Atom Sounds Music News

Like many other bands, “The River” springs from a shared passion for music. Davide Leone (voice/guitar/piano) and Andrea Cignarelli (electric guitar), both from Trani on the south-east coast of Italy, spent many an evening talking about their musical inspirations (mainly British groups) and aspirations and exchanging albums. As their friendship grew so did the idea of forming a rock group of their own. The long and arduous task of completing the line-up finally came to an end when two young musicians, Massimiliano Di Lauro (bass) and Tommaso Sgarangella (drums), both with plenty of experience both live and in the studio, joined the band. The initial enthusiasm led them to compose numerous tracks, eight of which were recorded in November 2007 in a three-day recording session in their hometown and became part of their first demo “The River”. On the strength of their local popularity, obtained thanks to the demo and to a series of concerts and radio interviews in the local area, The River started to gain recognition on a national level, coming third in the “Contaminazione 2007” contest in Bisceglie, reaching the semifinals (together with nine other groups from an original 800 groups from all over Italy) in the “RockContest” in Florence, obtaining a prize as ‘revelation band’ in the 2008 “Italian Wave” contest, and winning another prize for the best track in the Prove di Rock” in Salerno. A year has passed since the initial formation of the band and without doubt “The River” is flowing well: they have shared the stage with artists such as The Niro, Les Fauves, A Toys Orchestra, Project Komakino (UK) and Violet (UK) and have even attracted the attention of EMI with their single “Don’t Give Back”.

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The “UnderScore” came to life in the spring of 2003 when Pasquale (bass and vocals) and Antonio (former guitarist) decided to set up a cover band. The duo were soon joined by Diego (drums) and Carlo (keyboards) and before long, in the summer of 2004, the group gave up cover songs and started to write their own material, coming out with its first demo in 2005. In April 2006 Antonio left the band and after a number of unsuccessful experiences with other guitarists, the band decided to experiment with a new, melodic and distinctive, guitar-free sound. The experiment proved successful and the sound was at once captured and used to great effect on the four-track “Children On Birthday” EP.

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Spleen was formed in 2004 when 6 musicians came together for the first time: Mimmo Di Cicco (drums), Antonio Isernia (bass), Stefano Formato (guitar), Alessandro Nunziata (guitar), Francesco Pirone (keyboards), Alessandro Granato (vocals). In June 2005 they won the first “Rock Contest” and strated recording the demo “Ghost Note (E)xperiment”. September of the same year saw the first line-up change with Alessandro Nunziata leaving the band to continue playing with a classical progressive quintet. After a number of live gigs and various disagreements over the musical genre of the group, the lead singer Alessandro Granato also left the band, shortly followed by the keyboard player Francesco Pirone. It was not a good moment for the group, but the three remaining founder members remained hopeful and eventually put together a new quintet with the singer Enzo Conte and the talented keyboard player Adriano Aponte who was to become a key figure in the future of the band. Having regained a certain stability, the band started composing and playing live once again, participating in the “Harley Davidson” motorbike rally in Agerola in April 2006 with bands such as Up The Irons, Marshall and Rain. In June of the same year, with Rosario Vitiello replacing Enzo Conte as lead singer, the group won the “Rock Contest” 2006 and received the opportunity to record a new demo with the voice of Marco Mangiapia. Another period followed with no lead singer until the arrival of Olga Mangiacapra and the participation in April 2007 in one of the major festivals in southern Italy: Heavy Naples – Dual Beat – Agnano, sharing the stage with Paintbox, Gorgeous, Savior from Anger, Loadstar and Marshall. The perennial line-up problem persisted until September 2007 when the band finally found its definitive formation with the return of Marco Mangiapia as lead vocalist ad the arrival of Davide Amodeo on bass. In May 2007 the live compilation CD, “Heavy Naples Fest 2007” (produced by “PMP”) was released and in the following months received reviews in numerous specialized magazines. Spleen opened the show for “Heavy Naples 2008” in March and are still in the running for the finals of the prestigious “Festival di Saint-Vincent”. Meanwhile the group is working hard on a brand new and soon-to-be-released demo CD.

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“Strip in Midi Side” came to light in the summer 2007 as the brand new project of Luigi Buonaiuto (Giotto), Emanuele Sirica (Maks), and Marco DeFilppo (Amon). The team, already tried and tested with years of experience collaborating in various cover bands, immediately focused on an intensive phase of song-writing, searching for a sound that was able to blend a rock/metal/post-punk background with an electronic sound (synths and drum-machine), heir of two decades of avant-guarde Anglo/American but mostly German sounds. Since December 2007 the band has been giving amazing live performances in which the “show-entertainment” feature, together with powerful rhythms, has created a mix of rock, avant-guarde electronica and entertainment that has become the band’s trademark: known as the “stripping experience”.

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“Naadir” came to life in 1999 in Salerno (southern Italy) when four sixteen-year-olds, Diego, Emilio, Stefano and Fabio, set themselves up in a typical and decidedly damp garage and started churning out their first punk-flavoured tracks. In those formative years the boys, aware that the recordings they were making lacked maturity and were heavily influenced by other bands, worked hard on creating and maturing their own sound: a mixture of funk, rock and hardcore, alternating massive distortions with rock ballads and wicked funk. “Naadir” do not claim to be breaking new ground in the world of music, but they do tend to avoid genre labelling. They consider themselves part of a movement of bands that is trying to do something undefined and unpredictable with music, strong in the conviction that all art forms have to be a creative reaction to life and not simply a blind following of fashion. This attitude is more than evident in the group’s demo CD “Synapticollapse” which came out at the end of 2006. Since then the group has concentrated its energy on playing live and has taken part in numerous events and competitions, winning on a number of occasions including, most recently, the “Prove di Rock 2008” competition in Salerno. Although obviouly proud of these recent achievements, “Naadir” have their eyes set on the future: well aware that the road ahead is long and firmly convinced that it is full of even greater potential.

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The “UnderScore” came to life in the spring of 2003 when Pasquale (bass and vocals) and Antonio (former guitarist) decided to set up a cover band. The duo were soon joined by Diego (drums) and Carlo (keyboards) and before long, in the summer of 2004, the group gave up cover songs and started to write their own material, coming out with its first demo in 2005. In April 2006 Antonio left the band and after a number of unsuccessful experiences with other guitarists, the band decided to experiment with a new, melodic and distinctive, guitar-free sound. The experiment proved successful and the sound was at once captured and used to great effect on the four-track “Children On Birthday” EP.

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The band was formed in 2001 after an online meeting between Antonio Rafaschieri and Gianni Pollex. For about three years the sound of the band was very much based on the unrestrained sounds of the British invasion starting with the Beatles, passing through Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and arriving at the more recent U2, Oasis and Coldplay. Afterwards, with the arrival of the drummer Beppe Garavelli, the bass player Giorgio Cutrignelli and the guitarist Bepy Capasso, the sound scene changed and headed towards an easier musicality, tending more towards an Italian style pop-rock in the wake of artists who have left their mark such as Lucio Battisti, Vasco Rossi, Ligabue. In their own words, “Our aim is to write great songs, catchy tunes, sometimes thoughtful other times danceable, imprinting in the listener’s heart touching choruses which are easy to sing along to. Forced ‘marketability’ with hidden intentions is never a good thing; nonetheless the masses, for good or for bad, are always right and the audience is the only real judge and critic! We make no attempt to hide our aspirations to give life to magnificent concerts for people of every age.”

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If you love psychedelia and rock’n’roll, but above all if you want to listen to a stupendous female voice (a mixture of Grace Slick, Janis Joplin, PJ Harvey, Chrissie Hynde, and a female version of Robert Plant) then Alix is your band. Imagine a dinner party with 2/4 of the first edition of Fu Manchu, John Garcia in his historical guise of Unida and the odd waiter here and there provided by Spirit Caravan and Masters of Reality. Four albums to date: Alix (1997), Cuore in Bocca (1999), Nessun Brivido (2001), Ground (2004), which have made them famous in the stoner circuits of half of Europe. In 2000 the group shared the stage of the Heineken Jammin’ Festival in Imola with Muse, Guano Apes, Primal Scream and Rage Against the Machine, as winners of the first edition of RockrEvolution. In 2003, the European tour with the Norwegian group Pawnshop and the Swedish group Dozer earned Alix the title of “Italian Psychedelic Groove Rock Band”. The year 2004 saw them on tour again in Europe, this time with the American group The Hidden Hand, the new band of Scott “Wino” Weinrich (famous for his participation in Dave Grohl’s Probot project). An exceptional review of the album Ground came from the English magazine Kerrang! which awarded the band with a (KKKK). In 2005/2006 the group performed live in various tours both in Italy and abroad. A new album to be recorded in February 2008 will be mixed by Steve Albini, producer of Nirvana, Stooges, Pixies and many others. The album will be recorded at Red House Recordings in Senigallia.

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“Yampapaya” is the extraordinary result of a collaboration between two artists from different cultures: David James Hoffman, an American singer and songwriter, and Augustin Bizimana (Bixas Liberatore), a singer and songwriter from the Congo. The group’s roots go back to 1984 when David James Hoffman followed his father, an American diplomat, to China where he formed a multiracial group with Eastern, Western and African musicians known at the time as “Beijing Underground”. Sponsored by the Chinese Society for the Development of Culture and Art and by the Chinese Philharmonic Society, the band did a number of highly successful tours around China, devolving the proceeds to the Chinese fund for the handicapped. After this experience David started to focus his multiethnic style more directly on Africa with lyrics in English, French and African dialects such as Lingala and Swahili. The group was soon defined as a “musical melting pot, full of energy, melting together harmonies and rhythms of different continents”. In 1986 David moved to Hong Kong where he continued his “musical laboratory” first calling his band “Afrozilia” then “Ado” and finally “Yampapaya” (which in Thai means “spicy mixed salad”). In 1990 David moved back to the USA, feeling the need to embark on new projects with musicians from Cuba and south America and experimenting with new rhythms and harmonies such as the Zouk, Calypso and Reggae. In 1994 the group transfered to Europe and took up residence in Italy where they are now promoting their original musical style which ranges from soukous to funk and from reggae to rock. With the participation of artists and instruments from America, Africa, Italy and Cuba, Yampapaya is the living proof that music is limitless and without frontiers.

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A driving passion for music and an overriding desire to play in front of a live audience led to the birth of the Acousticherie project at the end of the year 2005. The line-up includes two acoustic and classical guitarists: Ivan Melis and Elia Casu, a drummer and percussionist: Stefano Vacca, and a singer: Giulio Muscas, with the addition in October 2007 of the bass player: Matteo Muntoni. An instrumentation at the limit of acoustic sometimes filtered with effects to create a more original and particular sound. The group’s repertoire, which ranges from rock ’n’ roll to swing, from bossa nova to the sweetest of ballads and includes ethnic and experimental music, revisits and reinvents in acoustic form the most famous and powerful songs that have characterized the history of music from the beginning of the 20th century up to the present day. Contact with their audiences was immediate from the outset and live exhibitions have given an extra kick to a group already highly charged and well harmonized. Acousticherie has performed live on innumerable occasions, some considerably important, and has had the opportunity to play alongside a number of eminent artists such as the renowned musician Enzo Favata. In the winter of 2006/07 the group produced its first studio album entitled, quite simply, “Acousticherie” which saw the collaboration of a number of friends whose contribution has further enriched what was already a highly individual sound.

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