[reviews] afe121cd
meerkat: kapnos

Following "Nefelodhis", an album between Maurizio Bianchi and Sparkle In Grey, and "Erimos", which was by Bianchi, Hue and Luca Bergero/Fhievel, there is now "Kapnos", for which Bianchi supplied no music, just the concept.

Meerkat (they call it a cryptic word, so I won't spoil its meaning in Dutch) is a kind of Italian underground big band. Here we find Adriano Zanni (Punck), Matteo Uggeri (Hue), Luca Sigurtà, Luca Bergero (Fhievel), Davide Valecchi (Aal), Andrea Ferraris (Ics), Fabio Selvafiorita, Paolo Ippoliti (Logoplasm), Laura Lovreglio (Logoplasm) and Andrea Marutti (Amon, Never Known).

If you have been paying attention in the last few years, you may recognize these names as Italy's finest in the fields of ambient, electronics, microsound, post guitar - well, anything but true noise. It's a bit unclear how the music was conceived - 'recorded all over Italy', it says on the cover - as the cover does also provide with some information but not as much to really know what went on.

The music is excellent - a fine mixture of styles and interests from these guys. All the elements one would expect are there, the field recordings, drones, ambience, microscopic detailed sounds. Great stuff here.

[Frans de Waard]