Tag Archive: Taranto


HIGH ON STURMUNDRUGS

Sturmundrugs records from out of Taranto, Italy has quickly  established itself as a reliable source of abstract and alien sounds.

The label is the brainchild of Donato Epiro whose own releases go from strength to strength. As with his music, the inspirations for the Sturmundrugs catalogue can be traced back to folk traditions but you won’t find any cute ditties about laddies and lasses, Actually you won’t find any conventional songs at all. What you get instead , is a heady dose of  cutting edge ambient noise that are perfect soundtracks to solitude. Continue reading

INTERVIEW WITH DONATO EPIRO

The music of Italy’s Donato Epiro has an ambient glow that lies someway between the precision of  electronica and the more spaced out trippiness of experimental Kosmische rock.

At the same time there is an unmistakable influence of traditional acoustic folk which gives his  work a beautifully organic texture. There is a warm complexity in the way layers of  intricate instrumentation blend with more primitive rhythms.

The first album I heard of his – Sounding The Sun (Stunned Records) – remains my personal favourite. This can be downloaded from the ever indispensable Microphones in the Trees blogspot. You can also sample Donato’s work on Soundcloud.

Donato runs the label Sturmundrugs Records although his releases appear on an often bewildering range of small presses,  either  on cassette or as limited edition cdrs.

I wanted to find out a little about the man behind this music and Donato kindly agreed to answer a few questions.  (I have translated his replies from Italian). Continue reading

ITALY’S NEW WEIRD TARANTELLA

I wish I could say that living in Italy gives me a unique insight into aspects of the country’s underground music scene. Unfortunately, I do not move in such privileged circles so a lot of the time I, like anyone else, make discoveries by chance, more often than not in cyberspace. Continue reading