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Rating: Well, yes, even Italy had its electronic standard-bearers in the punk era. Krisma came to light in 1976. They were a duo formed by Maurizio Arcieri and his wife, Christina Moser (initially they were called Chrisma, from CHRIS-tina and MA-urizio).
Arcieri already had some fame as a singer, towards the end of the 60s, with the "New Dada". The collection in question is from 2001. It includes the band's first four albums, re-recorded by Arcieri at the AREASTUDIO in Milan between October and November 2000, and is an excellent testimony of what they were and represented, in an Italy still grappling with a progressive, now a victim of its own art.
The group had an international reach unknown at the time. They immediately moved to England, where they befriended the Greek composer Vangelis and his brother Nico Papathanassion, who was the artistic director of Polygram at the time. These prestigious collaborations made their first album, "Chinese Restaurant", from 1977, a small gem, with lyrics strictly in English, which made them compared by New Melody Maker even to the Velvet Underground. The evidence of that work is immediately in the opening track, "Lola", an electronic tango sung in an interrogative tone by Arcieri, which then leaves space for Christina's sensual register, among Spanish-style guitar embroideries and vibrant synthesizer lines. A warm yet icy track, mixing Teutonic influences with a Latin soul.
"C-Rock" is instead an obsessive raga that indeed brings to mind the Velvet Underground remixed by Neu!. Definitely a successful mix... "Mandoia" picks up the theme of "Lola", leaning towards an exotic synthetic bolero, punctuated by plucked guitar interventions. In the end, "Clandestine Anticipation" can be defined as an excellent debut, where experimentation and melody naturally intertwine.
Representing the subsequent "Hibernation", from 1979, (released on silver vinyl) there is the fascinating "Aurora B", which besides being one of their most famous songs, caused a sensation at the time due to its provocative video. It is a ballad for liquid piano, folk guitar, and drum machine, enriched by the usual icy electronics. But the real strength was Christina's sexy singing, in a lethal cold and erotic tone that enchants and seduces. "Lover" embodies the project’s more rock soul, while "Got Got Electron" brings Kraftwerk back to metropolitan chaos.
The next "Cathode Mamma" was released in 1980, and shifts towards a more danceable and commercial sound. Driven by the single "Many Kisses", an engaging synth-pop with a compelling rhythm, which nonetheless has little of the experimentation of previous works, it also stood out for the title track, also very catchy but of superior craftsmanship, a hypnotic mechanical dance on a robotic rhythm of clear Kraftwerkian ancestry. The album was made in collaboration with Hans Zimmer, who had previously worked with Ultravox.
When it seems that a sound increasingly directed towards melody is on the horizon, even if only for the simple fact that the two sign a contract with Cgd, willing to invest a lot of money in them, sensing their commercial potential, Krisma surprise everyone and release in '82 "Clandestine Anticipation" a work with a prophetic title, of very sharp sounds. The CD contains six tracks from this album. It starts with "Miami" a long journey into the most hypnotic techno-house, tinged with numbing tribalism, stunned by disturbed vocalizations in the distance, and sparkling electronic notes in the foreground. A memorable track.
"Melonarpo" is characterized by synths of clear German ancestry, (echoes of "Antenna" by Kraftwerk), with really remarkable dynamics for the time, which had few rivals around. The demented frenzy of "Bee-Bop" continues the discourse, interrupted only by "Skyline ", the only melodic opening. To be honest, there are also some ingenuities, but it is nonetheless a courageous and in some ways avant-garde work, which, it need not be emphasized, was a real commercial flop.
Stop. The CD is finished, but what Krisma represented remains in the notes of Italian music. A rare example of artistic courage, which nonetheless led them, and this makes one reflect, to emigrate. Recommended, even just to get a "different" idea of the tricolor music scene.
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