Futuro Antico ‎– Dai Primitivi All'Elettronica (1980, LP, Italy)

Futuro Antico was a short-lived collaboration between the two Italians Walter Maioli (Aktuala), Riccardo Sinigaglia and Gabin Dabiré (from Burkina Faso). The synthesis between ancient, ethnic and analog electronic music is just perfect, the minimalist repetition with slight changes lends associations to slow growth; cyclic repetition gives the listener an opportunity to discover the sounds, to meditate, to go into the music, join the same journey through ancient, primitive cultures and modern electronic soundscapes. Originally released in 1980, the sound is completely analog and warm. (forcedexposure)

Japonize Elephants ‎– Mélodie Fantastique (2012, CD, Usa)

With cinematic melodies, surf guitar, spy soundtracks, Appalachian fiddling, lush string arrangements, knee-slapping banjo, country ballads, eastern modes, 4-part vocal harmonies, Mariachi flair and a heavy jazz influence, the new Japonize Elephants album is an inimitable take on the modern American experience. Songs about space travel, Publisher’s Clearing House, pirates, buses, whiskey, and dancing in the fast lane intermingle with instrumental numbers showcasing highly developed melodic and harmonic vocabularies. The sound is twisted and ambitious yet instantly recognizable, the result of nearly 20 years of collaborative experimentation.

When not performing with Radio Lab, Beats Antique, Donovan, Aaron Freeman (Ween), Feist, or John Vanderslice, the members of Japonize Elephants are hard at work conjuring an ensemble at once absurd and profound. Influences merge and diverge—the Stanley Brothers meet Zappa, the tenor sax meets the glockenspiel... and invite junk percussion, vibraphone, accordion, guitar, bass, flute, saxophones, trumpet, violin, banjo, and vocals to the fiesta. The Elephants’ talent runs as deep as the group’s instrumentation is diverse, steeped in the band’s long history and journey from Bloomington, Indiana to the coasts.

“Listening to The Japonize Elephants is like being at a supersonic hillbilly hoedown that has mysteriously been transplanted into a Transylvanian cartoon,” says the Denver Post. Blink and you’ll think you’re back in the orchestra of a French circus, with Mingus and Willie Nelson sitting in.

Toni Esposito ‎– Processione Sul Mare (1976, LP, Italy)

This is the second outing from this wildly gifted and wide ranging Italian prog/fusion drummer (a one time member of both St. Just and Alan Sorrenti's band as well as Luciano Cilio's collaborator on Dell'Universo Assente) catches Esposito at a real creative peak. The arrangements, stereo imaging and the endless peppering of pinprick percussive detailing make it plain that this is a drummers album, though Processione Sul Mare is an absolute master class in dynamic sense from all parties involved and overflows with that tell tale quality of airy, fluid and life giving expansiveness that you find in so much of the best Italian fusion of that time from Area to Perigeo to Napoli Centrale.

Marimba Plus - Flight Over The World (2013, CD, USSR)

Marimba Plus is the first and the unique music band from Russia in which marimba is the leading instrument and the creativity basis.