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 - "E.S.P. Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, Limited Edition, 1973/2016 (Cometa Edizioni Musicali)

For those who have read my previous posts as well as my talk on Egisto Macchi https://youtu.be/rqCI97HMQxY know that I'm a huge fan of his work. I'm very passionate about Macchi's music at the moment because it's a new discovery or a new love.  Macchi is known for the music he composed for library music companies.   He was very much a close associate of Ennio Morricone, and like that great composer, they do share a sense of aural adventure.  Morricone did a lot of big budget films, and Macchi did mostly work for grade-z film productions.  Nevertheless, he was a brilliant composer.  E.S.P. is a work of stunning beauty.  

E.S.P. was an Italian TV series, and the music on this album basically plays the one theme but in different arrangements.  When I first heard E.S.P., it reminded me of the soundtrack "Twin Peaks, " in that both pieces capture a wishfulness but a sense of sinister underpinning around the corner.  The main instrument on E.S.P. is the Theremin.  Played not like a science fiction soundtrack, but more of a melodic instrument that fits in the orchestration perfectly.  The score is haunting and it's the perfect late night sound to reflect on one's life.  A superb album. 

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. 

Egisto Macchi - "Bioritmi" Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue (The Omni Recording Corporation)

I know little to nothing about Egisto Macchi, except that he's an Italian composer who worked on music for film and Television, and is a close associate of Ennio Morricone and is a member of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  I have two albums by him, including "Bioritmi," and he's exceptional.  

Originally released in 1971, and reissued/remastered by the great label The Omni Recording Corporation, "Bioritmi" is a record of great feeling and beauty.  It's noted in its informative sleeve notes that there are traces or a hint of Moondog's music within its grooves.   The music here is very much a quartet of strings and distant percussion and it does move in a circular fashion just like Moondog. It's very machine-like but done by humans.  The music builds and then slowly releases its intensity.   Listening to this I think of insects working in a hive.  It's almost a musical portrait of a society working, but not necessarily a human's approach to society unless they're watching insects building a nest and obtaining food.   A quiet album or work, but with great feeling and the clockwork of giving and releasing makes "Bioritmi" a give and take the pull as one listens.  An amazing album and the composer is a genius.  

Egisto Macchi - "Città Notte" (Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 2015/1972 (The Omni Recording Corporation)

"città notte," (Night City) the album by Egisto Macchi is a masterpiece.  A pal of Ennio Morricone, as well as both of them being part of the experimental and free-flowing Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  This is a very focused album of compositional music, but using the instrumentation in startling aural textures.  Macchi's approach is to express an urban area (a city) as a subject matter for this album.  It's abstract space, but no doubt Italian.  

From moment to moment "città notte" can change from lush strings to snarling electric guitar.  Or both.   When you have the beauty of the strings mixed in with harsh sounds of a guitar, or organ, it brings out the grandeur of the piece.  Pain and pleasure equal bliss.  Sparseness yet the aural canvas will eventually be full.  There are no specific credits in who plays what on this album, recorded in 1972, but it's more of a hunch that Morricone plays trumpet, and it's almost like the sound of someone spitting against the wind. 

On a financial level, I think this album was made for film production houses which need a certain type of music - mood pieces, or something romantic at times. Listening to it as an album project, which I suspect Macchi was playing both ends of the spectrum, is superb.  It is truly a mix of the experimental, the gorgeous melodies, and an exploration of sound, and how it can transform a space.  Playing this album in a room that is great for sound, it can't help but impress the listener.