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Rating: This compilation from Spittle Records is hot off the press, an LP that also includes a CD with 18 songs, featuring cover art that leaves no doubt about the musical era: a double-breasted trench coat that was very much in vogue at the time and beloved by many TV detectives, and the wording "rare and unreleased tracks from Milan's underground new wave scene".
Recordings once forgotten in drawers and resurrected for the occasion, mostly recorded live or on 4-track, but what immediately stands out is the clean sound and consistently well-crafted structures.
Roland and Korg drums and arpeggiators take center stage, while some instrumental tracks really make one lament the absence of a vocal line.
It's inevitable to feel the influence of Anglo-Saxon new wave, but there's an attempt to break free and explore new directions, even through interesting experimental paths.
In fact, it starts with Aus Decline, who seek their own path between electronics and punk, followed by Oh Oh Art, who display a singer with a voice reminiscent of Orzabal from Tears for Fears in a song that, if well produced, would not have looked out of place among the new wave hits of the time.
For the subsequent Der Blau Reiter, Tirone's voice bears an impressive resemblance to Ian Curtis, and the track sounds like it came from a Joy Division demo tape. Chilling atmosphere, truly beautiful.
2+2=5 are perhaps the most well-known band in the compilation, and the dub version of one of their songs decidedly confirms their skill and the ability of La Loggia and Hagiwara to make synthesizers suffer.
For After Budapest, a pioneering electronic duo, the song must float over an incessant and fast bass sequencer, well sung and very dark.
The influence of Pop Group on Nobody is evident, but far from being a bad thing. On the contrary, the track is enjoyable in its convoluted and experimental journey, as their masters teach.
Actor's Studio, on the other hand, plunge into a track made of dance arpeggios, fresh and fun, regrettably lacking a voice.
Instead, the only female voice is that of Jeunesse D'Ivoire, whose atmospheric track, with only an accompanying keyboard and the sound of the sea in the background, has a great crescendo.
With Scunt, the direction turns toward the world of The Cure's Seventeen Seconds, a melancholic and cold dark sound, even without electronic support: bass, guitar, drums, and voice, with just a thread of keyboard.
Through12 offer us an experimental electronic piece reminiscent of the Berlin sound.
State of Art (Mark II) close strongly with a great funky track, fun, with a superbly played sax as the chorus.
Listening to this compilation multiple times, one imagines what future these songs and bands might have had with serious and capable production, as was happening across the Channel, perhaps finding the courage to perform a few tracks in their native language: perhaps we wouldn't have had only the Decibel carrying the flag of Milanese new wave, with an undoubted advantage for Italian music in the '80s.
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