Having had the privilege and pleasure to catch this dazzlingly deviant duo in concert on several occasions this decade, this album of covers seemed all but inevitable. Here, much to my delight, the diminutive diva and her frizzy-haired ivory tickler present some of these practiced though never before released songs on disc for the very first time.
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After a prolonged absence, Italy's Eidvlon re-emerge into the harsh light of day for the first time in seven years with Idolatriae, a heavy trove of dark mutterings and arcane rumblings extracted from the deepest recesses of both the human psyche and the dankest caverns of earth.
The stark packaging adorning this CD gives no hint of the majesty of David Jackman's latest drone opus. Omega marks the third and final instalment of a trilogy that started with Sanctus on Robot Records and continued with Amen, also on Die Stadt.
The late period Elvis sideburns that Albin Julius has been sporting in recent photos do not seem to be simply an aesthetic selection: he has fully embraced the cult of rock and roll. Although vestiges remain, he and the rest of the band have pushed away from the neofolk and avant garde martial trappings of the past into their own semi-perverted form of rock music.
The Room40 label is quickly establishing itself as a touchstone for oblique, esoteric electronic experimentation. So on first glance, this album's cover art of a flower seems somewhat out of place among the austere design and digital graphic manipulations. It is, however, a very appropriate image given that beyond all of the digital processing and trappings, what lies beneath the layers is a subtle, beautifully melodic work that retains the innate warmth of the acoustic instruments that form the source material of these tracks.
Attention American Idol contestants! Luigi Tenco failed to make the final of the 1967 San Remo Festival. As a protest against the jury's taste in music, he shot himself in the head. The song Tenco performed was "Ciao Amore Ciao" and had I been judging he would still have pulled the trigger. However....
