Alessio Natalizia of electronic duo Walls has put together a double-disc compilation of the Italian electronic and new wave music that emerged in reaction to the country’s violent political tumult between the late 60s and early 80s.
Mutazione: Italian Electronic & New Wave Underground 1980-1988 will be released by Strut Records in partnership with Walls’ own Ecstatic records on September 2, on double vinyl and CD and download, along with liner essays by the Italian music journalists Andrea Pomini and Alberto Campo. Ahead of that, have a listen to the second track from the album, Neon’s ‘Informations Of Death’, below:
Giving further context to the period, the labels say: "Feeding off the national paranoia and angst, bands created a unique sound, rooted in punk but touching on new wave, electronic, experimental and industrial styles," adding a quote from Fabrizio Lucarini of the band Plath, “’I wasn’t involved politically. We were against the system and that’s it, left and right were the same to us’”.
Natalizia himself says: “When people think of Italian music, they often think of Italo disco or prog rock. For me, this more experimental end of the new wave scene is the most exciting music to emerge from Italy over the last 30 years and, since much of it was originally released in such limited quantities, it has remained relatively undocumented until now.”
