Egisto Macchi - "Messico" Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Italy, 2016 (Cinedelic Records)

"Messico" (Mexico) at times reminds me of recordings that are tourist-like, in that it gives the listener a taste of that foreign culture.  It's traveling the world within one's Hi-Fi setup. Italian composer Egisto Macchi composed and made these recordings for film libraries, where a filmmaker or editor can go and locate music for their specific scene.   Under such anonymous service, it's amazing that the brilliant talent of Macchi served this industry so well.   "Messico" brings images of Mexico, but the Mexico that is in our imagination.  The music has strong folk melodies but expanded by an Italian's view of such a culture.   

There are touches of spaghetti western overtures, but most of all I think of Sergi Eisenstein's ¡Que viva México!  It's a fascinating culture and country, and Europeans (and one Russian) I think were drawn to its allure due to a sexual and intellectual curiosity of a distant place.  "Messico" captures the sense of wonderment and it's another brilliant album by Macchi. 

Egisto Macchi - "ll Deserto" 2 x Vinyl, Album, LP, Limited Edition, Reissue 1974/2016 (Cinedelic Records)

Egisto Macchi's "ll Deserto" is a masterpiece.  The orchestration of all four sides is one of quiet, but mixed in with real instruments such as 'maybe' a french horn, oboe, various orchestrational string instruments as well as percussion over an electronic hum that comes in and out of the mix.  "ll Deserto" is very much a sonic portrait of a North African desert, or at the very least a desert in one's imagination.  One wonders if Brian Eno heard this album before he made his ambient classic "Discreet Music," because in parts the music is very similar, if not in style, in the mood that carries the landscape.  

The white album cover is so minimal that it makes The Beatles White Album a complex design.  Yet the cover conveys the vastness of Macchi's music within its vinyl grooves.  Nine pieces are on this double album, and each one flows into the other as natural as the wind blowing across the white sands of a desert.  The rhythm conveys an African feeling and clearly not a Southwestern Desert in the United States.    The original edition of the album came out in 1974 on a small record label based in Florance Italy called AYNA.   Macchi did a lot of music for Music Libraries, which means it is used by a film producer to pick and choose their music if they need something cheaply or quickly for a scene in their film.   Macchi is very much a soundtrack composer, but in Library Music one can make their own soundtracks to fit their own mood.  In other words, the compositions can be experimental or groovy dance tune - nevertheless, it's an area of great experimentation.   

As mentioned, "ll Deserto" can easily fit into the ambient music world, but again, one marvel at the real instrumentation of actual instruments that is a great deal of the final sound.   The music is relaxing, but it has its quiet sinister qualities as well.  A beautiful album to reflect on one's daydreams.