(April 2010) On the daily trawl through music forums, blogs and all that malark I came across an old promo flyer for the Italian label Il Discotto. The flyer was photographed in the early 1980s by the Italo Encylopadia that is Flemming Dalum on one of his trips to Italy. The flyer is a stark promotional piece, listing upcoming releases under genre headings. What is of interest is not the two fat columns taken up by italo 12″s, but the smaller side column of Italian New Wave. In many ways Italian New Wave has been shadowed by its poppier cousin Italo, and few would associate Il Discotto with distributing new wave music but they did. Fourth from the bottom on this list of Italian New Wave is where particular interest lies, a 12″ release entitled Nan Mask by Lisfrank. Nan Mask came out in 1982, and until today it was Lisfrank’s only release. Anna Logue Records have, after serious archealogical digging, found Lisfrank and got together to put out a second release: Mask Rewind.
The LP opens with the tortured and tormented “Dirty Air.” The track writhes and twists under discordant lyrics before the synthesizer takes over and washes away the distress and leaving nothing but analogue beauty. “Violence in my Mind” works along somewhat similar lines, with vocals containing an unsettling tone and subject matter whilst the synths playfully dab away in the backdrop. The minimal synth barrage of “It’s Life” follows. The tempo rises and the vocals take on a much more catchy aspect before the damningly addictive melody drops, it’s not surprising this was chosen for the A-Side of the 1982 12″. In many respects this is the light before the shadows return with “Man Without Limits.” The tempo drops and an horror movie shimmer arrives. The track has a serious helping of desperation in it, pushed forward with an unceasing snare. Once again the synth is the rescuer and oppressor, adding rays of hope whilst casting the tone into the abyss. The flipside brings the listener back into the uneasy settings of Lisfrank’s music, and even this time the synthesizer saviour is absent. The track is almost purely instrumental and seems like it could be taken straight from a Giallo movie. “In the Surface” continues down the synth experimentation line but vocals do return for this number. The lyrics have an almost inaudible quality, swamped by synth abstractions whilst being driven by an even beat. “Distant Eyes” keeps the estrangement going, Lisfrank working his synth into some wonderfully diverse compositions. “Identity” is a slow and deep work of minimal synth music, with the deep version of the track being picked up for the Danza Meccanica compilation. The LP ends with the 2009 version of “Out of Control,” cleaner sounding with more energy. The LP may end there, but the nice people at Anna Logue have included a 7″ for your consumption too. The 7″ opens with the surprisingly uplifting “Stay With Me” and is followed by the quirky and uptempo “My Toy” to round off Lisfrank’s return to music.
The 1980s was a golden age of synthesizer music in Italy. Movie soundtracks saw the likes of Moroder and Goblin producing absolute classics, whilst Italo artists created some amazingly catchy electronic disco tracks. Artists involved in minimal synth and new wave endeavours have been eclipsed in music history. There were artists out there, and Mannequin Records recent Danza Meccanica has managed to unearth a number. Lisfrank is a minimal synth artist who existed in this forgotten past of Italian wave music. It seems incredible on looking at that old Il Discotto flyer that Lisfrank’s name was on the same piece of paper as Doctor’s Cat, Fake and Brand Image. But, this is testament to Italian synth music and the quality and diversity of what was being released. The synthesizer and drum machine link the artists of that Il Discotto flyer, but that is the end of the connection. Lisfrank’s vision was not one of sunny summers but of uncertainty and the dissociation of the modern time. “Man without limits – Sees hope die – Man without limits – Sees darkness fall within.”
Mask Rewind is out now on Anna Logue.
