Neo
Water Resistance

Neo is a trio consisting of Manlio Maresca on guitar, Carlo Conti on tenor saxophone, and Antonio Zitarelli on drums. After participating in the Arezzo Wave of 2003 and releasing two self-produced albums, they arrive at their third effort titled "Water Resistance," released by Megasound in 2009.

This album is a lightning concentration of instrumental jazz-core, a free jazz experimentation that seeks to fuse different genres such as blues and punk with elements more openly drawn from prog-rock. At times, the purest avant-garde noise-making shines through, but it's always well-calibrated and filtered through the purity and clarity that only the most improvisational and non-conformist jazz can make its own.

Overwhelming sounds as in "Delirio Tremenz" or "Opus Reticulatum," a concentration of angular, complex rhythms with the most diverse influences. More classical, soft, and decidedly captivating sounds can be found in tracks like "Come trasformare il divertimento", to be savored with a good glass of aged Scottish whisky served with ice cubes, in an environment preferably adorned with dim atmospheres and subdued lighting.

Complex music, therefore, articulated but conceived for the simple pleasure of playing and giving free rein to the unbridled technique and creativity, but never self-serving, of the trio from Terracina.

Recommended album for fans of jazzcore made in Italy, a movement that is increasingly establishing itself and gaining followers even abroad, also thanks to the continuous collaborations produced by the musicians of this scene.

A special acknowledgment also goes to the dark and ultimately successful artwork of illustrator Elena Rapa, already known in the industry thanks to her work for Donna Bavosa.

"Water Resistance" will delight enthusiasts of cross-genre contamination, not only an album that will provide intense emotions to the ears of listeners with the most refined palates but also offer striking sensations to those seeking in music complex passages, brainy rhythms, and countertimes to savor multiple times, to be understood and assimilated along the way during the listening experience.

A successful and engaging album from the first to the last note, and for this, terribly fascinating.

For more insights into the offer, I direct you to their Myspace page.