CHROMATIC TUNES

Magnetic Sound Machine came together in 2005 in the city of Istrana near Treviso, originally as a quintet and claiming to be influenced by 70's Fusion and Italian Jazz Rock.The initial team was Giacomo Girotto on guitar, Riccardo Pestrin on drums, Stefano Volpato on bass, Alessandro Caldato on keyboards and Andrea Massarotto on sax/flute.After the self-produced work ''Elements'', recorded at the Virtual Studio in Treviso in 2006, they were discovered by the Lizard label, on which they released their second album ''Chromatic tunes'' in 2008.

A very wisely-chosen title and a really optimistic, green cover give a good idea of how this band sounded like at the time.This is playful, tricky and rich Jazz/Fusion, which surprisingly contains a fair amount of Canterbury inspirations, especially displayed in the dreamy keyboard parts.The result though is much more diverse.The album contains lots of lounge moments next to more pounding parts and the music is well-structured, keeping the basic principles of Jazz Rock in evidence.This one sounds more constructed than most of the Italian pioneers of 70's Jazz Fusion, PERIGEO might be an influence in the sax parts and IL BARICENTRO echoes are detected in the inventive keyboard/piano lines and solos.But there are some strong nuances from NATIONAL HEALTH and even BILL BRUDFORD at some point with the Italians exploring jazzy territories with an airy vibe and an atmospheric approach, while keeping much of the style's tension and technique.FORGAS BAND PHENOMENA is propably the closest comparison.The longer pieces are pretty great, switching from ethereal textures to Canterbury-styled solos and featuring also some powerful, dramatic twists.It still suffers from a personal point of view regarding the musical style, but ''Chromatic tunes'' seems like a passionate, well-executed entry in the world of Jazz/Fusion.

Interesting album, which will have a certain place in the collection of Jazz/Fusion fanatics, who love a vintage aura throughout their listening process.Anyone after any of the aforementioned groups will like ''Chromatic tunes'', which comes no less than warmly recommended.