Four Flies Italy 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Back in 2017, Four Flies Records unearthed and released a previously unheard "Afro-cosmic funk" EP from Italian soundtrack and library music legend Alessandro Alessandroni. Three years on, they've decided to give the 1978 recording the remix treatment. Bolissa and guests Calibra 35 kick things off with a densely percussive, out-of-this-world take on "Afro-Voodoo", before Pad re-imagines "Afro Darkness" as a chugging chunk of beatdown-disco laden with colossal chords, arpeggio bass and intergalactic electronics. Over on side B the "Jolly Mare Lifting" version of "Afro Discoteca" is a veritable leftfield disco stomper notable for its low-slung bass and spacey Moog lines, while Luca's "Quirky Version" of "Afro Darkness" is the kind of hallucinogenic, Marimba-tinged number that you can imagine Daniele Baldelli playing at the Cosmic Club circa 1981.

Review: Banda Male was a collective that formed in a home studio in Salerno, one of the historic districts in the South Italy. It was the initiative of composer and keys man Peppe Maiellano and rapper, DJ and producer Tonico Settanta. The rest of the cast is ever rotating and the music they make is a lively mix of disco, funk and soul with signature Italo melodies. This new single is taken from their June 2021 album UFO Bar and is a low slung number with a steamy vocal and a somewhat sleazy bassline. 'Living Disco Club' (Tonico 70 Reloved) then slows it down further with even more twirling melodies.

Review: Italy's foremost investigator of 60s and 70s library music and jazz fusion sounds can do no wrong if you ask us. Everything they put out is sumptuous whether it's an old reissue or a new outing. Here we have the pair of bassist Federico Amorosi and keys, synth and programming wizard Valerio Lombardozzi cooking up some brilliant blends of cosmic funk and Italo disco, all with fresh flavours from soundtracks and synthporn from days gone. The A-side is an instrumental with a lush mid-tempo groove and the flip has a more infectious dance sound.

Review: The Four Flies label brings together two disparate sounds here on a delightful 7". Salifornian funk collective Banda Maje are in fine form as they add their own vibes to 'Wait For Me' which is a lush disco-funk joint by Canadian multi-instrumentalist Franky Selector. It first appeared on his well-regarded Never Better album and is a world gem with thrilling Afro guitars, warming house drums and sunny synth sounds all topped off with great call and response vocals. An instrumental appears on the flip for a more direct to dance floor vibe.

Review: Tema di Susie' is one of the main themes from the soundtrack composed by Alessandro Alessandroni for the 1976 Italian noir film Sangue di sbirro, known in English as Blood and Bullets, as well as Knell, Bloody Avenger (the Susie in the original title refers to the female love interest of the film's hero, who is on a mission to seek revenge for the gangland murder of his policeman father). At once sweet and sentimental, haunting and melancholic, 'Tema di Susie' stands out from the other tracks in the film, which are more action oriented. Like the rest of the score, however, it exemplifies the way in which, during the 70s, Italian film composers created their own version of the sound of American blaxploitation cinema, with its groovy blend of funk, jazz, and soul. Here, Neapolitan duo Fratelli Malibu have taken Alessandroni's melodic theme and woven it into a mesmerizing tapestry of rhythmic beats, world percussion and ethereal atmospheres. Drawing inspiration from funk/Afrobeat, synth-pop and Italo-disco, they've conjured a psychedelic-tinged, afro-cosmic groove that's bound to transport you to another dimension. Doubling that fun comes a vocal retouch version, courtesy of the Italian funk/soul collective Banda Maje, on the B-side.

Review: Continuing Four Flies' dedication to delving into lesser-explored periods of Italian music, Africamore: The Afro-Funk Side of Italy (1973-1978) takes us on a captivating carpet-ride into the intersection of Afro-funk and the Italian soundscape prevalent in the six years between 1973 and 1978 - a time when disco was still in its nascence, and the nightclub market was rapidly expanding. Bottling the critical moment at which DJs such as Dave Mancuso discovered Manu Dibango's 'Soul Makossa' - with classics such like Jean Paul & Angelique's 'Africa Sound' and Nat King Cole's 'Calypso Blues' following as floor-bound hits - all these productions pushed the boundaries of dance music at a time when disco had not yet taken over.

Review: Four Flies continue their mission to plunge Italy's funk-historical depths. The pinnacle of their search so far for the sure-to-exist pearly gems on the sands thereunder is the new Africamore compilation, which homes in like a heat-seeking torpedo on the particular Afro- ends of the funk sound prevalent in the nation, in the crucial years between 1973 and 1978. This period was notable for its facilitating fertile ground for the emerging discotheque market in Italy at the time. From psychedelic-tinged tunes like Jean Paul & Angelique's 'Africa Sound' to Afrobeat-esque club banger 'Kumbayero' by Albert Verrecchia; from groundbreaking Afro-cosmics like Chrisma's 'Amore to mind-blowing floor-fillers like Beryl Cunningham's 'Why O', this is a multivalent compilation, among the best out there to document the burblings of that crosswise stew of disco, funk, electro and world musics.