No Strange Il Sentiero Delle Tartarughe

(After celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of their first album with a 10" titled ‘Universi e Transparenze’ two years ago, the Turin combo is taking on a brand new album that shows how their artistic flair is lusher than ever. The album is printed in vinyl format only with CD attached, including their recent book ‘No Strange e Sogni Correlati’ in digital version as well as the download card)After celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of their first album with a 10" titled ‘Universi e Transparenze’ two years ago, the Turin combo is taking on a brand new album that shows how their artistic flair is lusher than ever. Here are the words of Federico Guglielmi to describe the new effort of the No Strange. The album is printed in vinyl format only with CD attached, including their recent book ‘No Strange e Sogni Correlati’ in digital version as well as the download card.

"It might be trivial, but No Strange is the right substance to take for a great trip without enduring any side effects … except for being forced to ask for a loan to buy their first records, if unfortunately one doesn’t own them already. Luckily I have been following them since the days of their debut cassette, back in 1983, so this is not my case, and I can therefore continue to be intrigued and enchanted undisturbed by their impetuous musical traits; traits that, although not disdaining the melodies, leave them free to hover in a Milky Way of ethno-psychedelia, folk and avant-garde. The place from which Salvatore, Alberto and all the friends who worked with them over the years have fallen on Earth is pretty strange indeed, and it’s full of stimuli that are not just sound-related: No Strange make music for your ears, of course, but their songs also emit stroboscopic polychromes and exhale spices and incense. Beyond the specific traits of each of their creations, they have always been this way and we can assume they will be like this forever; therefore, it is a bit annoying to think that the fifteen years of the freezing of the project have deprived us of god knows what other magic.

No exception is ‘Il sentiero delle tartarughe’, whose title is immediately evocative, with a cover that, as a consolidated script, reveals the visionary, artisanal, alienated, dreamlike, celestial-tenebrous, sacred, profane and totally unattractive attitude of the band. With regard to our "rock" panorama (in quotation marks!), these "guys" remain a precious asset, to be placed on the shelf of cults; right in the middle, as in alphabetical order, between the "L" of ‘Le Stelle’ by Mario Schifano and the "R" of Claudio Rocchi."
Federico Guglielmi

REVIEWS

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN 05/01/2018

Crikey, they don’t make records like this anymore…………(No) Strange things are certainly happening in Italy!!!!! Formed back in 1980 by ex punks Salvatore ‘Ursus’ D’Urso und Alberto Ezzu, No Strange delved deep into the psychedelic experience with three albums on the Italian indie Toast label between 1985 and 1990. Totally trippy and influenced by Indo/European sounds, Acid Folk and Krautrock bands like Popol Vuh and Amon Düül ll, these records drew heavily on early 70s experimental/avant-garde Psychedelia from mainland Europe. No Strange drifted apart at the start of the 90s with solo projects and loose collaborations with a mix of other musicians for the occasional live appearance before a comeback of sorts with their first album of new material for 21 years with the release of the well received Cristalli Sognanti LP in 2011. This was soon followed in 2014 by the double album ‘Armonia Vivente Tra Analogie E Contrasti (Harmony Between The Living Similarities And Contrasts)’ that consisted of a mix of new songs, demos from the band’s early years plus two impressive live takes recorded in 2013 and to celebrate 30 years since the release of their debut record, in 2015 No Strange issued a mini-LP of cover versions of songs that have inspired band, titled Universi e Transparenze. Fast forward to the now and there is a new No Strange album out as a joint release via the Italian labels Area Pirata Records and Psych-Out Records of the strangest, most wonderful truly psychedelic Acid Folk records you will have heard for quite a while.

Deep at it’s core Il Sentiero Delle Tartarughe is a cosmic Acid Folk record with beautiful melodies but it’s absolutely drenched in lysergic out-thereness hovering in a dream state of Ethno-Psychedelia, Folk and Avant-Garde. Throughout No Strange’s 30 year plus recording career Salvatore D’Urso and Alberto Ezzu have always taken influence/inspiration from the more experimental end of early 70s European Psychedelia with the previously mentioned Popol Vuh and Amon Düül ll coming to mind along with bands such Magma, Gila, Faust, Between, Groep 1850 and Bröselmaschine mixed with the tripped out soundtracks from Italian horror movies of the era and the new LP certainly channels this kind of atmosphere/vibe. The record is dense and a little unsettling with layer upon layer of voices/spoken word (in Italian) and abstract, weird soundscapes sounding like a lost Psychedelic gem from quite a few decades ago unearthed from obscurity………….it took a few listens to actually click, but once you get your head round it Il Sentiero Delle Tartarughe is absolutely brilliant. Ok, it’s totally far out and completely psychedelic in the true sense of the word but strangely accessible at the same time………………….essential listening if you like to explore the stranger corners of the “Psychedelic Experience” or dig Krautrock that is NOT Neu!, CAN, TD and Kraftwerk.