Sublime sounds from the Italian modernist scene of the 70s – an album produced by Franco Battiato, and which shares a lot with his own classics from the time! Composer/performers Raul Lovisoni and Francesco Messina may have a few less dark corners than Battiato – and work here in a style that's surprisingly melodic at times, almost with that sense of natural minimalism that we love on releases from Brian Eno's Obscure Music label. Side one features the completely beautiful "Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo" – with Francesco Messina on vocoder moog, synth vocoder Roland, and synthi EMS – but all coming across with a warm sound that's much more analog, mixed with piano from Michele Fedrigotti. Side two begins with a harp solo titled "Hula Om" – played by Patti TAssini – and closes with the moody "Amon Ra", which has slight vocals from Juri Camisaca, and "glasspiel" from Raul Lovisoni – which sounds like a glass instrument being tuned slowly. LP, Vinyl record album

A really great idea for a collection – one that brings together postwar modern music in all of its many formats – from avant jazz, to early electronics, to Indian music, 20th Century classical, and even a bit of straighter jazz moments too! The package is very ear-opening – as it offers the chance to hear instrumentalists next to compositional talents that had inspired them – and the collection provides a way to hear different strains of sonic experimentation that were sometimes running parallel to each other, sometimes criss-crossing in strange ways. There's a wealth of musical discoveries throughout – and the 4CD set is overflowing with key cuts from Ornette Coleman, Bela Bartok, Edgard Varese, Daphne Oram, Jean Sibelius, Eric Dolphy, Ravi Shankar, Pierre Henry, John Cate, John Coltrane, Humphrey Searle, Arnold Schoenberg, Bill Evans, Olivier Messiaen, Luigi Nono, Charles Ives, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna, Julian Bream, and many others. CD