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viewing 1 To 5 of 5 items
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7"
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FLIES 061EP
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"Imagine a nocturnal rendezvous between the lyrical playfulness of Serge Gainsbourg and the infectious yet smooth danceability of Daft Punk. 'Tormento' is a sexy soft disco odyssey that weaves a contemporary fantasy where dilemmas and desires -- torments of the heart and flesh -- are bathed in the sultry glow of classic erotic cinema. Recorded in Los Angeles and Paris, the song is a collaborative effort between composer and multi-instrumentalist Louis Fontaine, DJ and music supervisor Alix Brown, and lyricist and writer Margo Fortuny. This sonic tale of longing and uncertainty, ignited by the trio's shared love for 1970s sounds, cinema, and style, draws inspiration from the cinematic soundscapes of François de Roubaix and from French and Italian chanson. 'Tormento' pairs a haunting, nostalgic melody with a late-'70s disco arrangement featuring a mix of vintage synthesizers, driving basslines, and rhythmic percussion. Alix Brown's ethereal vocals convey the electrifying thrill of an immediate, magnetic attraction. There's seduction, mystery, the poetry of a moment, the allure of transgression, indecision, and all the things that happen late at night. When faced with temptation, what do you do? Perhaps, you surrender to the sweet, intoxicating rhythm of the forbidden."
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LP
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FLIES 073LP
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"Four Flies sheds light on the catalogue of the enigmatic Paloma Records, a DIY record label founded in 1983 by Bolognese composer, arranger, conductor, and singer Paolo Zavallone, who, after a long career in pop music and at RAI television, decided to venture into the world of library music publishing. The 12 tracks on this compilation were composed by Zavallone, who co-produced and co-arranged them with his friend Mauro Malavasi. The Paloma Records catalogue comprises just five LPs, all released -- solely for circulation among industry professionals and not for commercial distribution -- within a two-year period. Like typical library music albums, these LPs had very simple, plain artwork that hid their creators behind a game of smoke and mirrors -- fanciful pseudonyms, names of non-existent studio bands, and even figureheads. But despite its enigmatic nature, today the label's small catalogue reveals its extraordinary potential: it's utterly iconic in the way it captures the sound of Italian music in the early '80s, and not only in the library genre. Zavallone's library music can also be regarded as a tribute to a certain Bolognese music scene, characterized by small provincial studios and, most importantly, by young, talented session musicians like Rudy Trevisi on sax and percussion, Davide Romani on bass, Lele Melotti on drums, and Paolo Gianolio on guitar (together with Malavasi, who played synths, they were basically the rhythm section of Vasco Rossi's records in 1983-1984). Like in the case of fellow Bolognese composer Enzo Minuti, this music scene offered a unique alternative to the dominance of Rome and Milan in the library music industry."
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7"
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FLIES 4527EP
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"'Notte Inchiesta' on Side A, could be the title music to an imaginary '80s investigative/ true-crime program broadcast on late-night television. Clearly reminiscent in mood and texture of the soundtracks of late-70s/early-80s Italian detective-action films, it brings back the jazz-funk, post-prog and fusion overtones that characterized the music of those films. In short: a contemporary-retro sound nestled somewhere between Goblin's funk-oriented recordings, Azymuth's 'Jazz Carnival,' and electronic disco with a sprinkle of new wave. Side B opens with 'Equilibrio,' which could serve as additional, more dynamic music for the same TV program mentioned above. The style is once again electronic jazz-funk, but here we have a break built upon a trail of notes chasing each other. In contrast, 'Sambuca,' the single's closer, is deliberately nostalgic and melancholy. Perfectly suitable for visual narratives of an Italy that no longer exists, it sounds like one of those great Italian soundtrack themes that are able to convey tension and calm at the same time. The track is titled after the anise-flavored liqueur that Italians often drink after their espresso, because 'making references in my music to things that are part of our national popular culture is really important to me,' as the artist has explained."
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7"
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FLIES45 045EP
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"Cocktail and power-bossa vibes meet shots of clavinet-funk in the new single by Milan-based producer Larry Manteca, a relentless creator of soundtracks for imaginary films in various genres -- from the erotic to the spaghetti western, from crime to zombie-horror. Manteca's debut on 7" vinyl could happen under the aegis of Four Flies Records, whose team went and hand-picked two of the grooviest tracks in his bulimic output, both recorded in 2015 for the sci-fi/erotic-themed album Mutant Virgins From Pluto (the title says it all!). 'UFO Bossa' is a delicious, up-tempo bossa-jazz number cast in an ultra-lounge style and spiced up with references to Les Baxter and Martin Denny's exotica, as well as to pop/erotic sci-fi soundtracks like Bob Crewe's Barbarella, with the added bonus of Yasmine Zekri's sexy scat singing. On the flip side you have 'Intergalactic Porno Scene,' a typical poliziottesco theme where clavinet and flute interweave into a super-funky groove, before synths come in and send us into erotically-charged space orbit."
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7"
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FLIES 027EP
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"Franco Esse is the moniker of Francesco Semproni, who in the late '60s began working as a music and recording assistant in major recording studios in Rome, Italy. He started out at Dirmaphone (then located in Via Pola) under sound engineer Gianni Fornari, before following him to the Emmequattro studios in Viale Mazzini, which at the time were the headquarters of Edipan, the record label founded by composer and conductor Bruno Nicolai after parting ways with friend and fellow composer Ennio Morricone. Semproni tried to become a singer-songwriter in the early '80s, when he recorded a number of demos with the session musicians who gravitated around the studios. None of these demos was ever released though, for reasons that are still unclear today. The unsuccessful efforts to launch his solo artist career led to a personal crisis, and Franco Esse eventually quit music to go to work as a sales assistant in a toyshop in Rome's Prati neighborhood. Today he seems to have vanished without a trace, but after extensive research, we managed to dig some of his demos out of an abandoned archive and miraculously bring back to life two semi-instrumental tracks he recorded in 1983. Both of them reveal Franco Esse as a refined musician with a reserved personality, an almost minimalist approach to lyric-writing, and a strongly cinematic synth-pop style that is in line with the musical trends of the time and gives a nod to the soundtracks of Fabio Liberatori, falling somewhere in between slow-wave and new-romantic. These two ballads would have been the perfect soundtrack to cold winter nights in the early '80s, with snowflakes floating down on ski slopes, people clad in puffy down jackets, and music pouring into headphones from Walkmans kept in back jean pockets."
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