GATTO MARTE

Very tasty chamber prog rock.I was very pleasently suprised how well they were playing their repertoire.I am not regreting purchase of this album,I am listening this album more often then I thought I would.it is mostly instrumental work except a third song In the field which is by the way very beutifull and sang by woman.I love viloin and you get plenty of that and also some other instruments used in other chamber groups.I love this album and planing to purchase more from their catalog.To me this work of Gatto Marte is make more sense then countless prog rock releases which repeat same story all over again.Because of their original aproach I will give it 4.5 stars rounding to 4 because it is not essential to everyone,but what is anyway?

Italian chamber improv delight.

Gatto Marte is an Italian group that plays "original compositions with classical influence and jazz improvisation" according to their website. The site also says they have "an attitude close to jazz and a twist of folk music, from Eastern Europe through the Mediterranean towards the North. Piano, double bass, violin and bassoon are the protagonists of this musical journey. The music is descriptive and imaginative; it often recollects little stories, which can be comical, tragicomically dramatic, with an ironical touch."

On this album they employ only violin, bassoon, piano, and guest percussion and yet the resulting sound is still a satisfying musical meal. There are actually three different parts presented on this, their 5th album. The first part is music written for the film "The Goldrush" by Charlie Chaplin. The second part is music written for the film "Balloonatic" by Buster Keaton. The final part of the CD is a collection of original songs not film related, called "The Short Stories Side."

The music is classical but other influences are definitely there, most notable to me are the folkish elements. This particular album has quite a few songs that, especially during the film scores, have a light, humorous, mischievous sound almost like the background music in old American cartoons from the 50s and 60s. This is pleasant enough on occasion although it is the more serious and dramatic pieces that appeal to me. I find myself sort of watching the clock through the light parts waiting for the more beautiful dramatic pieces. It is those types of songs that just cry out for some tasteful Italian vocals of the sort that you can hear on the Danae sample on this site.

My favorite track is the last one "Simplicissimus" which is also the longest track at 6 minutes. So as I was studying the liner notes I read that this song "is the story of the vicissitudes of a young man who, disgusted by the brutality and the stupidity of mankind, decides to become a hermit." HA! No wonder I like this one! It pretty much sums up my outlook on the world every time I turn on the television. But then I realize that there's no where left to become a hermit. All the good caves have been bulldozed for parking lots. So my escape is good music like this!

The delightful drawings of Sara Honeywell grace the booklet and are almost worth the price of admission alone. This is a talented and interesting group for anyone who appreciates classical music with modern sensibilities and a little humor/mischief mixed in for good measure!

Strange,let me say quite unique group. They are the best effort of combining classical music with a soft tarantella rock. By my point of view, this attempt is in part without success. But I underline this is a very personal opinion, that I hope somebody can eliminate. In fact, in any case, if you are looking for some new emotions, you could try this album.

Saw them live as the opening act of Univers Zero and Daniel Denis (of UZ) played drums with them so I got to see a special concertwhere there was only four members (no drummer). If I had to compare between this record bought that very same night and the concert, I would tell you to see this live, because it gives a better sense of what they are trying to do. Can't really call this music rock anymore as this is closer to classical music but is not really RIO either (in the Henry Cow or U Z sense of the term) . This could be linked to Chamber Music but in a very twisted and bizarre way and the fact that this almost totally acoustic reinforces this . Most of the record goes by you in a calm-make-no-waves manner until one gets to the long suite (track 6 to 12) where some sections go overboard sometimes veering towards Musique Concrete with all sorts of bizarre noise . Although I doubt that I will play this album that many times anymore (six spins in my deck before reviewing it) , I doubt that this album will stand repeated listenings. If you are a fan of the musics mentioned in thgis review , this has good chances to please you but if you are not that big on those styles , you might want to get your ears on this first before dishing out the dough. Still worth the spin for the adventuresome proghead though.

This interesting ensemble from Como lake, featuring also the former drummer of 70's Mexican band Decibel, produced a pretty album, which is not absolutely close to the Hungarian band After Crying nor to the best RIO music, but it is worth checking out at least...odd instrumentation, such as a cello, can be unusual within an experimantal jazz genre (regarding of some hints of thetrical progressive music as well)...even though a few passages only remind us of this latter (more "progressive" style); and therefore the production is quite week...but you can start getting an inkling of their talent here and then their experimental live performances on stage are often in the vein of Prokopiev,those are theatrically represented during their show:in fact their effort has been appreciated by a wider crowd of new fans in the recent times, which usually are not involved with such an experimental jazz stuff...They have never produced any masterpiece, but their job has strongly improved their background, being anyway often remarkable at least, as long as They have started to let them be known abroad, during the last American Progressive Festivals!!

Try to check it out!

Complex and sometimes strange, sort of chamber music and even some RIO. Not the Italian reply to After Crying, like appears in some progressive webs. This is another album that grew on me with several listenings. I learned to enjoy the nice interplay between piano and strings section (cello and violin) and even the few sung parts. In this stuff, at least ten of twelve short cuts are very nice, and I recommend to use the skip button to jump from track 4 to 7 at the first listening. I rate "Danae" very good at the present time, and still growing...