La Piramide Di Sangue
Tebe

National-snobism

Which doesn't mean being snobbish towards current or past national socialists (also because besides being snobby, it would call for being violent, at least verbally) but rather a certain snubbing of Italian musical productions. A disease I've been afflicted with practically forever, regardless of the language used in music. Every time I read about the geographical origin in a review, I stop reading on the spot.

I know it's a downright flaw, especially since we are currently living in a truly fertile period (so they tell me) in the Italian music scene, on the path towards liberation from parochialism and mimicry. In my opinion, we strangely have to thank St. Download. Let me explain: since buying records is rapidly becoming like Subbuteo, that is, a craze for the few and by the few, no one is making real money with music anymore. And if before some artistic choices of Italian bands could have been moderated by the mirage of success and money, now, apart from some mindless fool going to X Factor, there’s just no more gravy for the cats. And so the cats are starting to eat everywhere, with significant gains for our eardrums.

Unthinkable, even just 15 years ago, to find an eclectic and exciting ensemble like La Piramide Di Sangue. A septet composed of two basses, two guitars, drums, synth, and clarinet, a creation of the singer of Movie Star Junkies, but here he keeps the words to himself. La Piramide doesn't speak, it just plays (and excels). But above all, it explores. It explores musical realities "other", not only compared to our musical realm but also compared to the Anglo-Saxon rock coordinates: from the more freaky krautrock of Amon Duul, Agitation Free, and Guru Guru, through cosmic jazz, to a Middle and Eastern approach, from Turkey to Southeast Asia.

Really difficult to choose the best tracks, from the opening "Sangue", between lamenting clarinet, wah-wah, and tribal rhythm, to "L'invasione delle locuste" at the close (a very strange intersection between Helmet guitar, sax, and free jazz style clarinet...and a muezzin), "Tebe" has no slumps, on the contrary, it boasts enviable internal cohesiveness and an astounding polychromy of styles and genres. "Tu getti sale sulle mie ferite" alternates guitar rides, with almost math rock breaks and a hypnotic tail; "Io sono la tigre" starts like an improbable Maghrebian Santana, to continue on the almost lascivious notes of the clarinet; "Sandalo" is a perfect yet hardly imaginable copulation between American math rock and dervish dance. Finally "Complotti a Tebe" best synthesizes the moods and dissonances of all the other tracks.

Psychedelic album of the past year? Almost...