Atleticodefina
Atleticodefina

THE REVIEW

35 minutes of "indieperfection." Tara ta taaaaa. Welcome back to my usual self-managed new-releases space. Ready? Go! Here is one of the best Italian rock products of the year about to end. I'll start with the "marginal notes," as it's always recommended to let the excitement build up gradually.

"Atleticodefina" is the musical project of Pasquale De Fina, the soul of Volwo and a rather quirky yet incredibly inspired musician. De Fina comes to this project after the live experience of Cristina Donà's first album and after contributing to the success of the Agnelli (Manuel, Afterhours) - Clementi (Emidio, Massimo Volume) performance. The album was released on November 11 by the label Lucente and distributed by Venus, which around this time last year had also "spread" another respectable rock product, namely Outside The Loop Stupendo Sensation by Meganoidi. "Atleticodefina" was recorded at Officine Meccaniche under the guidance of Mauro Pagani and inside the Maitai Studio of Gianluca Mancini; the album comes to life thanks to an extremely interesting musical collaboration. The lineup consists, besides the good Pasquale (guitar and vocals), of excellent musicians among whom stand out the names Giorgio Prette (drums, Afterhours) and Andrea Viti (bass, Afterhours).

Having said that, we can now delve "inside." The album sounds good. Really good. Essentially, it's an album with a garage flavor with a few tiny, almost imperceptible, experiments in latent electronics. Sometimes you catch hints that recall the rough blues of the last Desert Sessions, the sound of the paralyzing lullabies of "the red man of the desert," and there's also something somewhat similar to "No One Knows" in the guitars of "Il Modo Migliore," but rather than calling it pilfering, I'd call it inspiration (today I feel generous... ). The album is excellently conceived in the lyrics: romantic yet filled with resentment and resignation to living without certainties. The music changes its skin significantly from track to track, and overall, the album appears at times dark and oppressive, like a foreshadowing of something terrible ("Fermatevi"), other times simple, fluid, and on the brink of pop's abyss ("Beautiful Loser").

Often "Atleticodefina" turns on a giant fan behind the listener's back and pushes them one step further; equally often, the rhythm abruptly slows down and the storm seems to have passed. Mad and hypnotic in the structure of some tracks ("Viola"), just mad in the fast and corrosive pace of others ("Mio Fratello Ha Il Vento In Faccia"). Besides the inevitable Afterhours, you can trace "significant segments" of Syd Barrett and a remarkable "sonic grudge" that pulls down, underground, a production that unknowingly but inevitably was born underground before even being conceived. Some might say there's too much melody here and that the album "doesn't risk enough" compared to English or American productions. I don't care: for our country, this music is a good dose of courage and quality. Indeed, this album is not merely an excellent artistic step for a promising musician: it is for all intents and purposes one of the (potentially) most pleasant experiences between you and the "Skip" button of the entire solar year. And it's an Italian production. Tara ta taaaa. New-releases space concluded. Enjoy your meal.