Italian Oddities with Jolly Mare

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Music

Drawing upon the sun kissed sensibilities of Italo, Jolly Mare is one of a new wave of musicians from Italy making beautiful strides toward a Balearic vision.

Fabrizio Martina is a multi instrumentalist and selector from Lecce who has released an exciting assortment of music which draws upon influences from sunny climates and delicate soundscapes.

Since 2013 he has been releasing music which is perhaps rooted in the classic era of Balearic and Italo Disco in the 80’s and 90’s. However, over time his own music has become more pronounced and increasingly distinguished, channeling sounds from beyond his origins.

His latest album on International Feel is perhaps the greatest indication as to how far he has come and progressed as a musician – demonstrating his well rounded approach to both his heritage and the prospects of new, exciting sounds.

This summer Jolly Mare will play a special set as part of Polifonic’s Puglia edition, a fitting and beautiful location for his music which sits well alongside a cast of other artists and DJ’s.

We invited Fabrizio to curate a playlist of some of his favourite Italian oddities ahead of the festival…

Kaos – Tango Sioux

With lyrics stolen by a 70’s rock band following a robotic one-note melody, this song caught my attention as pretty uncommon compared with the rest of the album. I hoped for more while scrolling through its tracks with no luck, unfortunately.

Daniele Patucchi – People Come In

You wouldn’t say this track is odd, knowing it comes from the early eighties soundtrack era. So why do I find it odd? It’s composed like an American jazz funk score, but it’s arranged with a palette of Italo sounds. If you are a producer mixing down your own tracks, please don’t overdo reverb on the kickdrum as they did here.

Polaroid – Vita Immaginaria

Don’t know why but I’m getting more and more into plucked basses and chorused guitars playing seven plus chords, so when I come across xeroxed front covers is often a good sign for something interesting to dive in. To me this often means it’s a post punk or new wave record. No exception for this, recorded in Turin forty years ago.

Dame Area – Linea Retta

An unknown avantgarde territory between slow tribal and children’s music, it gets me cause I find it naive and deep at the same time.

Maria Bazar – Palestina

From European rhythms through Middle Eastern scales to Asian timbres, there are plenty of personal influences and teachings on this track and all over the album, still sounding brilliant and futuristic nowadays.

Piero Umiliani – Eliogabalus

A quirky electronic drum machine sets the pace of this funky jam, probably conceived late at night when Maestro used to stop at his Sound Workshop Studio after a day of orchestral recordings. A compositional approach also found on Dieter Moebius and Berlin school experimentations.

Panoramics – Crossings Glasses

Known amongst record collectors for “Estrellita”, Panoramics got more into library music realm on this one. I’d imagine them sitting in front of a CRT screen while setting down ideas, with a Korg M1 on the left, and a Yamaha DX7 on their right.

Guardiano del Faro – Oasis

Harem drama, if this could be a genre. Long time favourite, Federico Monti Arduini and his exotic melodist attitude still has a special place in my musical background.