If, one thing Italy has going for itself, its this: its home to some of the most forward thinking musicians/releases you’ll ever hear. I don’t want to entirely divulge all of its secrets just yet, but here’s just a taste. My pick of the day is Sensation’s Fix “Fragments of Light”, off the highly recommended album of the same name, a 3 minute lo-fi dance song more in line with current glo-fi artists like Ariel Pink, Washed Out, or MGMT than whatever was being made in 1974. Yes, this was made in 1974. I still can’t believe this.
Franco Palsini, the mastermind behind Sensation’s Fix, was a young Italian guy who was living in Virginia recording in his basement on a 4-track tape recorder these kinds of space rock arrows. Now here was a guy who loved Robert Fripp and Brian Eno’s “No Pussyfooting” and krautrock, but didn’t have the money or gear to do so…rather than give up, he made his own lo-fi recordings (with simple analog synths, drum machines, and highly affected guitars) in an attempt to capture that vibe.
Just by going DIY he made something that could have sounded so dated, sound so far ahead of its time. Every time I hear stuff like this, I think of Mario Kart, you know like when you’re thinking you’re going as fast as you can around the track then out of nowhere this other Kart passes you. It makes you wonder if that was a glitch in the game or some kind of cheat code allowing this to happen. I guess sometimes you just gotta just let something things be, otherwise the more you poke…the more your mind’s get blown. Don’t know if I’m quite ready to discover how this album got made.