StereoKimono - Prismosfera

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StereoKimono - Prismosfera

Artist:	StereoKimono
Title:	Prismosfera
Label:	Immaginifica QQ 1001 CD
Length(s):	54 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2003
Month of review:	[01/2004]

Line up

Critina Atzori - drums, percussion
Antonio Severi - guitars, keyboards, hand percussion
Allesandro Vittorio - bass, keyboards, keyboards, theremin on 1, didgeridoo on 2, tibetan bells on 4

Tracks

1)	Onda Beta	8.39
2)	Rosso Di Luna	8.08
3)	Bahnhofstrasse	5.40
4)	Xetrov 5	6.02
5)	L'Uomo Nuvola	9.26
6)	Salmandra	4.33
7)	La Soffitta Volante	11.58

Summary

The follow-up to Ki, this instrumental album, at the time in a demo version, won the Toast/MEI prize in Italy in 2002 as best Italian instrumental work. It is also the first album on the label, led by Franz Di Cioccio.

The music

Onda Beta is the bleepy opener. Cosmic sounds and reverbs create an atmosphere of suspense. It does not prepare us for the funky guitar playing that follows next. Off-beat rhythms and signature change lead the way for this piece of work, which has elements of jazzrock, but leans more closely to the recent King Crimson. The guitar can certainly be compared to the Fripp of this day and age. However, the band does not stop at that as evidenced by the rhythm guitar additions which point more to an influence from the Mid-West of the U.S. A few vocal samples are included as well. The song ends somewhat dreamily.

We continue with Rosso Di Luna, which opens with nicely flowing acoustic guitar playing. This is a more dreamy track with more obvious melodies and I have to admit liking it more than the opener. However, it is not terribly distinctive, and simply seems to pass by. Aha, some keyboards solo right in the middle here, which tend to help the music veer away from jazzrock and into more typically progressive areas. The drummer tend to work rather distinctively here, inserting some complicated runs at some point, not doing anyhthing at the other. This gives the impression sometimes that the music has stopped when it has not. The organ plays a more prominent, meandering role in the final few minutes.

What the band brought to naming the third track Bahnhofstrasse, is something I am not likely to find out from the music. The music has a certain tango feel with cello like sounds dominating. I wonder how they obtain the sound they do, here. The funkiness reenters the stage, playing a repetitive passage reminiscent of the early eighties KC, although a name like Gordian Knot also comes to mind easily. The melody on this final part is quite nice, it is the most distinctive one so far.

Xetrov 5 shows another face of the band, dark and brooding. The sharp guitar work again reminds me of Gordian Knot, quite a bit of hecticism in here. Percussion time then, after which the urgent guitar returns. This is good. The ending is atmospheric.

The opening of L'Uomo Nuvola is also promising, a bit epic. The drums are laidback and jazzy, but the synths dominate, while the bass bounces around quite merrily. Plenty of variation on this one, acoustic strumming passages, jazzrock, tension building guitar work. The combination of all this into one track is however somewhat questionable. We end with rodeo music. Great fun.

Salmandra starts with the alarums on. This is frantic playing. I repeat when I'm distressed. This is frantic playing. The song has a nicely rolling gait, and might be seen as a continuation of Xetrov 5. The guitar line is quite melodic though. The band does play around a bit in this one, and I am not sure whether that is a good idea. The bass playing is heavy and strong. One of the tracks most to my liking.

La Soffitta Volante is intelligent symphonic rock with some great melodic material and a good steady flow to it. This is excellent stuff. Time for introspection too on this one, but always the catchy melodic part will return. However, the band inserts one of its more frolic passages. Instead of country and western, we get a more Arabic sounding passage. A bit like Arabs running wild in fact. I guess the influence of Area is not far away here. The conclusion of this track is experimental: birds, samples and so on. Even some Demetrio Stratos (I am not sure whether in imitation or for real) here.

Conclusion

This trio can play and play well. The recording sounds good and the packaging is great. The music is generally quite inventive, with references to jazzrock, Gordian Knot and King Crimson. I like the band less during their more jazzrock oriented periods when the music starts to meander. This happens a lot during the first few tracks. I like to have some heavy guitars then to keep me awake. Melody is comes more to fore on the more likable later tracks, which also tend to be a tad longer. Most liked tracks are Xetrov 5 and the great closer La Soffitta Volante.