS3 synth, unusual lyrics, complex arrangements. Deluxe remastered issue, gatefold cover. "Fetus is an album beyond all definition. It's a masterpiece of daring and wild risks that work every single time. Franco Battiato takes us through eight u…
La Convenzione / Paranoia (7")
* 2021 Stock. * Pollution from 1972 is the captivating follow-up to Fetus. Like its predecessor, the album features Baroque textures, motorik rhythms, weird tape effects and Franco Battiato’s perfectly oblique vocals, with a minimalist sound mainly based on the use of a VCS3 synth, unusual lyrics, complex arrangements: upon hearing Pollution, Frank Zappa joyfully proclaimed it “genius.” While Battiato’s core group of collaborators remains largely the same as on his debut, this phenomenal band (j…
La Voce Del Padrone (40th Anniversary) LP
* Black vinyl, 180 gr. LP with printed inner * The turning-point of Franco Battiato's career: from uncompromising experimentation and progressive electronica to catchy melodies and refrains. The transition had already begun with L'era del cinghiale bianco, but "La voce del padrone" made it complete: its seven refinate synth-pop, with a bit of Krautrock influence, anthems catapulted the album to the top of the hit parade and made it the best-selling Italian album ever. Meticulously produced, with…
M.elle Le "Gladiator"
Before Franco Battiato went flying into the sun of mininalist avant prog... he gave us this absolute classic of an album. A dense ambient electronic album with some avant sections that hint broadly on where he would be heading in the years down the road. This album was the culmiination of his early electronic period. The avant hints that were dropped in Sulle Corde di Aries are even more pronounced here, and possbily more fully realized. A incredible album.
The opening track, Goutez Et Comparez,…
Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale
** 500 copies only reissue, housed in its original artwork with the addition of a bonus 7" EP, a reproduction of a giant original poster and 3 inserts** Giacomo “Mino” di Martino started his musical career in several early 1960s Italian beat bands. By 1968 he had found enormous success with pop superstars I Giganti. After a brief split in 1970 –during which Mino formed Il Supergruppo with Ricky Gianco and other greats of the Italian scene– he came back to I Giganti in 1971. With them and with ne…
Live 1975 (Expanded Version)
**Small repress available, with new cover** Reissue with unreleased tracks from the only one tour of this super group assembled in 1975 by Franco Battiato, Lino Capra Vaccina, Juri Camisasca, Mino Di Martino, Roberto Mazza, Terra Di Benedetto. Presenting a remarkable range of his country’s visionary musical minds. The album encounters Battiato at the height of his powers and in the midst of crucial juncture in his career - the transition between his early experimental rock efforts from the firs…
Live 1975
Telaio Magnetico is the supergroup formed by Franco Battiato. Their only recorded output consists of a session featuring Juri Camisasca, Lino "Capra" Vaccina, Mino Di Martino (founder of the "enigmatic" ALBERGO INTERGALATTICO SPAZIALE posted previously here), Terra Di Benedetto, Roberto Mazza and Franco Battiato. Their music consists of ethereal voices against floating abstract soundscapes, free spaced-out electronic sections and wonderfully twisted cosmic dreamlike improvisations. An abstract-p…
Za
This is another one of Franco Battiato's amazing recordings from the 70's, and it features two extended pieces -- "ZA" and "Café Table Musik". "Za" is a long piece for solo piano, with lots of spare minimal moments, and haunting trancelike lines of chords that build very very slowly. It's a beautiful exercise in restraint, and the kind of haunting soundscape that Battiato is legendary for. "Café Table Musik" is a bit more complex, although it's still got minimal piano progressions as its core. T…
Vietato ai minori di 18 anni
* Gatefold cardboard cover with 12-page booklet (photos, lyrics and liner notes in Italian and English) * One of the best italian progressive rock/experimental album released in Italy "Vietato ai minori di 18 anni?" is Jumbo's third album from 1973, is their most ambitious work, containing strong lyrics and fragments of avantgarde-inspired music, with the help of Franco Battiato's great VCS3 oscillators and Lino Capra Vaccina's (of Aktuala fame) bells and chimes' sinister tolling. Long spacey an…