My Indie is another story - II
Part two 2024-2025
This will be a number, I have to say unexpectedly, very long. So no more summaries; I'll leave you the link to the first part of this mini-series and get started.💪
https://bassafedelta.substack.com/p/il-mio-indie-e-unaltra-storia
Midnight Tea - TO THE MAX
Lp, 2024
Punk-rock, hard-rock, rock’n’roll
When I look at their "cover" photos, To The Max seem to have stepped right out of my Nineties. It gives a sense of comfort and cultural continuity to imagine that the attitude of that period is still influencing and inspiring new generations.
And indeed, their first album also stands out for its ability to unite, without confusing them, the most characteristic aspects of the sounds of those times — from classic rock to punk, passing through hard-rock — resolving them with a unique pop imprint (not necessarily commercial, N.d.R.) that is very, very engaging.
After all, the band's name alone suggests an intensity that is unequivocally reflected in the music they play.
Midnight Tea is a nocturnal ritual that harnesses the contagious raw energy of To The Max within the album's ten tracks and unleashes it, without compromise, during listening. As always, it is recommended to keep the volume very high.
Consanguineo - THE DEAD MAN IN L.A.
Single, 2024
Noise-rock, rock psichedelico
Please Note: The TDMILA have a beautiful 2021 EP to their credit titled "Allineamento caotico," which I reviewed for the previous "home" of Bassa Fedeltà on Tumblr. You can read the review here.
There's this insistent flea whispering in my ear — in a mixed language that blends the harshness of noise rock with the psychedelic warmth — gossip about the consanguinity, the protagonist of the most recent episode of TDMILA.
An ironic metaphor for post-pandemic society — where physical and social distances have become more pronounced and daily life is suspended between two worlds — or not, the song is a poetic journey through the duality of life, clinging to the desire to find hope even where it seems lost.
It's a captivating listen that invites you to explore the depths of your soul, making your way through the darkness of minds, a poignant reflection on the human condition in general.
Numeri - NUMBERS & THE OPERATORS
Ep, 2023
Noise-rock, experimental-rock
As I listen to the apparent sonic dichotomy that, surprisingly, unites jazz and noise-rock, the unusual atmosphere of "Numeri" suggests the image of a paper nightingale in a cage of noise. In other words, a fragile beauty that is, all in all, at ease in a hostile context.
The album is "divergent" in every aspect, starting from the sound we just discussed, moving through the self-inflicted inner conflict (with the sword piercing the mouth on the cover) to the numbers, an omnipresent representation of order and chaos.
The Operators invite us to look beyond appearances and to discover (or recognize) the beauty of noise.
C’eravamo tanto armati - ALBANO EROINA
Lp, 2024
Punk, punk-hop
What can unite a minimalist punk band with one that plays grindcore? At first glance, nothing. Yet the Albano Eroina remind me of my adolescent listening, which at the time were the sometimes extreme tastes of a young and proud metalhead in a world I considered alien, equally divided between "paninari" and groupies of Claudio Baglioni or Simon & Garfunkel. Some boasted of listening to Litfiba (the ones from El Diablo, not 17 re) and the emerging Guns'n'Roses, but no one listened to Napalm Death.
What do this Milanese band and the fathers of grindcore have in common? It's simple: they get straight to the point without wasting time. In just 17 minutes of punk, balanced between old school and post old school, between samples and minimalist, vicious guitars, they shout corrosive lyrics whose politically incorrect irony is a punchline that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
And while not reaching the levels of "You Suffer" by Napalm Death, which lasts 1.316 seconds and is still the shortest song ever recorded, the longest track on C'eravamo tanto armati still clocks in at 1.22 minutes.
Which is also the limit that separates greatness from boredom.
Move After Dark - THE INNOCENTS
Lp, 2024
Punk, rock’n’roll
Everything in this third episode of The Innocents conveys an atmosphere of rebellion and freedom. It is a race against conventions on the track of conventions.
If the search for independence will never go out of style, the same goes for the tools with which to express it, and punk-rock is certainly one of these, if not THE main one.
In fact, punk is not yet dead because, quite simply, it is immortal.
In this album, the Innocents are indeed guilty, and they claim it with their music: they kidnap the listener and drag them into a cathartic twilight.
Flip House - PLASTIC PALMS
Lp, 2024
Punk, slacker-rock
This EP by the Italo-Americans Plastic Palms constantly moves between distortion and clarity, between dream and reality, between plastic and flesh, between introspection and lightness, between the voice of Clarissa Ghelli who sings like a hypnotic siren and the instruments, which are also balanced between punk and psychedelia.
The album, in short, is a compendium of contrasts that jostle without any one clearly prevailing, so Flip Haus does not detonate, but it doesn't lose its power either.
This unresolved tension is exceedingly pleasant and fascinating, and it is nourished by the direct-to-tape recording, which delivers the band's sound in a "what you see is what you get" version—natural, without frills or artifice. This contributes significantly to creating a live atmosphere that further enhances its emotional impact.
This is precious music: a mosaic that fragments and recomposes, leaving its mark on the underground scene.
Breaktrough - DER ANNA
Lp, 2024
garage-punk, synth-punk
Andrea Girolami of Scrolling Infinito says that the first few seconds of a video are very important, indeed fundamental, for its success. The same is true for music. Whether it's because the filaments of time are ever shorter in the DNA of contemporary society, or because of the disproportionate amount of songs that fill the digital marketplaces every day, or a combination of the two factors that generates a perfect storm, the fact remains that if the first notes of a track don't grab us, we move on with the same casualness with which we choose a coffee. Musical zapping is, it's useless to hide it, a rather common practice nowadays.
This is to say, who knows how much beautiful music we have missed due to haste. But you cannot listen to bands like Der Anna in a hurry (in this case, haste is a really bad adviser), because their beauty hides and, at the same time, reveals itself in a slow listen. The only objective limit of this album is the indisputable subjectivity of personal taste, but if you like the background noise of an old radio transmitting sharp sounds and obsessive rhythms, supported and amplified by the suggestions of a trembling organ that winks at 70s police TV shows, you won't be able to help but love it.
The Rain Caller - HELEN BRUNS
Lp, 2024
Post-punk, noise-rock
I should start by saying that derivation is not necessarily a bad thing. Excluding tribute bands, let's say there are two aspects that define it: it's either conscious or it's not. The first option often results in a pleasant revival, a term used — I believe sometimes a bit inappropriately — to indicate the "reawakening" of a certain musical genre. In the second case, that is, when it is not explicit but can simply be grasped in the sound in the same way a parent's essence is immortalized in a child's gestures, it represents the classic cherry on top, that attention to detail that makes the difference between a great album and an enormous debut.
In the end, the chemistry of an album is all about connections. For example, the connection between the band and their background, or how the artist processes and updates it. And then there's the connection between the listener and what they think they hear in the album. The more subtle these connections are, the better the album is. In The Rain Caller, these nuances are the drops of water that, as they fall, barely hint at the colors of the Editors, and the distant rustle — in the wind — of a duet between Idles and Do Nothing, which embellish with refined facets the 10 gems set in an already breathtaking sonic tiara.
Vito Vol. 1 - 85 FOTOGRAMMI
Lp, 2025
Post-hardcore, noise-rock
85 fotogrammi was born in 2014 as a one-man band project by Vito Antonio Filomeno, who has since produced five albums that range from post-hardcore to electronica.
The latest is Vito Vol. 1, a tasty first taste of three volumes, completely autobiographical. In this album, in fact, it is Vito who speaks of himself. Writing about it is a real chore because you should keep in mind that every word is a fragment of him that offers itself to the listener's judgment, and therefore, rather than interpreting them, it's about finding points of contact with your own experience or recognizing similar emotions and situations.
Therefore, while I let everyone search for their own connection with the lyrics, I can state with a certain degree of certainty that through headphones, the music will burn for everyone, rippling and twisting into hammering, noisy distortions with frequent concessions to melody, and that the songs, one after another, will leave behind ash and the scent of Verdena.
Traces of grunge and dream-pop à la Smashing Pumpkins can be found, but the true essence resides above all in the aforementioned connections. For the rest, post-hardcore aesthetics and a refined vintage Italian noise dominate this album.
Perdenti - ARMORE
Lp, 2025
”Sinthetic” noise-rock
To hell with the singer-songwriter tradition, cited among the stylistic influences of Nicu Bors, a Veronese musician by adoption. Forget the serenades and easy rhymes: Nicu, or rather Armore, doesn't present himself to the world to coddle it, but to smash it against a wall of shattered sound. Through deconstructed and then reconstructed song forms, devoid of "architectural barriers" between various genres (noise, no-wave, post-punk), he has composed the soundtrack of a hard disk taking its last breath, a system crash elevated to an art form: a synthetic noise rock.
A dystopian accompaniment, custom-tailored to sharpen a crude and unfiltered gaze on a present that already tastes like a future gone bad. This is not an optimistic album. Even the dirty melodies are runaway metal shards that whiz through the synapses and short-circuit the brain. The lyrics, then, are direct to the point of blasphemy, without indulging in compromises or sweetened metaphors. They are crude curses against isolation from — and within — the world, without the slightest intention of being politically correct and inevitably disturbing. Or rather, this is the path the artist has chosen to sow disorder.
But they are stimulating at the same time, and in this sonic and nihilistic chaos, there is a disquieting fascination. As you may have gathered, this is not music for everyone. But if you are bored with conventionality and are looking for a sonic experience that shakes you, Perdenti could be your next serious obsession.
Afterbirth - FENCE ON THE FOREHEADS
Lp, 2025
Grunge
There's a newsletter here on Substack called New Bands For Old Heads which targets "old heads" who would like to listen to new music without necessarily having to abandon the comfort of familiar sounds. In short, nostalgics who want to fuel their "nostalgia" with contemporary sounds.
From this point of view, the Vicenza-based Fence On The Forehead are, by their own admission, a new band for old heads. A band that, incidentally, would have done wonders in the flannel years. Thanks also to their creative process — which consists of adapting the result of completely "off-topic" but good-sounding jam sessions to their genre of reference (grungegaze) — Afterbirth is a brilliant and surprising album. It explores the routes of blues and hard-rock, with detours into stoner and very catchy, radio-friendly melodies.
It is absolutely surprising, an all-Italian "instant classic."
Demo #1 - EVERMORE
Demo, 2025
Grunge, metal, punk
More sounds for those who are looking for new music without having to deal with things that are too far off the beaten path. The Perugia-based Evermore fit perfectly into this groove with a lot of noise. A demo like the old days: rough, visceral, and honest. At times, it feels — I'm not kidding — like listening to b-sides from Kill 'em All by Metallica, if it weren't for the fact that everything then stretches out and thickens into the sound of the following decade (the '90s, N.d.R.). So, not just aggression, but also a good dose of existential unease. And beneath the metal-grunge crust, there is also a slightly divergent punk soul (Hüsker Dü?), which doesn't like to beat around the bush despite playing in a tuxedo.