PIERO UMILIANI Vinilo y CD

Review: Dialogo Records continues to explore the vast back catalogue of Italian soundtrack and library music specialist Piero Umiliani, a composer famed for combining his love of jazz with all manner of global musical styles. First issued on his own Omicron label in 1975, Polinesia saw Umiliani and his band of talented session musicians give their updated, mid-1970s take on the exotica sound first made famous by Martin Denny. It's a hugely evocative and entertaining listen, with Umiliani's compositions making extensive use of lilting pedal steel, sweaty percussion, spacey analogue synthesizers, cheery chants, toe-tapping rhythms, easy listening orchestral arrangements and post-funk grooves. It's quirky and eccentric of course, but also hugely alluring and brilliantly performed.

Review: Piero Umiliani is a cult electronic musician who released his greatest album 20 years ago on Easy Tempo. On it, Umiliani experimented in his Sound Work Shop studio on all sorts of analogue machines and now, decades later, his legacy lives on with this new record, L'Uomo Elettronico. It is made up of three previously unreleased tracks, plus rarities and hidden gems, all composed between 1972 and 1983 and remastered from the original analogue tapes. They show a lighter, more playful side to the artist with singing synths, hissing hi hats and snaking rhythms that make for fascinating listening.