FOND/SOUND

Chrisma: “U” (I Dig You) (1977)

2014/07/21

Now here, is where we start to see Christina and Maurizio discover the role their music can project. Remember that track by Vangelis called “Who”? If you don’t, head on over here first, and check it out again. Back then, in 1974, no one was quite ready for what this sound was asking for. No…
Chrisma: Amore (1976)

2014/07/20

Christina and Maurizio in NYC, 1974. Well, this is where all the pieces come together. Chrisma, later to be named Krisma, was an Italian husband and wife musical duo composed of Christina Moser (born in Switzerland) and Maurizio Arcieri (born in Milan). Unheard of in the US, starting in 1976 they charted a course that…
La Düsseldorf: Rheinita (1979)

2014/07/19

Here’s one last piece. There’s always something evocative about watching grainy videos. Your eyes want to fill in the spaces light should occupy. How much more evocative can it get than watching the only video of a band like La Düsseldorf playing, in this case “Rheinita” off their Viva album. This was a band trying to project…
The Rockets: Electric Delight (1979)

2014/07/18

It’s funk Friday and I’m arranging another puzzle piece again. What’s there to say about a track like the Rockets’ “Electric Delight” off 1979’s Plasteroid? Its an undeniably funky track, but everything about its existence should be so wrong. Whether its the guys from outer space gimmick, the android-like “jamming”, the extremely laughable lyrics, and…
Odyssey: Who (1974)

2014/07/17

Vangelis’ Nemo Studio in the early ’70s. Time for another teaser, this track “Who” is actually a song by one of Greece’s most well known musical exports: Vangelis. Vangelis has always been a super prolific musician. Up to that time he had done a lot of regular musical work with Aphrodite’s Child, some soundtrack work…
Franco Battiato: Energia (1971)

2014/07/16

I have to, I must, set up an upcoming series I’m going to share with y’all. What better way to prepare you for this than with a song from Sicily’s finest: Franco Battiato. You know how I said the French, when they want to, can produce some of the most out there music anywhere? Well,…
Guy Skornik: Ils Viennent du Futur! (1980)

2014/07/15

Forgive me if I post one more French track. I’d be negligent to not share one of my locked away favorites. Y’all earned it. Its Guy Skornik’s truly mindblowing and catchily-named track “Star Peace, Odyssee Temporelle, Fausse Alerte, Maîtres du Temps, Paranoïa” off Ils Viennent du Futur! released in 1980. Guy, another Parisian, from what I gather, was…
Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Fire (1979)

2014/07/14

In honor of France’s Independence Day, Le quatorze Juillet or Bastille Day, I’d like to start my month long retrospective on French music…jk (someday, soon, maybe)…Anyway, on this day, celebrate the razing of one of the worst prisons ever, and the sacking of one of the last French monarchs ever by listening to Lizzy Mercier Decloux’s…
Cartola: Cartola (1976)

2014/07/13

Saudade you have taken a hold over me. Forget that my month long retrospective of Brazilian music draws to an end, no, its the feeling invoked by Cartola’s music that draws the most pining for me. Cartola and his wife Dona Zica, will never win any awards for creating the most avant garde music out…
Jorge Ben: Bem-Vinda Amizade (1981)

2014/07/12

As the World Cup draws to a close, so does my series of great Brazilian albums. For some of y’all this is the first time discovering these new types of sounds, and for some, like me, it’s rediscovering a deeper love that will always exist for them. One love that will never die is my…