A Spirale – Agaspastik

Another CD released in 2008. This Neapolitan trio is composed by Mario Gabola (feedbacks and acoustic sax), Maurizio Argenziano (feedbacks and electric guitar) and Massimo Spezzaferro (drums and little things). The press release quotes Kevin Drumm and Bhob Raney as imaginary point of reference, but what materialized in my mind instead is the centre of a triangle whose corners are occupied by John Zorn, Zu and Curlew (the latter only in regard to some of Gabola’s bony phrases on the saxophone). Hold your horses: I’m not saying that we’re at the same technical and creative level of the above mentioned entities. In spite of this, there’s a freshness, a genuine will of having fun while playing - without posturing - that is rarely met when Italians are involved. Usually, in similar circumstances I notice a lot of “avant-pretentiousness” on these shores: become friend with/kiss the ass of someone important in a certain situation and you’ll be able to get all kind of undeserved accolades and “the-music-sucks-but-it’s-positive-anyway” reviews, even if you ain’t worth a shit (hey, let’s keep the promos comin’, folks). Fortunately, this does not apply to A Spirale, who attack the listener with serious ferocity, hammering the brain with obliquely “wrong” riffs, superimpositions of dirty upper partials, pre-explosion quietness, clamorous outbursts of semi-regular clangour defined by acrid miasmas and convulsively anti-pattern drumming. This writer thinks it is enough, at least for today. (Fratto9 Under The Sky)