Radiata 5tet – “Aurelia Aurita” – [dEN Records]

Thurston Hunger   6/19/2014   CD, Jazz

Fans of Boredoms, or Italy’s Starfuckers, might sneak into this
2011 release through the trapdoor at the bottom of vocalist Claudio
Milano’s throat. Tuvan thunder, stabbing shriek, subliminal whispers,
squeaky gasps, octave oohing, lurid laughing and occasionally actually
singing. As I love weird kid-live exploration of vocal craziness,
(David Moss, Meredith Monk, Jaap Blonk) I dig this album. But it is
definitely a 5tet, with bassist Luca Pissavini not only up front
in a strong tappy and slappy way, he also wrote the lyrics for
Claudio Milano to warp and wrap his larynx around. A lot of great
angular interlplay from cellist Cecilia Quinteros, (this is quite
a different release from “dEFYing eRRorS”). Lot of space even
when Milano’s mouth is closed (he shuffles papers and takes some
steps on some tracks I think). The horns of Stefano Ferrian (sax)
and Vito Emanuelle Galante (trumpet) are plenty. Lots of darting
lines in and out, really effective on “Single Germ Layer G.” Jazz
concrete. The track titles have zoological DNA. “Echinoderms”
delivers the most vocal pyrotechniques. Ferrian launches “Vectensis”
sax spirals over Pissavini’s deep notes. Next on the closer,
Pissavini gets that bass marching over creaky cello, sinestri
and sweet. This one will grow on folks over time I bet!

-Thurston Hunger