IL MANISCALCO MALDESTRO

A strange album from a strange Italian band. A band who approached us and marketed themselves here a while ago. Which off course is a very good idea.

This Italian band's music is best described as punk meets King Crimson meets RIO meets gypsy music. The result is very eclectic to say at least. The vocals is very theatrical where most technics is used. That includes screaming, some singing and a lot of singing like a male song bird in a mating season. The vocals is in the front of the mix and difficult to ignore. The use of accordian gives the music and Eastern European feel. I would say music from the Balkan region. In short, this music is a bit of a shock to the system. One of the reason is the first class production & sound.

There is very little breathing spaces on this album. Almost all of it is constant in your face. Just like punk rock in fact. The music here is not that good or even interesting too and it does not meet with my approval at all. There is no really great songs here and most of the album falls well short of required standards. Hence my disapproval of this noisy racket.

2 stars

Il Maniscalco Maldestro's self titled debut album has less of a punk feel than their later album. It also has somewhat less prog. But it's a more listenable album. There seems to be more of a musical flow in the mayhem. But at the same time, the over the top theatrics of the entire group in every song makes me feel like I'm listening to an Italian version of The Muppets' band.

There are hints of the Captain Beefheart/Tom Waits style angular arrangements that permeate the second album, but here they are a bit more subdued. And Distanze actually sounds like a true prog composition. It's quite nice.

This band isn't for everyone, but if you want a tast of what they are about, start here.