Causa Sui
Summer Sessions Vol. I

LA RECENSIONE

"The Magical World of Vinyl" 

 I have always been slow to grasp technological changes in general, even more so in the musical field. Raised with my sisters' vinyl records, in my teenage years, I was proud (snobbism or foresight?) of not wanting to bow to the expensive and cold world of the CD, only to capitulate in '96. It took me another 5 years to understand the usefulness of a portable CD player, and another 4 to conceive of the mp3 player (I-Pod, if I spend, I spend well).

Until reaching the perilous step I have just taken: the purchase of a turntable (the old one died in '96 indeed). Now I find myself in a moral impasse: do I need to rebuy everything on vinyl, thus accommodating a mere consumerist urge by disguising it as nostalgic, or select purchases by type of music? The other doubt is of a social kind: should I start putting on airs, maybe always saying that "music sounds better on vinyl", or should I just ignore it and consider vinyl enthusiasts as lunatics out of the asylum? I still sincerely do not know, what is certain is that the straw that broke the camel's back, namely the piggy bank of hard-earned savings, was precisely this record by Causa Sui, released in 500 numbered copies by the label of Colour Haze, the German Elektrohasch.

A band itself so far little significant: owner of two interesting records, but too canonically stoner-psych to stimulate my desires. For this reason, too, I initially received a pretentious title like "Summer Sessions Vol I" with indifference. A huge mistake, because after losing the singer, the rest of the band locked themselves in the studio and in a few sessions came out with an absolutely masterful album of full-on instrumental psychedelia. Imagine the Motorpsycho ultra-psychedelic of the mid-'90s (period "Timothy's Monster"/"Angels And Demons At Play"), with kyussian spices according to the script, but also forays into the kraut(more)rock of Ash Ra Tempel and Agitation Free, guitar escapes in memory of Jerry Garcia and Latin-tribal rhythms winking at Santana (but without the Mars Volta's prolixity).

Four tracks, one of which is a massive 24-minute piece, representing the best retro-psychedelia in circulation. 

"Viva La Vinyl"