Italian pioneers of Electronic Music

The Lounge General Discussion
#7

Grazie per il link @emadb!
A name that I’d like to share Is Paolo Tofani: guitarist of the italian experimental jazz-rock band Area.
He was a friend and collaborator of Peter Zinovieff of EMS; One of the very earliest use of a “synth-guitar” was made indeed from Paolo’s experimentations: he connected his Gibson doublecut to a synthi AKS via some special pickups (later evolved in a dedicated synth prototype IIRC).
You can hear that on the main riff of Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (Nero), starting at 01:05.

I don’t remember if I read It in a interview or was just an old rumor but it seems that Paolo was contacted by a young Brian Eno to play whit his newborn band Roxy Music; But he decided to leave London and came back to Italy to form his own project, Area.

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#8

And then there was the infamous leader of the Italian electronic mafia, Don Buchla

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#9

Anyway the website is full of interesting content about electronic music: Music, Makers & Machines — Google Arts & Culture

#11

…and there is also the WDR Studio in Cologne (even before the Italians): Sounds of Cologne — Google Arts & Culture

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#12

So many good Italian artists, not least the whole Italo disco scene which pretty much got global acclaim at least in the better clubs, but even sometimes in the mainstream. Molto bene!

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#13

Yeah I’ve got a few bits on DFC. RA-RE, Mighty Quinn and of course Discomagic (and all their sub labels) and Italian Style. So many good labels and memorable tunes came out of Italy during that period

Here’s an older thread with some choice posts https://www.elektronauts.com/t/your-italo-favs/

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#14

Nice!! Reviving that thread for real…

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#15
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#16

Don’t forget about Battiato

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#17

Get those Spaniards outta here! (j/k, love EG)

Can’t find a streamable version but this rocks: Marino Zuccheri
Teresa Rampazzi as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MptucQxC2x8
this one is also very good (and not streamable!) https://www.discogs.com/release/8567979-Teresa-Rampazzi-Immagini-Per-Diana-Baylon

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#18

They’re from Spain.

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#19

Koto (Anfrando Maiola and Stefano Cundari) was very fresh at the time.

#20

gnaaaaa i am always bad in remembering where someone comes from, i just remember if i like the music … :skull:

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#21

Just the tip of the iceberg of the early 1970’s Italian Library music artists who were
producing some great sounds and rhythms.

Need a small fortune if you want to collect the originals

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#22

Yeah, I know what you mean. My favorite american band is Rush.

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#23

I stumbled across this album cover on Soundohm. Did not expect it would be synth-prog-rock :slight_smile:

#24

“Synth prog rock” seems a bit reductive for a band like Area.
IMO, of course.

#25

Off-topic: Cologne and Düsseldorf are the foundations of electronic music as we know it. I was surprised to see no mention of Kraftwerk anywhere in Düsseldorf. They are arguably the most influential band out there. More so than the Beatles imo.

On topic: nice information here. Bookmarked for later reading/listening

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#26

Nah. Of course there is a huge heritage there, but you cannot limit the source of electronic music to one or two places. There were amazing strides made in many different places!

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#27

A very serendipitous discovery indeed! :slight_smile:
In my opinion, their first 3 albums are must-haves for any serious music collector.

  • Arbeit Macht Frei
  • Caution Radiation Area
  • Crac!

As for their other works (especially live), they’re well worth to take a listen (or two).

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