Valvola

Valvola, though evidently retro in surface appeal - conjuring the key elements of late 60's francophile pop and colouring it with 70's easy listening lounge routines - temper their work with brief brushes of contemporary nuances, crafting orchestrated cinematic soundtracks that are bound to seduce as much as confuse. Imagine Stereolab at their most organic, riding a tidal wave of Kraftwerk-esque electronics, and you’ve at least reached the half-way mark of where these Italian space-pop pioneers are heading. Add to that the occasional foray into extreme electronic experimentation, and their fascination for analogue synth sounds.

Discography

'A Disappointed Love with a Desensitized Robot' 10" mini LP (Pickled Egg Records Egg 18LP) "Desensitized Robot coyly embraces elements of Stereolab's latino matrix on 'Cobras' and marries it to a futuristic funky Studio 54 for robots, where all manner of R2D2's and Robbie the Robots illicitly loosen their bolts in search of their cyber soul mate. 'Dielettrico' a cover of a song written by Armando Sciascia (of whom I'd like to hear more) is haunting and eerie, casting one eye on 60's style TV soundtracks such as The Prisoner and The Saint, while the other eye keenly weighs up a life in space lounge bar atmospherics. Flipping over the disc, the attitude is clearly concerned with late 70's analogue synthesiser sounds, both 'Cities moving' and 'Cities development' paying tributes formerly to Kraftwerk, by updating a fusion of 'Autobahn' with 'Computer Love' and the latterly to Jean Michel Jarre's 'Magnetic Fields'. Doused with silken strings that scale the dizzy heights occupied by Moby, 'Planet Airport' invokes a sense of romance with its core framework, behind the glossy backdrop there are lounge theatrics that divest a sense of pan European/International wash that captures ever so slightly the exoticism of the James Bond culture" [Mark Barton, Losing Today] 'Departure from Universe' (MP3) 'Planet Airport' (MP3) Download A Disappointed Love With a Desensitized Robot from eMusic Download A Disappointed Love With a Desensitized Robot from Karmadownload

UK: £10.00 EU: €16.00 US: $24.00

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