Aspic Boulevard

Sicilian brothers Alessandro and Marco Barrano take a journey through space and time as Aspic Boulevard, with this, their debut album Memory Recall of a Replicant Dream.

The sound is characterized by the use of vintage electronics: analogue keyboards, analogue drum machines, tape recorders, circuit bending and many homemade musical instruments, made of materials such as wooden boxes, metal springs and contact microphones. Some others are built by modifying everyday objects, musical toys and transistor radios, as with the experimentations of Pierre Schaeffer and musicians from Musique Concrète school in France in the early 40’s.

The whole project is a sound collage that puts together retro-Futurism, classic sci-fi nuances of 60s & 70s cinematic music, psychedelia and Kosmische.

MARCO BARRANO
Vocals, guitars, banjitar, bass, piano, synthesizers, electronic organs, keyboards, Theremin, circuit bending, homemade devices.

ALESSANDRO BARRANO
Drums, street drums, tammorra, cajon, darbuka, djambe, bongos, rainstick, windchimes, homemade devices.

Kubernetikós single is heading for imminent release and is accompanied by an animated video created by the band that takes its inspiration from the atmospheres of Karel Zeman, Ray Harryhausen, Cristina Làstrego, etc.

Composer Marco Barrano is of course no stranger to Blow Up Records having previously released MHz Invasion as one half of Daiquiri Fantomas, which received support at BBC 6 Music from DJs such as Radcliff and Maconie, Steve Lamacq on its release in 2013.

Memory Recall of a Replicant Dream: In the media

Prog Magazine (UK)

“Old gear meets dystopian futures. The result is a truly unique record”

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Electronic Sound Magazine (UK)

“Like Syd Barrett is contributing to Ralf & Florian”

“Like Joe Meek producing Jean-Michel Jarre”

“Space age bachelor music for the now generation.”

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Shindig! (UK)

“It’s quite a bold experiment nonetheless, as indeed is the whole LP. One to watch.”

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Classic Rock (Italy)

“Phenomenal album, of rare compositional depth, well-finished and particularly original.”

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Rumore (Italy)

“Impeccables and inspired.”

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Rockerilla (Italy)

“Enjoyable, shameless, unpredictable”

“A debut album. Incredible, original, different.”

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Red Ronnie (Broadcaster – Italy)

“I was impressed with Akragas because it is a kind of ‘weird’ electronic Prog. It’s a beautiful Prog, done well. The video is also done well and really worth it.”

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Rockit.it (Italy)

“Regarding the care and research of sounds we are really at high levels”

“A very, very dense record, very rich in ideas and also cinematographic references”

“The work of the Sicilian brothers really has the breath of the great interplanetary opera”

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Buscadero (Italy)

“A retro-futuristic space-rock not too dark, but rather characterized by a melodic approach”

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Mat2020 (Italy)

“Urania, the next song that Dario Argento should use for his definitive masterpiece”

“Akragas has within it the Sicilian roots of their immense and magnificent culture, an exercise in style that can only surprise”

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Impatto Sonoro (Italy)

“…the album adapts to the most diverse wishes of potential listeners”

“…a continuous flow of slides dating back to the beginnings of the electronic experience, seen through the eyes of two musicians of the twenty-first century”

“A sort of portal, through which it is possible to relive the mists of time and slowly, at will, turn the clock hands forward”

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Alias/Il Manifesto (Italy)

“A fun, smart, creative record”

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Distorsioni (Italy)

“An album of undoubted charm”

“All done with remarkable skill and dexterity, with an enviable personality”

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Fotografie Rock (Italy)

“An example of how to approach very distant worlds without being trapped in the labyrinth of the past”

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Magazzini Inesistenti (Italy)

“An excellent business card for these ‘lords of the galaxies’.”

“Echoes of primordial kosmic musik, new age and space-rock materialize in the warps of “Memory Recall of a Replicant Dream”, transshipping the listener on duty inside solitary cargo floating in the middle of silent and unknown interplanetary routes”

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DenpaFuzz (Spain)

“Noise, jazz, fusion, progressive??? Surely every listener will find an adjective that can define their eclectic sound.”

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MusicalNews (Italy)

“The Barrano brothers know how to manipulate sounds and do it with skill”

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Sound 36 Magazine (Italy)

“Music that narrates and lets the listener’s imagination wander”

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Brescia Oggi (Italy)

“A fascinating listening”

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Rockshock.it (Italy)

“…that genuine taste for refined melodies and sounds that make the debut of Aspic Boulevard certainly very interesting”

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Carry’s New Music Underground (Holland)

“Akragas is a wonderful song”

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WoMoms (Italy)

“A duo to keep an eye on”

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Format Folk/Lineatrad Television (Italy)

“…These new southern Pink Floyd are absolutely to be listened to”

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TomTomRock (Italy)

“A record for the present and the future”

“…in its atypical nature, destined to become a classic.”

“…an album that has the intrinsic ability to take the listener into very original and absolutely unexplored territories…”

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RadUni Musica (Italy)

“Twelve tracks in which synths interact to guide the listener on a space journey that seems to come from an old science fiction movie, between dreamlike sound layers and 60’s choirs”

“Between cinematic reverberations and sounds that come from deep space and psychedelia”

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Sicilian Post (Italy)

“Everything is absorbed and assimilated by Aspic Boulevard in a playful, fun, pleasant, enveloping project. Ancient and futuristic”

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Rock Nation (Italy)

“Lots of electronics, evident rock and prog-rock influences, a boundless amount of different colors and instruments”

“This work is a maniacal research of the sounds themselves, of the rhythmic and harmonic figures that Alessandro and Marco compose and assemble as in a sound workshop”

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Europa e Cultura Elettronica (Italy)

“Recommended for those who love the music of Brian Eno, Air, Stereolab, High Llamas”

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Trippa Shake Fanzine (Italy)

“Akragas and Electomagnetic Playground will amaze you”

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QuaranZine (USA)

“It takes you on a wild ride through a variety of soundscapes, sometimes bringing to mind Air, but with the experimental edginess of Wendy Carlos or Steve Reich”

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Radio Una Voce Vicina (Italy)

“A unique sensory and emotional experience”

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Mason & Dixon (Italy)

“A layered work full of joy”

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La Ragnatela (Italy)

“Delicious little Mediterranean Sicilian electro psychedelic Bon Bons for superfine palates”

“Aspic Boulevard have coined a new electro / prog / psycho / Mediterranean language”