Showing posts with label Syndone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syndone. Show all posts

Monday, November 20, 2023

Italian Prog Legends Syndone To Release New Concept Album “DirtyThirty”

Sit down, make yourself comfortable. This is the story of an artistic journey, a 30-year parable.

Listen. Immerse yourself. Eliminate all distractions; let the music speak to you, like it used to do. “DirtyThirty” is the culmination of a class struggle, of the utopian ideal of those who stubbornly cling to a model of the world that still embraces thought, wonder and the courage of art. Syndone is a vision, a nine-album journey, the desire to make a mark in the world. Syndone is a shapeshifter, a band that’s changed its skin and its musicians without ever changing its soul: swimming against the tide, defying fashion and the decline (not only musical) of an era in which you can be successful only if it pleases the powers that be.

Yet there was a time when record albums were capable of transporting us, starting with the artistry of the album covers, of breaking the rules, crossing boundaries, with a whole set of atmospheres, sounds, and thoughtful, refined, stylistic constructions. Those were the days of progressive rock; at the time it was simply called ‘pop’, because it was popular. Today there’s very little left that’s progressive: there’s no thrill of discovery, we’re no longer open to wonder and amazement, we don’t deviate from the idea of an increasingly standardized and replaceable human being.

Nik Comoglio, the musical heart and soul of this story, has never surrendered to that reality; flanked by the vocal and conceptual talents of Riccardo Ruggeri, the Turin-based keyboardist and composer has truly succeeded in making his mark. Syndone, with their erudite, impeccable rock, as violent and energetic as they are melancholic and orchestral, are a dare, a counterpoint, a raised middle finger to the devious strategy of collective narcosis slyly dropped from above in the Kali Yuga of Western civilization. They’re an antidote.

“DirtyThirty” is their crowning achievement, the (perhaps) final chapter. Enjoy it like fine wine, in small sips, and remember to stay human.

Track list:

1. DirtyThirty - the end of my love - (Comoglio/Ruggeri)  [5’06”]
2. Fight Club (Comoglio/Rubinato/Ruggeri) [3’08”]
3. The Angel (Comoglio/Rubinato/Ruggeri) - quoting the track “Il fiele e il limite” from the album “La bella è la bestia”, 2012 [4’19”]
4. Valdrada’s Screen (Comoglio/Ruggeri) - restyling the track “Spleen” from the album “Spleen”,1992  [3’46”]
5. I spit on my virtue (Comoglio/Rubinato/Ruggeri) [4’40”]
6. I only ask for a super glue (Comoglio/Ruggeri) - quoting the track “Eros & Thanatos” from the album “Odysséas”, 2014 [5’02”]
7. Mary Ann (Comoglio/Ruggeri) - restyling the track “Marianne” from the album “Spleen”,1992   [5’57”]
8. René (Comoglio/Ruggeri) - restyling the track “Magritte” from the album “Melapesante”, 2010   [4’25”]
9. God’s will (Comoglio/Ruggeri) - restyling track “Inca” from the album “Inca”, 1993  [5’30”]
10. Thousand times I cried (Comoglio/Ruggeri) - restyling the track “Proverbi” from the album “Inca”, 1993  [2’11”]
11. Evelyn Japanese version (Comoglio Ruggeri) translation of the track “Evelyn” from the album “Mysoginia”, 2018   [4’21”]
12. So long everybody - the time has come and I must leave you - (Comoglio) - restyling the track “Penelope” for full orchestra from the album “Odysséas”, 2014   [4’46”]

Bonus track
Evelyn Japanese version (Comoglio Ruggeri) translation of the track “Evelyn” from the album “Mysoginia”, 2018 [4’21”]

Total time running 48’03”

SYNDONE Line up:

Nik Comoglio - composition, orchestration, hammond, juno dist. moog, mellotron, keyboards
Riccardo Ruggeri – composition, vocals, lyrics
Marta Caldara – vibraphone, marimba, keyboards
Gigi Rivetti – ac. piano, el. pianos, hammond, moog, accordion
Simone Rubinato – bass, fretless bass, el. baritone guitar Ciro Iavarone - drums, percussions

Guests

Tony de Gruttola – electric guitar & ac. guitar (on “DirtyThirty”)
Andrea Carbone – electric guitar (on “Mary Ann”)
Pino Russo – classic guitar (on “René”)
Gianluca Cagnani – pipe organ (on “Valdrada’s screen”)
Kaori Tsutsui – clarinet in Bb (on “Evelyn”)
Rebecca Onyeji - backing vocals
Charlie Poma - backing vocals

String Trio (on “I spit on my virtue”) – Valerio Iaccio (violin), Roberto D’Auria (violin), Michelangiolo Mafucci (cello)

Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra conducted by M° Francesco Zago

Fabrizio Argiolas - sound engineer
Valentina Fornacca – artwork cover: “folli eroi e sognatori” (oil on canvas)
Eugenia Brini - layout and booklet project

To purchase: http://store.maracash.com/product_info.php?products_id=799&osCsid=n5r7g884nhrv8lm38p12vncf6p

For more information:
www.syndone.it
www.facebook.com/syndone

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Italian Prog Ensemble Syndone To Release New Concept Album “Kāma Sūtra”

Italian Prog ensemble Syndone will be releasing their new concept album “Kāma Sūtra” on June 10th.

The sacred text “Kāma Sūtra” is the “Bible” of how to achieve pleasure in sexual intercourse.

The Kāma Sūtra (aphorisms on pleasure) therefore constitutes for Hindus a compendium on the art of loving and achieving sexual pleasure, in a way consistent with the ancient rural and pastoral origins of their religious culture. This culture still considers love in all its most natural manifestations, from poetry, to singing, dancing, painting, sculpture to enhance its divine sanctity of procreation and the adoration of the principle of life, also through erotic pleasure.

Even in modern India, as in ancient India, the dominant impression offered by Hindu culture is still that of a world in contact with all the natural forces that transfer the richness of life into an existence permeated by tenderness, by pleasure and beauty in all its manifestations.

Like the movements of sex, music and lyrics go in and out of the different variations of the concept of Kāma Sūtra in history and in the contemporary; Kāma Sūtra is here intended only as the sound of a word already heard from which people begins to wonder.

For Syndone it becomes text and pretext to sink the nails with passion in the love between two people, in today’s real prostitutes, in provocation. Images, symbols, roles and people; among all a true story, the one of Giorgio Perlasca, hero against Nazism and many other common stories, among which, maybe, the ours, with invented characters, divinities, erotic symbols and much, much love.

“Kāma Sūtra,” the eighth album of Syndone, is a key to unhinging the menageries of progressive doctrine. In fact, it is the least progressive album of Syndone, but the news is not bad for this at all: the forays into more rock material are interspersed here and there by the scratches and sweeps of the Hammond that refer to Brian Auger and John Lord, from choral fragments where you can feel the smell of Queen. If “Mysoginia” was Géricault's Raft of the Medusa, “Kāma Sūtra” is a painting by Kandinsky. To be fascinated, the wonderful “We Are the World We Created” is enough. Finally, David Jackson’s saxes and the beautiful vocal duet with the singer Annie Barbazza are a certificate of authenticity of a new masterpiece.

Syndone’s music, supported by the analytical and deeply cerebral texts of Riccardo Ruggeri - a front-man with great theatrical and an amazing voice - is something truly surprising: next to small jewels that shine with joy and pain, sweetness and of bitterness, it burns the fuel of the most genuine rock.

Watch the making of the album teaser: 

BIO

Born in 1989, in the wake of the second progressive wave, Syndone – led by Nik Comoglio – have delved into every aspect of niche music during their first quarter of a century.

Seven excellent albums (Spleen/1990, Inca/1992, Melapesante/2010, La Bella è la Bestia/2012 and Odysséas/2014, Eros & Thanatos/2016 and the new Mysoginia/2018) have come out of this collaboration, contaminated with tones that, more often than not, have gone beyond all codes and frontiers.

Their sound – which reflects the moods of Emerson Lake & Palmer to a certain extent – is not restricted to a slavish reading of the British band though. It tends to revitalize their spirit with formulas that have little to do with the style per se and move towards new shores, new sounds characterized by a rock background with extensive classical openings (sometimes played on strings), all tied together by a very expressive, sometimes theatrical, voice which brings everything together in an original, cultural and innovative product.

While their name might elicit thoughts of the Holy Shroud or Sindon (and all the rules and regulations surrounding it) kept in Turin, we could say that, in the meantime, it also brings to mind the provocative magic of this subalpine capital. Nik explains, “We wanted a name that would evoke all together ‘Sacredness,’ ‘Turin,’ ‘Spirituality’ and ‘Scored Grooves’ (like an old vinyl LP) so I thought of Syndone, with the ‘Y’ to distinguish it from the famous relic and make it International at the same time, without being blasphemous. This name in fact immediately evokes Turin in any part of the world... and I liked this!”


Syndone
Riccardo Ruggeri: composition, vocal, lyricist
Gigi Rivetti: composition, acoustic and electric pianos, clavinet, keyboards
Marta Caldara: composition, vibraphone, timpani, keyboards
Simone Rubinato: composition bass, taurus bass e keyboards
Eddy Franco: drums and percussions
Nik Comoglio: composition, orchestration, arrangements,  Hammond, Moog, Juno dist., Mellotron and keyboards

To purchase: https://www.manticorerecords.com/syndone-kama-sutra?fbclid=IwAR344YhX_jfNot5l-mJoMm0cSDotpg6iDIkfWE5QvoiTR8Fquf9tT8HQnCA

For more information:
Website: www.syndone.it
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=188463544523800&ref=content_filter

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Italian Prog Ensemble Syndone To Release Seventh Album "Mysoginia"


The new road to symphonic rock!

Italy - Much to the excitement of Prog fans worldwide, Italian ensemble Syndone is releasing their seventh album “Mysoginia”! Born in 1989, in the wake of the second progressive wave, Syndone – led by Nik Comoglio – have delved into every aspect of niche music during their first quarter of a century. Seven excellent albums (“Spleen”/1990, “Inca”/1992, “Melapesante”/2010, “La Bella è la Bestia”/2012 and “Odysséas”/2014, “Eros & Thanatos”/2016 and the new “Mysoginia”/2018) have come out of this collaboration, contaminated with tones that, more often than not, have gone beyond all codes and frontiers.

Their sound – which reflects the moods of Emerson Lake & Palmer to a certain extent – is not restricted to a slavish reading of the British band though. It tends to revitalise their spirit with formulas that have little to do with the style per se and move towards new shores, new sounds characterised by a rock background with extensive classical openings (sometimes played on strings), all tied together by a very expressive, sometimes theatrical, voice which brings everything together in an original, cultural and innovative product.

While their name might elicit thoughts of the Holy Shroud or Sindon (and all the rules and regulations surrounding it) kept in Turin, we could say that, in the meantime, it also brings to mind the provocative magic of this subalpine capital. Says Nik, “We wanted a name that would evoke all together 'Sacredness', 'Turin', 'Spirituality' and 'Scored Grooves' (like an old vinyl LP) so I thought of Syndone, with the 'Y' to distinguish it from the famous relic and make it International at the same time, without being blasphemous. This name in fact immediately evokes Turin in any part of the world... and I liked this!”

Syndone is the band that it trying to re-launch progressive rock onto the Italian and European scene, in an attempt to give it a new lease of life, while remaining closely attached to its cultural roots.

Watch the 2016 documentary Inside Syndone:




Syndone is:
NIK COMOGLIO  (composition/keyboards)
RICCARDO RUGGERI  (lyrics/vocals/acoustic guitar)
MAURINO DELLACQUA (bass/taurus bass)
MARTA CALDARA (vibraphone/keyboards)
GIGI RIVETTI (keyboards)
MARTINO MALACRIDA (drums)

Misogyny. It already emerges from its very single word, from people reactions, through certains looks, from a grimace. Humanity and its fight against female sex. Misogyny – of men and women – against who can damage the power, against who gets the power to procreate, against those which can give life but aren’t able to give love.  A crime destined to go on for centuries, in which we are all immersed and accomplices. A story we must not forget, for all the victims and all the heroines respect. A tribute to those women which have suffered violence in our blind, bully and ignorant society. From Caterina de Medici to Ipazia, passing through personal dramas and serial killers. To remeber for not to forget, as for the mafia. To look for the germs we carry on hidden in ourselves. Look at yourself in the mirror, you cowardly man! You woman daughter of a cold mother! And rip out this evil from your heart! - Riccardo Ruggeri

To purchase Syndone's “Mysoginia”:
Maracash Store LP: http://store.maracash.com/product_info.php?products_id=466&language=en
Maracash Store CD: http://store.maracash.com/product_info.php?products_id=465
Bandcamp: https://maracashrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mysoginia
Self distribuzione: http://www.self.it/ita/details.php?nb=8019991882825&tc=c
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4wsrzoFPkY1i7WTJgkH7q1
Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/it/album/mysoginia/1437686677

For more information:
Website: www.syndone.it
Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=188463544523800&ref=content_filter

VIDEO LINKS

(Teaser new album MYSOGINIA)

(Teaser: live in Veruno 4/09/2016)

(“Daimones” - from Odysseas - live at Gouveia Art Rock Festival 2015)

(Teaser: Eros&Thanatos album 2016)

(INSIDE SYNDONE 2016: documentary)

(“Dentro L’Inconscio” - from Melapesante - live Hiroshima Mon Amour Turin 2014)

(“Focus” - from Odysséas - studio album track)

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com