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Fragments (1983 - 1985)

by Little Italy

/
  • 12" LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    LOST TAPES FROM THE NEAPOLITAN - LUCANIAN AVANT-GARDE & NEW WAVE BAND MADE BETWEEN 1983 - 1985

    Fragments is a compilation made with archived materials that Futuribile Records releases on vinyl after having discovered and restored old unreleased tapes from back in the day and made available by the band members themselves. Seven tracks that highlight a collective in continuous transformation and outline their drivers and abilities.
    Little Italy have a horn section that gives them that chromatic vivacity, a typically mutant funk guitar groove, two fatal and dazed female voices who speak many languages (English, French, Italian) reciting collages of cryptic texts evoking modernity through no-sense and cultured quotations; a funk thrill in the basslines and drums solutions that give a nod to the sly disco beat of a specific easy listening, elegant and refined Italo sound. A super-sophisticated sound with the right dose of fusion, proper New Wave, which in the more New-Yorker passages recalls the volcanic and sweaty sound of the contemporary and fellow citizens Bisca, another out-of-the-box band member. The warm Mediterranean wind blowing on some tracks certifies their origin and the exoticism leads Little Italy to drink from that oasis of escape.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Fragments (1983 - 1985) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
Nassau 03:58
2.
Bright Up 03:36
3.
4.
Fast Food 03:55
5.
Fragments 07:01
6.
7.

about

LOST TAPES FROM THE NEAPOLITAN - LUCANIAN AVANT-GARDE & NEW WAVE BAND MADE BETWEEN 1983 - 1985

ENG:

Naples 1982, the earthquake leaves rubble and dismay, unease and misery, smuggling and heroin.
The reconstruction is a shadow that will last more than a decade, it is a shady deal between bureaucrats and criminals.
Naples is an open construction site and the redemption was long coming. There was the "music-music" of the Neapolitan Power, which conquers the national limelight, and a dark and marginal enigma called "VESUWAVE" (especially for those who have not experienced it), that remains so, even after many years. Naples is not a country for young bands that are not familiar with tradition and "bel canto" while the record industry inhabits a platonic and incorruptible world beyond the vault of heaven. At that time five Lucanians and three Neapolitans founded Little Italy, probably a tribute to the homonymous district of New York and inspired by Talking Heads, Contorsions, Polyrock, B-52's, Konk and Liquid Liquid. They have the freedom to experiment and smash the stages of the Italian peninsula festivals more attentive to the new waves as well as participate in some television broadcasts. They basically don’t unnoticed but in spite of the apprenticeship and the kilometers covered in three years of activity (from 1983 to 1985) all they had the chance to record were a couple of songs.

Fragments is a compilation made with archived materials that Futuribile Records releases on vinyl after having discovered and restored old unreleased tapes from back in the day and made available by the band members themselves. Seven tracks that highlight a collective in continuous transformation and outline their drivers and abilities.
Little Italy have a horn section that gives them that chromatic vivacity, a typically mutant funk guitar groove, two fatal and dazed female voices who speak many languages (English, French, Italian) reciting collages of cryptic texts evoking modernity through no-sense and cultured quotations; a funk thrill in the basslines and drums solutions that give a nod to the sly disco beat of a specific easy listening, elegant and refined Italo sound. A super-sophisticated sound with the right dose of fusion, proper New Wave, which in the more New-Yorker passages recalls the volcanic and sweaty sound of the contemporary and fellow citizens Bisca, another out-of-the-box band member. The warm Mediterranean wind blowing on some tracks certifies their origin and the exoticism leads Little Italy to drink from that oasis of escape.
After all, the escape from a world that does not contemplate banality is the synthesis of the 1980s thought. (Words by Fabio Astore)

ITA:

Napoli 1982. Il terremoto lascia macerie e sgomento, disagio e miseria, contrabbando ed eroina.
La ricostruzione è un’ombra lunga più di un decennio, e un affare losco tra burocrati e malavitosi.
Napoli è un cantiere a cielo aperto e il riscatto dietro l’angolo, a passo di tango argentino, nella fantasia, nella cabala, nei più stretti vicoli dei sogni, è di là da venire. C’è la musica-musica del neapolitan power, che conquista la ribalta nazionale, e un enigma chiamato VESUWAVE, oscuro e marginale (soprattutto per chi non l’ha vissuto), che tale resta, a distanza di anni.
Napoli non è un paese per giovani band, per niente avvezze alla tradizione, al bel canto, e l’industria discografica abita un mondo platonico e incorruttibile, oltre la volta celeste.
Così, cinque lucani di Potenza e dintorni, e tre Napoletani – un numero spropositato di ‘cape’ toste – si battezzano Little Italy, probabilmente in omaggio alla Little Italy per antonomasia, quella di New York, imparentandosi ai vari Talking Heads, Contorsions, Polyrock, B-52’s, Konk, Liquid Liquid. Si concedono la libertà di sperimentare calcando i palchi dei Festival della Penisola più attenti alle nuove onde, ma anche quelli di trasmissioni mainstream, quali il ‘Costanzo Show’ e ‘L’Orecchiocchio’, sfoggiando perizia tecnica e pose ieratiche. Non passano inosservati, insomma, ma a dispetto della gavetta e dei chilometri macinati in tre anni di attività (82/85), riescono a immortalare su microsolco un paio di brani e nulla più.
Fragments è una compilation con materiale d’archivio che Futuribile Records stampa su vinile dopo aver rintracciato e restaurato vecchi nastri inediti dell’epoca, messi a disposizione dagli stessi membri della band. La raccolta, contenente sette tracce, mette in luce una band in continua trasformazione, pur nel suo breve volgere, e ne tratteggia pulsioni e capacità. I Little Italy hanno una sezione fiati che conferisce vivacità cromatica, un groove chitarristico tipicamente mutant funk, due voci femminili fatali e svampite che parlano molte lingue (inglese, francese, italiano) e recitano collage di testi criptici, o per meglio dire “fragments”, evocando la modernità attraverso no-sense e citazionismo colto; un fremito funk nelle basslines e un drumming che non disdegnano il battito disco e sornione di certa italo da easy listening, elegante e raffinata. Un sound sofisticato, al giusto grado di fusione, propriamente New Wave, che nei passaggi più newyorchesi, ricorda quello vulcanico e sudaticcio dei coevi e (in parte) concittadini Bisca, altra band fuoriuscita dal coro. Il vento caldo del Mediterraneo che soffia su alcune tracce ne certifica la provenienza, e l’esotismo porta la band ad abbeverarsi all’oasi dell’evasione.
Del resto proprio l’evasione - da un mondo che non contempla la banalità - è la summa del pensiero ‘80. (A cura di Fabio Astore)

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released June 13, 2022

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Neapolitan electronic & funk music powered by the West Hill Studio's production crew.

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