People think I go to a lot of music festivals. I try to correct them, that in fact I only go to one music festival, I just go to it almost every year. And yes, it is a seven hour flight away, but still, it’s just the one festival. That usually just gets me blank stares. To people who never go to music festivals, that sounds insane.
I found this at Sleeve Records in Florence, Italy. As always when traveling, I’m on the lookout for “local” music that I’m unlikely to find easily at home (which when it comes to Italian artists is, quite frankly, almost all of it… sitting here I can’t think of a single Italian artist on my shelves that we didn’t buy in Italy1), and this seemed to fit the bill – a compilation of (mostly) Italian bands form 1989. The guy who owns the store was stoked when I brought it to the counter and proceeded to tell me about the festival it was recorded at and how important it was for up-and-coming Italian bands. For me there was a slight downside to this info – I’m not generally a huge fan of live albums. But it offered a lot of local artists, so I didn’t let that stop me.
Arezzo Wave has been around since 1987, and while the name has changed over the years, it’s still going. In fact there’s actually a page on the festival website devoted specifically to the 1989 edition, which is cool. Arezzo Wave 1989 is a double album featuring 19 artists performing live, and most of them appear to be from Italy (Primevals are from Scotland, Demolition Group from Slovenia, and Volume Unit are from, I believe, Germany). Extensive liner notes fill the inside of the gatefold, but alas they are written in Italian, so I can’t share any nuggets with you.
The first side offered an initial surprise, with both Jelly Fish and Boys Next Door bringing a country-esque vibe, Jelly Fish leaning more rockabilly and Boys Next Door a more old school Western feel. The other three tracks were straight-ahead 80s style rockers, leaning slightly more towards what I’d typically associated with the first half of the decade rather than 1989, with hints of new wave and post-punk.
Alice In Sexland opens side two, and now things are getting interesting. I’m not sure how to categorize their song “Hail To Thee”. Sure, it could broadly be called rock. But while the synth-guitar interlude screams psych, the walking bass riffs actually feel ahead of their time like something out of 90s funk rock. Definitely a trip, and something I’d like to hear more of. Helios Triba closes out the side with the post-punk-meets-darkwave “Dance On Fire” that is also quite good.
Side three also opens strong with the funk-infused, James Chance-ish saxophone-y “Land Of Lemon” by Mista & Missis. Unfortunately this is the only release of theirs listed in Discogs – not even a 7″ or a demo out there. However, it does appear they may play a small part in a new documentary called Kissing Gorbaciov about a 1988 mini-tour that saw Soviet bands playing in Italy and Italian bands playing in Russia. I definitely need to find a copy of this on DVD! Side four hits us hard with more experimental artists – Spectra Electric and Guguz 89° Flash both keep it super weird and edgy and are now also on my list for deeper listening.
Props to those involved and recording Arezzo Wave 1989 – this thing sounds fantastic. There isn’t a bad moment on it – all the instruments and vocals are there to be heard, nothing lost in the mix, and I came away with a few new bands to dig into further, which is all I can ask for.
- Right before I hit “Publish” on this post I remembered I had a copy of Disciplinatha’s Abbiamo Pazientato 40 Anni: Ora Basta! from 1988… and that is probably it. ↩︎