Black Sweat Italy Vinilo y CD

Review: Ariel Kalma is a musical outsider, a visionary who combined a diverse world of sound into his own unique signature. Jazz, weird ethnic instrumentals, warm electronics, folk, spoken word and avant soul all feature in his compelling oeuvre and the visionary French musician sure had a large one. French Archives Vol III: 1964-1989 is another superb collection of material from it that comes in a lovely four LP box set with booklet and download code. It gets from astral wonderment on 'Space Pillars' to layers of harmonic bells, tropical flutes, harmoniums and drones of light on 'Muse Mirroir' with plenty in between.

Review: In a commendable bid to musically relive and recapture the philosopher Plato's infamous cave allegory, explorer, researcher, paleorganologist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Walter Maioli makes a welcome return on the Black Sweat label. Here the Italian polymath keeps it simple in sound but expansive in concept; his specialism in the musicology of ancient societies resounds especially on this calming release, which investigates the secret dialogue between the trickling of pond waters and the faint percussive reverberations of stalagmites and stalagtites, all through the resonant chimes of mallet instruments such as tubular organs, Tibetan bells, glockenspiels, xylophones or stone marimbas. With seemingly every ding and bong sound at his disposal, Caverne Sonore makes for one of the most relaxing yet also the most engaging records of the year, one that admittedly beckons us further into the cave.

Review: Lettera Cosmica by Riccardo Sinigaglia and musician and visual artist Mario De Leo was recorded back in 1981. It has never before been published and is the consolidation of an artistic and human partnership that aims to trace the four seasons in musical form. It has been made using analogue loops, prepared tapes featuring strings and piano, draws on lots of freaky time and pitch shifts and has been filtered with a Teac 3340 4-track recorder. The results seem at once ancient and ritualistic but also futuristic and occult. The volts are unique to the South of Italy and as they harmonise it is hard not to be left spellbound by this accessible yet experimental work. .