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. 

Armando Sciascia - "Violin Reactions" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 1974/2015 (The Omni Recording Corporation)

Armando Sciascia is an Italian musician, composer, arranger, and violinist.   Mostly for Italian soundtrack films, but also very much a huge figure in the music library world.  This is music used by film producers to select music to fit a scene in a movie.  It's not original music for that specific film, but more of stuff left in a closet, and one approaches the space for the perfect sound at that moment. "Violin Reactions" are set pieces with Sciascia's violin playing, as well as composition, that is a hybrid of strong melodies, beats, and electronically processed sounds.  Sciascia had his own record label for his music and studio as well.  By day he served the film industry, by night he got into his own weird groove. 

The photographs I see of Sciascia are always from the 1950s or even earlier, and they somewhat do not convey the sounds he made in the 1970s.  Here, in his studio, he's a combination of Brian Eno and Joe Meek as he experiments with aural tools to make a new world.  "Violin Reactions" is a title that doesn't disappoint.  Every piece of music here has a strong presence of Sciascia's violin playing, but it's the mixture or the soup that he places the violin within that gives this album much pleasure.