Revisiting Obscure Library Music

 




It may be one of the most unknown facts of the whole history of recorded music. Something the general public could have totally missed, thanks to the many labels who revealed their vaults to the collectors and DJ. Now, this way of doing music is long gone : recording music for films, TV, documentary or radio and pressing albums out of it. Album intended for studios, film directors, TV channels, distributed inside the industry and never released commercially for public. 
All of this music could have disappeared, totally, if not of a few deranged mind collectors who had their own ideas about this secret music. That there could be some good stuff to discover. How crazy! Generic music, background music, "musak", elevator music, what the heck!? Why not forget about all of this? Who needs to listen to background music for adds? 
Well, have you ever noticed the music in a 70's add? Or a late 60's TV show? or an early 80's sport program? Don't you remember the drums rolls and funky music all over the place on TV? That strange synthesizer music during TV intermission and obscure documentary and during children programs? Oh yeah, now you remember. Maybe it would worth to have look in case we find a few exceptional pieces of music, don't you think?

So, that was some of these collectors thought and that's what they did, plunging into this vast and unknown territory of the music industry. And some of them, never came back! The discovery was shocking, unexpected, perilous : Library Music is maybe one of the most underestimated genres of music! It goes beyond the simple background music it's supposedly intended for. The music is fresh, original, bold, funky, experimental, groovy, tight. The quality of the recording is high. The musicianship is high. And there seems to have no end to it. Imagine a big amount of records, a number you think there could be. Try to figure as many albums as you think there is out there from this industry. And then, multiply this number by 100. Really.

Nini Nardini - Tropicalia. It was first unfolded by Luke Vibert in his "Nuggets" compilation. This is so sensually groovy that your speakers will melt and your dinner guest will suddenly wants to get naked.

The total number of labels alone who produced this music is still hard to figure. They were coming from the UK, from France, from Germany, from Italy, from Canada, from the USA. We just start to have a complete figure now that the collectors are ripping the vinyl and make them available on blog, list them on place like Discogs.com. We just now are seeing the himalayan amount of music to explore, in every existing genre.

April Orchestra présente Caravelli (vol. 16) - one of the most sought-after library albums, this masterpiece blend strings and a menacing bass in a way that will freak the shit out of you. A soundtrack for a horror film that never was.

Digging for Library music is like a drug. Once you get into it, you may not escape unscathed. Your social life will suffer. And your budget too! First of all, you will find nobody to discuss about your last listens. Because nobody knows about Library music. Then, you will see no end to the quest. And albums are selling for utter high amount of money. One song leads to another, albums after albums. You press play, and you never know what's next. Just a few evocative titles wrapped in some thematic album. Songs are short. You start to get into it, the music is growing on you, and then it's gone. You move to the next one, to the next album. Endlessly.

Telemusic 78 - Automation. The french touch before the french touch with this late 70s electronic library record composed by studio bassist Sauveur Mallia. A lot of library record from France, UK or Italy feature experimentation with synthesizers

I know some of you know a lot about Library music, others may be wondering what I'm talking about.

Well, this is where ORGASMO SONORE's new project arrives : Revisiting Obscure Library Music. 

After 3 albums doing the soundtrack revival thing, it's time for a new horizon. A new "obscure" field to reveal. Library and film music have many things in common. In Fact, a lot of film composers did works for library music labels : Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Stelvio Cipriani, François de Roubaix... Piero Umiliani alone did so many Library records under different pseudonyms, it's beyond belief. 
Some of them may appear in this project. And definitively some new names too. Many ultra talented and professional composers made a career exclusively in library music.

So the first step in this project is a work of selection. Spanning into hundreds of vinyl rips and finding the potential Orgasmic interpretation. Then, work in the studio. And why not an album!

So stay tune, good music is coming!

Bruno Nicolai - Tempo Sospeso on the italian library label Edipan featuring some fuzzy guitars and typical Nicolai keys. You'll find the same quality of italian groove and musicianship in the library records than the soundtrack. And maybe more...

Alessandro Alessandroni - White Sands by Orgasmo Sonore

From the Album: Alessandro Alessandroni - Panoramic Feelings - CNP 0059 (Italian Library)

Very smooth and beautiful typical italian melody. Grande.
Put your headphone and relax. Life is too fast.
May be intended a tribute to Giuliano Gemma who just passed a few days ago.

Alessandro Alessandroni - White Sands by Orgasmo Sonore

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Revealing Bruno Nicolai tribute EP artwork

It's with great pleasure and excitement that I reveal the artwork for the cover of my next album "Omaggio a Bruno Nicolai ed alle sue la musica per il cinema GIALLO" ! The album will have a gatefold cover and was made from rare vintage posters, thanks to giallo collector Mike Jordan. The editing of the album was made by Davidfromlille, a steady collaborator.

Now, if you like what you are seeing, I guarantee you you will love what you will be hearing! This album has been made with all the passion and love il Maestro Nicolai deserved, a composer who is outrageously overlooked. The man is no less than one of the greatest orchestrators and conductors the film industry ever had, and as a composer, he gave us some very great soundtracks that are unfortunately difficult to find or even never properly released.

Recently Digitmovies released some of his soundtracks on CD allowing us to access to a part of his body of works. However, for vinyl collectors, most of his scores are still unavailable on this medium, which is a shame.

The mission of Orgasmo Sonore has always been to highlight the work of forgotten composers and cult soundtracks. This tribute would like to bring attention over this particular composer. It's indeed the first time (after 2 albums Revisiting Obscure Film Music Volume 1 and 2) that Orgasmo Sonore interprets the music of only one specific composer. And this album will be available on vinyl only! 25 minutes EP at 45 RPM.

The challenge was high. The music of Bruno Nicolai is jazzy with full of contemporary classical music influences and with a very large instrumentation. The rythm section relied upon some of the best italian studio musicians. The arrangements were various using different tempos and atmospheres for the same song. The sound aesthetic is totally vintage and you often feel all the band has been recorded with only one mic in the middle of the room, yet everything sound clear and groovy.

The work took about 6 months to record and to mix. 6 songs were carefully selected from the soundtracks he made for a genre of italian movies called giallo, all scored between 1971 and 1975. These movies often cast a mysterious murderer with black gloves and sensual women doomed to be his victims. One of the key figures of these movies is the beautiful and iconic cult actress Edwige Fenech, with her irresistible dark looking eyes and habit to undress in all kind of situations. Giallo, Edwige, Bruno... This is the perfect combo celebrating the art of Italian Cinema of the 70s.

It's with great attention to details and by working to understand the keys of Nicolai's music that this project has been approached. A great deal of works has been to find the proper sounds. For example the bass I used for the recording was a vintage 73 Fender Precision (merci Fred Charest) to help achieve the typical bass sound of the time. As I could not afford to bring a real harpsichord in my studio, It took me long time to finally find a superbly sampled italian harpsichord with full range of velocities. It's was like playing the real thing!

Bruno Nicolai music has been introduced to me by Cineploit founder Alex Wank, at a time where only Ennio Morricone existed in my world and every other italian film composers were sub-Ennio emulations. I was obviously in the darkness and thanks to Alex who one day told me "Bruno is not only in the shadow of Ennio, but he may as well surpass the master in some part of his works." When we know that Ennio was busy writing one score after the others in his home, he had to rely upon Bruno in the studio for the recording and so it would not be a wrong idea to say that Bruno Nicolai has more to do with the italian soundtrack "sound" that we may believe.

Maestro Bruno Nicolai, thank you for your inspiration in this project. My ambition is no less than presenting the best Bruno Nicolai tribute people will ever heard. Let them now decide if I achieve my goal.

FANS OF BRUNO NICOLAI, HELP ME TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS AND SHARE THE NEWS ABOUT THIS RELEASE. As an independent release, we obviously need the help of the true italian soundtracks fans to spread the news !

For info : orgasmo.sonore@gmail.com

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